eseen and avoided--and that would not
have happened had he accepted old Throon's pantomimed invitation, in the
beginning, to go with him into the village to work at the language
study. There he would have used a harmless battery lamp for illumination
... but there was no certainty that the natives were not planning to lay
a trap for him in the village and he had refused to go.

It did not matter--there was a complex radiation-neutralizer and
cell-reconstructor in the ship which would return Throon to full, normal
health a few hours after he was placed in its chamber.

He turned to the leader of the four natives and motioned from Throon to
the airlock. "Go--there," he said in the native language.

"_Bron!_" the leader answered. The word meant "No" and there was a
determination in the way he said it that showed he would not move from
it.

At the end of five minutes his attempts to persuade them to take Throon
into the ship had increased their suspicion of his motives to the point
of critical danger. If only he could tell them _why_ he wanted Throon
taken into the ship ... But he could not and would have to take Throon
by first disposing of the four without injuring them. This he could do
by procuring one of the paralyzing needle-guns from the ship.

He took a step toward the ship and spoke the words that to the best of
his knowledge meant: "I come back."

"_Feswin ilt k'la._"

Their reply was to snatch at their weapons in desperate haste, even as
the leader uttered a hoarse word of command. He brought up the blaster
with the quick motion that long training had perfected and their weapons
were only half drawn when his warning came:

"_Bron!_"

* * * * *

They froze, but did not release their weapons. He walked backward to the
airlock, his blaster covering them, the tensely waiting manner in which
they watched his progress telling him that the slightest relaxation of
his vigilance would mean his death. He did not let the muzzle of the
blaster waver until he was inside the airlock and the outer door had
slid shut.

He was sure that the natives would be gone when he returned. And he was
sure of another thing: That whatever he had said to them, it was not
what he had thought he was saying.

He saw that the glade was empty when he opened the airlock again. At
the same time a bomb-like missile struck the ship just above the airlock
and exploded with a savage crash. He jabbed the _Clo