Docchi was leaning against the command unit. The telescreen on the opposite wall was glowing but there was nothing on it except harsh white glare. "I tried to get you at the hospital as soon as they stopped talking. You'd just left." "They didn't call until they got close?" A smile had died on his face and the corpse of it was still there. "They nailed us dead. We should have had someone checking on the scanner. It works turned away from the planet. I guess it wouldn't have done any good though--there was just too much space to cover. First thing we knew they were on the telescreen. Jordan went outside, and there they were." She was thinking of the people on the planet. The asteroid couldn't abandon them. She hoped the scout didn't know how vulnerable they were. "What did they say?" "The general sent an urgent message. He asked us not to land on this or any other planet." "He _asked_ us?" The general was accustomed to commanding. His face was illuminated with the weak radiance of his veins. "I didn't tell them we _had_ landed and I don't think they observed it." He stopped to recall what she said and the effort was painful. "Oh yes, the general asked us. Below the cloud banks he discovered an alien civilization on the Saturn type planet and is negotiating with them. Naturally they'd regard it as a hostile act on the part of mankind if we occupied a planet in their system without first asking." Jeriann touched the absorption capsules without feeling them. "Aliens!" "You were right, though you had no right to be. Not that it would have made any difference what we thought. As long as the general was cruising around the planet we wouldn't have dared investigate." It didn't pay to generalize on what they learned from one planet, in one system. When man had journeyed throughout the galaxy there would still be surprises waiting for him when he came to the other side. "Let the expedition worry about hostile acts," said Jeriann. "If the aliens break off negotiations, so much the better for us." "You forget we didn't come solely for ourselves. We hoped to make ourselves useful to mankind. What kind of disservice is that, to embroil humanity in a war with the first aliens we meet?" His face was flaring and white and the smile gone. "Don't," whispered Jeriann. "I'm afraid of lightning--yours most of all. I expect to hear thunder and be struck dead." "I'm sorry," he said. "We have a right to think of ourselves but not exclusively of ourselves." "I mean, do they care? If they live on that planet they can't want this. They couldn't survive under such different conditions. Astronomical observations must be difficult with so many clouds and without space travel are we sure the aliens even know about this world?" He blinked wearily. "We took a chance. We had to. They have space travel. The general wouldn't be so anxious not to offend them if they were inferior to our own civilization." "But we didn't see their ships."