d of them. Of course ordinary people didn't refer to themselves
as _homo terrestrialis_, but that's what they were just the same.

Scotty was just as puzzled. "Do you make anything out of it?" he
inquired.

Rick shook his head mutely.

As Barby made a beeline for the library, Scotty called after her, "Where
are you going? It's lunchtime."

She answered without pausing. "I'm going to consult the dictionary
before Dr. Gordon comes down."

"Maybe she has something there," Rick said. "Let's go."

But the dictionary gave no clues. _Homo_ was simply "man," and
_terrestrial_ was simply "of earth."

"Terrestrial is in here, but not terrestrialis," Barby complained.

"Same thing," Rick said. "Adding 'is' just makes it a Latin form. No,
there's nothing strange about the term, except it's strange that anyone
should use it."

"We'll find out," Scotty reminded him. "John Gordon was just teasing us.
Let's go eat. Maybe he'll break down at lunch."

Rick realized the sense of what Scotty said, but he couldn't stop
worrying the problem as his dog, Dismal, might worry a bone. Then, when
they all sat down to lunch, his father effectively blocked discussion of
it, and their new assignment, by talking with Dr. Gordon about mutual
friends out West.

Finally Mrs. Brant came to her son's rescue. "Now, Hartson, and you too,
John. You've teased Rick and Scotty enough."

Mr. Brant chuckled. "I wondered how long he was going to put up with our
reminiscences before blowing a fuse or something."

Rick grinned sheepishly. He should have guessed that the two scientists
were deliberately keeping the conversation off the main subject just as
a joke.

John Gordon took a generous helping of salad. "All right. I'll talk, but
you'll have to excuse me if I mumble a little. I intend to go right on
eating. I've been looking forward to this for months!"

"We'll excuse you," Barby said quickly. "Only please start!"

Gordon smiled at her. "Can you keep secrets?"

"I always have," Barby retorted.

"All right. Then you can listen. But what I say must not be repeated."

The scientist paused long enough to drain his glass of milk and refill
it from the pitcher.

"Well, to begin with, we moved from New Mexico to Nevada only a short
while ago, in order to separate our work from military research. We
created a new test base in Nevada, not too far from the Atomic Energy
Commission's Nevada Test Site, although we have no connection with it."

"T