ders. Nito will serve Master Snowden and supply the knowledge he
says he has forgotten."

"Okay. We'll go up to the control room and get started."

And in the control room, Kedo's voice rasped into the captain's
microphone. "Attention, all personnel! Master Captain Sawtelle orders
take-off in two minutes. The countdown will begin at five seconds....
Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Lift!"

Nito, not Snowden, handled the controls. As perfectly as the human pilot
had ever done it, at the top of his finest form, he picked the immense
spaceship up and slipped it silkily into subspace.

"Well, I'll be a ..." Snowden gasped. "That's a better job than I _ever_
did!"

"Not at all, Master, as you know," Nito said. "It was you who did this.
I merely performed the labor."

A few minutes later, in the main lounge, Navy and BuSci personnel were
mingling as they had never done before. Whatever had caused this
relaxation of tension--the friendship of captain and director? The
position in which they all were? Or what?--they all began to get
acquainted with each other.

"Silence, please, and be seated," Hilton said. "While this is not
exactly a formal meeting, it will be recorded for future reference.
First, I will ask Laro a question. Were books or records left on Ardry
by the race you call the Masters?"

"You know there are, Master. They are exactly as you left them.
Undisturbed for over two hundred seventy-one thousand years."

"Therefore we will not question the Omans. We do not know what questions
to ask. We have seen many things hitherto thought impossible. Hence, we
must discard all preconceived opinions which conflict with facts. I
will mention a few of the problems we face."

"The Omans. The Masters. The upgrading of the armament of the _Perseus_
to Oman standards. The concentration of uranexite. What is that
concentrate? How is it used? Total conversion--how is it accomplished?
The skeletons--what are they and how are they controlled? Their ability
to drain power. Who or what is back of them? Why a deadlock that has
lasted over a quarter of a million years? How much danger are we and the
_Perseus_ actually in? How much danger is Terra in, because of our
presence here? There are many other questions."

"Sandra and I will not take part. Nor will three others; de Vaux,
Eisenstein, and Blake. You have more important work to do."

"What can that be?" asked Rebecca. "Of what possible use can a
mathematician, a theoreticia