the other mines and factories, too."

"Almost us ingest too many last dark," Geck gave what Hanlon knew was a
shamefaced laugh. "It such very good eat us become ..." he hesitated.

"Drunk, you mean?" Hanlon laughed. "I can see it might do that to you.
You'll have to warn the others about that."

They chatted away for some minutes, about how much the Guddus
appreciated Hanlon's thoughtfulness.

"Say, I just wondered," Hanlon interrupted Geck's thanks. "Do you have
any idea where your planet is located in space? I mean, do you know the
suns closest to yours, anything about their distances or magnitudes?"

Geck's thoughts and expression were a blank, and it took most of the
work-period even to make him understand what Hanlon was trying to ask.
When he did finally manage to grasp the thought-concept, his answer was
a decided negative.

"No, An-yon, us know nothing about other sun other planet. Before humans
come suppose we only intelligent life anywhere. Things you call suns us
thought little fires light sky at night. Wonder many night who build.
Wonder what is burn where is nothing. Wonder why only one big fire come
day. Wonder why big fire die come night."

Hanlon's disappointment about that was tempered somewhat when the
checker came running into his room where he was resting before dinner,
to tell him that his crew had suddenly got out almost half a ton more
ore that day than any previous record he had made.

* * * * *

A new cook had come to the mine recently. He had a fox terrier, and
Hanlon got into the habit of playing with the dog, to keep up his
ability to handle animal minds, and to learn more of the technique. He
was always careful to say out loud the command for whatever trick he
wanted the animal to perform, but actually he was controlling its brain
and nerves and muscles.

One evening he was working thus with the dog when Gorton, his head-wound
still bandaged, came into the messhall. Seeing Hanlon with the terrier,
his heavy lip curled.

"So th' fair-haired boy's also a animal trainer, eh?"

"That he is," Cookie said from the doorway leading into the kitchen.
"And good, too! He's got Brutus doing things I never knew a dog could
do."

Gorton sneered again. "Teachin' tricks t' a dog is kid stuff."

"Can you do it?" the cook asked sarcastically.

"Who'd bother t' try?"

Hanlon looked up, blandly. "You couldn't expect that of Mr. Gorton,
Cookie. To teach an anima