*

The two walked down the long corridor together and Ebor said, "Well?
What happened?"

"They came here," Darquelnoy told him simply. At Ebor's shocked look,
he rippled in wan amusement and said, "Oh, it wasn't as bad as it
might have been, I suppose. It was just that we had to rush around so
frantically, unloading and dismantling the dome, getting this place
ready--"

"What do you mean, they _came_ here?" demanded Ebor.

"They are absolutely the worst creatures for secrecy in the entire
galaxy!" exclaimed Darquelnoy in irritation. "Absolutely the worst."

"Then you've picked up at least one of their habits," Ebor told him.
"Now stop talking in circles and tell me what happened."

"They built a spaceship, is the long and the short of it," Darquelnoy
answered.

Ebor stopped in astonishment. "No!"

"Don't tell me no!" cried Darquelnoy. "I _saw_ it!" He was obviously
at his wit's end.

"It's unbelievable," said Ebor.

"I know," said Darquelnoy. He led the way into his quarters, motioned
Ebor to a perch, and rang for his orderly. "It was just a little
remote-controlled apparatus, of course," he said. "The fledgling
attempt, you know. But it circled this Moon here, busily taking
pictures, and went right back to the planet again, giving us all a
terrible fright. There hadn't been the slightest indication they were
planning anything _that_ spectacular."

"None?" asked Ebor. "Not a hint?"

"Oh, they've been boasting about doing some such thing for ages,"
Darquelnoy told him. "But there was never any indication that they
were finally serious about it. They have all sorts of military
secrecy, of course, and so you never know a thing is going to happen
until it does."

"Did they get a picture of the dome?"

"Thankfully, no. And before they had a chance to try again, I whipped
everything underground."

"It must have been hectic," Ebor said sympathetically.

"It was," said Darquelnoy simply.

The orderly entered. Darquelnoy told him, "Two restno," and he left
again.

"I can't imagine them making a spaceship," said Ebor thoughtfully. "I
would have thought they'd have blown themselves up long before
reaching that stage."

"I would have thought so, too," said Darquelnoy. "But there it is. At
the moment, they've divided themselves into two camps--generally
speaking, that is--and the two sides are trying like mad to outdo each
other in everything. As a part of it, they're shooting all sorts of
rubbish