rstellar ships. It was almost flat, and if the
transhipping between the interstellar vessels had been done by air,
there would be no need to build a hard surface for the field. And there
were other indications. Every fact that had come to light in the ensuing
century had been in support of the Greek-German xenologist's theory.

Had Duckworth come up with something new?

If so, why had he decided to discard it and forget his new theory?

If not, why had he formulated the new theory, and on what grounds?

Turnbull lit a cigarette and looked sourly at the smoke that drifted up
from its tip. What the devil was eating him? He'd spent too much time
away from Earth, that was the trouble. He'd been too deeply immersed in
his study of Lobon for the past year. Now all he had to do was get a
little hint of something connected with cultural xenology, and his mind
went off on dizzy tizzies.

Forget it. Duckworth had thought he was on to something, found out that
he wasn't, and discarded the whole idea. And if someone like Scholar
James Duckworth had decided it wasn't worth fooling with, then why was a
common Ph. D. like Turnbull worrying about it? Especially when he had no
idea what had started Duckworth off in the first place.

And his thoughts came back around to that again. If Duckworth had
thought enough of the idea to get excited over it, what had set him off?
Even if it had later proved to be a bad lead, Turnbull felt he'd like to
know what had made Duckworth think--even for a short time--that there
was some other explanation for the City.

Ah, hell! He'd ask Duckworth some day. There was plenty of time.

He went over to the phone, dialed a number, and sat down comfortably in
his fat blue overstuffed chair. It buzzed for half a minute, then the
telltale lit up, but the screen remained dark.

"Dave!" said a feminine voice. "Are you back? Where on Earth have you
been?"

"I haven't," said Turnbull. "How come no vision?"

"I was in the hammam, silly. And what do you mean 'I haven't'? You
haven't what?"

"You asked me where on Earth I'd been, and I said I haven't."

"Oh! Lucky man! Gallivanting around the starways while us poor humans
have to stay home."

"Yeah, great fun. Now look, Dee, get some clothes on and turn on your
pickup. I don't like talking to gray screens."

"Half a sec." There was a minute's pause, then the screen came on,
showing the girl's face. "Now, what do you have on your purported mind?"

"Si