odded. "Those were our instruments?"

"Yes." The doctor still held the whiskey bottle in a tight grip.

"They sent them back," the captain said.

* * * * *

The doctor crashed the bottle hard against the desk top. "Ask it,
Captain, for God's sake!!"

The captain turned to face the doctor directly. "It was a man, a
full grown man."

The doctor sighed as if letting the pent-up steam of his heart
escape. "Yes, it is a man. It breathes, it eats, it has all the
attributes of a man. But it is not of our planet."

"Its speech ..." the captain began.

"That isn't speech, Captain," the doctor broke in, breaking in
sharply, "It's only sound." The doctor stopped; he examined the
label of his bottle of whiskey very carefully. A good brand of
whiskey. "He seems quite happy in the storeroom. You know,
Captain, what puzzled me at first? He can't read. He can't read
anything, not even the instruments in that ship. In fact he shows
no interest in his rocket at all."

The captain sat down now. He sat at the desk and faced the doctor.
"At least _they_ had the courage to send a man, not a mouse.
Doctor, a man."

The doctor stared at the captain, his hand squeezing and
unsqueezing on the whiskey bottle. "A man who can't read his own
instruments?" The doctor laughed. "Perhaps you too have failed to
see the point? Like that stupid general who sits out there waiting
for the men from somewhere to invade?"

"Don't you think it's a possibility?"

The doctor nodded. "A very good possibility, Captain, but they
will not be men." The doctor seemed to pause and lean forward.
"That rocket, Captain, is a test rocket. A test rocket _just like
ours_!"

Then the doctor picked up his whiskey bottle at last and poured
two glasses.

"Perhaps a drink, Captain?"

The captain was watching the sky outside the window.

THE END

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