mething had seemed wrong about that flash of lightning. Instead of a
jagged tree of lightning that formed instantly, it had seemed like a
thin thread of light striking _upward_. I thought I must be getting
bleary-eyed and tried to forget it. In the silo, I remembered. I told
Jim.

"We went back through the house once more. In Sam's bedroom, as if
accidently dropped and kicked partway under the bed, I found this. Take
a look!"

Fenwick held out a small book. It had covers and pages as did any
ordinary book. But when Baker's fingers touched the book, something
chilled his backbone.

The material had the feel and appearance of white leather--yet Baker had
the insane impression that the cells of that leather still formed a
living substance. He opened the pages. Their substance was as foreign as
that of the cover. The message--printing, or whatever it might be
called--consisted of patterned rows of dots, pin-head size, in color. It
reminded him of computer tape cut to some character code. He had the
impression that an eye might scan those pages and react as swiftly as a
tape-fed computer.

Baker closed the book. "Nothing more?" he asked Fenwick.

"Nothing. We thought maybe you had found out something else when he
worked to save your life."

* * * * *

Baker kept his eyes on the ceiling. "I found out a few things," he said.
"I could scarcely believe they were true. I have to believe after
hearing your story."

"What did you find?"

"Sam Atkins came from--somewhere else. He went back in the ship he had
hidden in the silo."

"Where did he come from? What was he doing here?"

"I don't know the name of the world he was from or where it is located.
Somewhere in this galaxy, is about all I can deduce from my impressions.
He was here on a scientific mission, a sociological study. He was
responsible for the crystals. I suppose you know that by now?" Baker
glanced at Ellerbee.

Jim Ellerbee nodded. "I suspected for a long time that I was being led,
but I couldn't understand it. I thought I was doing the research that
produced the crystals, but Sam would drop a hint or a suggestion every
once in a while, that would lead off on the right track and produce
something fantastic. He knew where we were going, ahead of time. He led
me to believe that we were exploring together. Do you know why he did
this?"

"Yes," said Baker. "It was part of his project. The project consisted of
a study of hu