Onin was sniffing at the warm thickness of the Venusian air, his slowly awakening eyes studying the ten-foot circle of mossy grass and brush visible. His shoulders were straightening and his movements were steadier. "She says it is peculiar that I know so many words and am so familiar with cities and machinery she mentions. It is as though that knowledge was placed in our brains when we were created." Onin grunted something and started off into the nik-nik brush away from the invisible spacer. Jay followed, his hand on the crude metal club that Ina permitted him to carry. "The ship's back this way." Jay touched Onin's shoulder. "And you forgot your bundle of roots and fruit." Onin stopped and faced Jay defiantly. Something trembled on his lips and then he frowned, shaking his bony skull. He clawed at the strap, riveted securely under his chin. "Off," he gurgled. "Take it off." "And have your head blown off too? Not much. To protect the controls from tampering the technicians have planted explosives in the helmet. It's suicide." Onin's fingers dropped away, his eyes thoughtful. When he spoke again his rusty uncertain voice was steadier. "Let's go back," he said. "Later we may learn ... how." "How?" "How to take them off." Onin was scowling again. "The humans must not know your batteries are gone." "No," Onin agreed, his deep-set brown eyes studied Jay. "Without the helmets we could be ... like them." Jay Forsix nodded. "I have thought of that, many times. But the women would know. They would tell, and we would be destroyed." "They die too," the lanky one muttered, scowling. "Why not?" "No." Jay hesitated. "No, I could not see Ina, or even the sulky one killed. And we know too little." The lanky animat's brain seemed to be awakening swiftly now. He laughed. "Already you think of yourself as a man," he told Jay. "You are in love with the tall female." "Perhaps I am." Jay thumbed the line of his jawbone. "I feel a, sort of warmth ... a happiness ... when they are near." Onin snorted out a disgusted exclamation. "Or perhaps you are like a dog worshipping its master." Jay swung his fist at Onin's jaw. Onin dodged, grinning. "You are wrong," Jay spat out. "I am a man!" Onin shrugged. "All X here, _animat_. Call yourself a man." "We will take all the batteries from the others," said Jay, disregarding Onin's jeer. "Perhaps the searchers will not find the wreck and we can go on living here. There are books and recordings to study." Onin's mouth twisted. "Small chance. _They_ know the ship crashed somewhere in this area. And with the Draper female aboard they'll spare no expense." "I heard rocket motors yesterday," admitted Jay. A sodden thud-thud of approaching feet warned them of another's advance. Jay gripped his club tighter and waited, crouching. "A _butrad_?" Onin muttered, referring to the gray-skinned froglike natives of Venus.