ur Don Howard brought Lord the lab report.
Two of the planets were enveloped in methane, but the third had an
earth-normal atmosphere. Lord gave the order for a landing, his voice
pulsing with poorly concealed, boyish pleasure.

The _Ceres_ settled on a hilltop, its cushioning rockets burning an
improvised landing area in the lush foliage. As the airlock swung open,
Lord saw half a dozen golden-skinned savages standing on the edge of the
clearing. As nearly as he could judge, they were men; but that was not
too surprising, because a number of planets in the Federation had evolved
sentient species which resembled man. The savages were unarmed and nearly
naked--tall, powerfully built men; they seemed neither awed nor frightened
by the ship.

Over the circle of scorched earth Lord heard the sound of their voices. For
a fleeting second the words seemed to make sense--a clear, unmistakable
welcome to the new world.

But communication was inconceivable. This planet was far beyond the fringe
of the Federation. Lord was letting his imagination run away with him.

He flung out his arms in a universally accepted gesture of open-handed
friendship. At once the talk of the natives ceased. They stood waiting
silently on the burned ground while the men unwound the landing ladder.

* * * * *

Lord made the initial contact himself. The techniques which he had learned
in the University of Commerce proved enormously successful. Within ten
minutes rapport was established; in twenty the natives had agreed to submit
to the linguistic machines. Lord had read accounts of other trailblazing
commercial expeditions; and he knew he was establishing a record for speed
of negotiation.

The savages were quite unfrightened as the electrodes were fastened to
their skulls, entirely undisturbed by the whir of the machine. In less than
an hour they were able to use the common language of the Federation.
Another record; most species needed a week's indoctrination.

Every new development suggested that these half-naked primitives--with
no machine civilization, no cities, no form of space flight--had an
intellectual potential superior to man's. The first question asked
by one of the broad-shouldered savages underscored that conclusion.

"Have you come to our world as colonists?"

No mumbo-jumbo of superstition, no awe of strangers who had suddenly
descended upon them from the sky. Lord answered, "We landed in order
t