ter that afternoon after the Rell had spent much time observing
Brown while Brown was busy observing the landscape that the interpretive
bank made the triumphant announcement, "We have it! We've broken the
thought waves down to their meanings and know what he's thinking. What
would you like to know first?"

"Check and see if there are any Rell inside the other thing or on his
home world. They might have constructed him."

"Apparently there are none, or at least no intelligent Rell, on his
world. We can't guide his mind but the memory bank recorded all the
thoughts we've received and some time ago he was thinking of something
he termed 'vermin'. Apparently these are sometimes Rell-like creatures,
although far larger. He regards them as a great nuisance, but mindless.
The big thing, by the way, he calls a 'ship' and it is utterly lifeless.
We needn't fear the flame until this creature leaves."

"What about him? What is he like?"

"That's the most exciting part! He thought of his bodily needs once and
we glimpsed a concept dealing with his physical construction. It's
incredible! His body is composed almost entirely of water ... there's
enough water in him alone to prolong the life of the Rell many ages.
Further, the air in his 'ship' is heavily impregnated with moisture and
he even has reserve supplies of water for his needs."

At this, not only Raeillo/ee13, but all except perhaps the most
responsible units felt a shiver of primitive longing and perhaps even
greed. Not for millennia had there been such a plentitude of water so
close!

"Then can't we appropriate at least part of it?" asked the speculative
bank.

"Unfortunately both the 'man', as he calls himself, and his 'ship' are
sealed so tightly that we could not penetrate either. Worse yet, almost
half his time here is already gone. We don't quite understand his
purpose here. His thoughts seem to say he is searching for Rell for some
unfathomable reason yet he seems to know nothing of the Rell and cannot
even detect us."

* * * * *

It was the next day when the time was almost all gone that the two big
discoveries were made. During a routine check, the mesh came across a
thought of the man's return and a visualization of his home world. It
was so startling that the interpretive bank was recalled from its effort
to try to devise a means through the spacesuit and set at the new
problem.

A hasty check of the man's subconscio