ian
biologist."

This was a fascinating exchange to Tensor, as he puzzled out the curious
relationships and their purposes. He floated near the ceiling,
listening, face set in civilized impassivity.

One of the creatures grumbled, leaned back and swung around in its
chair. It jerked erect when it saw the man at the ceiling.

[Illustration]

Tensor smiled at the poor, dumb creature and was rewarded by a
disgustingly loud noise from its mouth and a mad rush back to the panel.
The other had seen him, too, and was staring wide-eyed at him. Tensor
moved closer to observe, but the one who had seen him first continued
shouting shrill, ear-splitting noises at its companion, who seemed to be
trying unsuccessfully to obey. Petulantly, Tensor disintegrated the
noisy one and also some ugly cables that led from the panel to the wall.
That improved the esthetic situation immeasurably, he felt.

There was a quick sucking of breath from the remaining savage as it
looked wildly about for a moment, as if searching for its vanished
companion, and then stared at the place where the cables had been.

"Well--" It made a hopeless gesture with its shoulders and slumped back
into its chair. "That does it. No pilot. No radio. Damn. Even the Leader
would have trouble with this situation." It looked uneasily at Tensor,
and remained perfectly, cautiously still.

"What do you call yourselves?" Tensor asked without difficulty, using
sound patterns similar to what they had employed.

"You speak English!" the creature blurted out in amazement, and Tensor
felt rather irritated by its crude facial expression. He made a small
adjustment, however, bringing his own somatic state into a closer
harmony with that of the creature, and the desired level of contented
appreciation rose.

"Are--are you a native?" it asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Tensor replied.

It gazed at him with half closed, calculating eyes, starting at the
head, running slowly to his feet and back again.

"You look human," it muttered.

"Naturally," Tensor replied cheerfully. The appreciation was growing
subtly now, and he found that the creature's mouth interested him. It
was a strikingly lovely shade of red--always Tensor's favorite color.
And although there was a heavy and awkward sheath of artificial fabric
about the alien, he observed with a rising fascination that the bulging
of the thoracic sheathing indicated that it was female.

Tensor became uncomfortably aware that he