t in his language or his name, and, strangely, he felt all
through the afternoon that talking was unnecessary. It was a very rare
day spent between two people who were not curious and did not want
anything from each other. The only words they said to each other were
goodbye.

Wyatt, lost inside himself, plodding, went back to the ship.

* * * * *

In the first week, Beauclaire spent his every waking hour learning the
language of the planet. From the very beginning he had felt an
unsettling, peculiar manner about these people. Their behavior was
decidedly unusual. Although they did not differ in any appreciable way
from human beings, they did not act very much like human beings in
that they were almost wholly lacking a sense of awe, a sense of
wonder. Only the children seemed surprised that the ship had landed,
and only the children hung around and inspected it. Almost all the
others went off about their regular business--which seemed to be
farming--and when Beauclaire tried learning the language, he found
very few of the people willing to spend time enough to teach him.

But they were always more or less polite, and by making a pest of
himself he began to succeed. On another day when Wyatt came back from
the brown-eyed girl, Beauclaire reported some progress.

"It's a beautiful language," he said as Wyatt came in. "Amazingly
well-developed. It's something like our Latin--same type of
construction, but much softer and more flexible. I've been trying to
read their book."

Wyatt sat down thoughtfully and lit a cigarette.

"Book?" he said.

"Yes. They have a lot of books, but _everybody_ has this one
particular book--they keep it in a place of honor in their houses.
I've tried to ask them what it is--I think it's a bible of some
kind--but they just won't bother to tell me."

Wyatt shrugged, his mind drifting away.

"I just don't understand them," Beauclaire said plaintively, glad to
have someone to talk to. "I don't get them at all. They're quick,
they're bright, but they haven't the damnedest bit of curiosity about
_anything_, not even each other. My God, they don't even gossip!"

Wyatt, contented, puffed quietly. "Do you think not seeing the stars
has something to do with it? Ought to have slowed down the development
of physics and math."

Beauclaire shook his head. "No. It's very strange. There's something
else. Have you noticed the way the ground seems to be sharp and jagged