munication from the E.H.Q. ship at Eden coming in just fine," he
said enthusiastically. He'd thought it over and decided he'd better
repair some fences. Good job here, no use letting his irritation with
the supervisor's old-maid fussiness make him cut off his nose to spite
his face.

"See that it does," the supervisor answered sharply. He recognized the
overture for what it was, felt relieved that he wouldn't have any more
insubordination, was willing to let bygones be bygones--after a suitable
period of punishment. "What's been happening?" he asked with a curiosity
that got the better of his desire to discipline.

"E Gray has come back out of that quartz outcropping where we lost him.
He's standing there talking to the astronavigator who followed him up
the mountain."

"More of the same, I guess," the supervisor said. "Nothing's happened
for ten days. Nothing likely to happen," he said. He turned and started
back down the aisle toward his own office.

"Wait a minute," the operator called. "Here's something."

Other operator heads raised up all down the aisle.

"Now, now; now, now!" the supervisor quarreled at them. "Get on with
your work, nothing to concern you here, none of your business."

But of course it was everybody's business. Anything different was
everybody's business. All over the world everybody was wondering about
the enigma of Eden, everybody speculating, everybody with a different
answer. Some were gleeful that science had finally got its comeuppance,
and felt no more than a pleasure that the bigdomes had proved they
weren't any smarter than anybody else. Others took an equal pleasure in
crying woe, woe, at this proof there were mysteries beyond man's
knowing, woe, woe, now that man would be punished for trying to know
what he was not meant to know.

The operator took time out, in spite of the supervisor's admonishments,
to listen frankly.

"They've lost sight of the E," the operator exclaimed. "No, wait a
minute. There he is, down in the valley, coming out from behind a bush
to talk to the pilot and the head man of the colony."

"Can't have happened like that," the supervisor grumbled. "Ten or twelve
miles from that mountain top to the valley. The ship has garbled their
reporting. Probably got behind in reporting and then just decided to
skip the journey back, and pick up to make it current. There's going to
be complaints about this."

"Well, you were right here," the operator said. "You wer