ter hesitated. "Well, the next information after the atomic weight
ought to be the period and group numbers. But those are words."

"What would the numbers be for the first one, hydrogen?"

"Period One, Group One. One electron shell, one electron in the outer
shell," Tranter told her. "Helium's period one, too, but it has the
outer--only--electron shell full, so it's in the group of inert
elements."

"_Trav, Trav._ _Trav's_ the first month of the year. And helium's _Trav,
Yenth_; _Yenth_ is the eighth month."

"The inert elements could be called Group Eight, yes. And the third
element, lithium, is Period Two, Group One. That check?"

"It certainly does. _Sanv, Trav_; _Sanv's_ the second month. What's the
first element in Period Three?"

"Sodium. Number Eleven."

That's right; it's _Krav, Trav_. Why, the names of the months are simply
numbers, one to ten, spelled out.

"_Doma_'s the fifth month. That was your first Martian word, Martha,"
Penrose told her. "The word for five. And if _davas_ is the word for
metal, and _sornhulva_ is chemistry and / or physics, I'll bet Tadavas
Sornhulva is literally translated as: Of-Metal Matter-Knowledge.
Metallurgy, in other words. I wonder what Mastharnorvod means." It
surprised her that, after so long and with so much happening in the
meantime, he could remember that. "Something like 'Journal,' or
'Review,' or maybe 'Quarterly.'"

"We'll work that out, too," she said confidently. After this, nothing
seemed impossible. "Maybe we can find--" Then she stopped short. "You
said 'Quarterly.' I think it was 'Monthly,' instead. It was dated for a
specific month, the fifth one. And if _nor_ is ten, Mastharnorvod could
be 'Year-Tenth.' And I'll bet we'll find that _masthar_ is the word for
year." She looked at the table on the wall again. "Well, let's get all
these words down, with translations for as many as we can."

"Let's take a break for a minute," Penrose suggested, getting out his
cigarettes. "And then, let's do this in comfort. Jeff, suppose you and
Sid go across the hall and see what you find in the other room in the
way of a desk or something like that, and a few chairs. There'll be a
lot of work to do on this."

Sid Chamberlain had been squirming as though he were afflicted with
ants, trying to contain himself. Now he let go with an excited jabber.

"This is really it! _The_ it, not just it-of-the-week, like finding the
reservoirs or those statues or this building, or e