for the
calibration of scientific instruments.

"But none of these requires the complexity of a written language. I dare
say our use of it is quite baffling to him.

"For teaching purposes, it is quite unnecessary. Look at what television
and such have done in our own civilization. With such tools as that at
hand--recordings and pictures--it is possible to teach a person a great
many things without ever teaching him to read. A Nipe certainly wouldn't
need any aid for calculation, would he? We humans must use a piece of
paper to multiply two ten-digit numbers together, but that's because our
memories are faulty. A Nipe has no need for such aids."

"Are you really positive of all this, George?" Stanton asked.

Yoritomo shrugged. "How can we be absolutely positive at this stage of
the game? Eh? Our evidence is sketchy, I admit. It is not as solidly
based as our other reconstructions of his background, but it appears
that he thinks of symbols as being unable to convey much information.
The pattern for his raids, for instance, indicates that his knowledge of
the materials he wants and their locations comes from vocal
sources--television advertising, eavesdropping on shipping orders, and
so on. In other words, he cases the joint by ear. If he could understand
written information, his job would be much easier. He could find his
materials much more quickly and easily. And, too, we have never seen him
either read a word or write one. From this evidence, we are fairly
certain that he can neither read nor write any terrestrial language--or
even his own." He spread his hands again. "As I said, it is not proof."

"No," Stanton agreed, "but I must admit that the whole thing makes for
some very interesting speculation, doesn't it?"

"Very interesting, indeed." Yoritomo folded his hands in his lap, smiled
seraphically, and looked at the ceiling. "In fact, my friend, we are now
so positive of our knowledge of the Nipe's mind that we are prepared to
enter into the next phase of our program."

"Oh?" Stanton distinctly felt the back of his neck prickle.

"Yes," said Yoritomo. "Mr. Martin feels that if we wait much longer, we
may run into the danger of giving the Nipe enough time to complete his
work on his communicator." He looked at Stanton and chuckled, but there
was no humor in his short laugh. "We would not wish our friend, the
Nipe, to bring his relatives into this little tussle, would we, Bart?"

"That's been our deadline al