"True," admitted Taphetta. "We're heading toward what you would consider the fifth or sixth most likely star." Kelburn caught the implication. They all did. "Then you know where it is?" he asked, suspicion vanishing. "Not in the sense you're asking--no, I'm not sure it's what you're looking for. But there was once a great civilization there." "You knew this and didn't tell us?" "Why should I?" Taphetta looked at him in mild astonishment. "Before you hired me, I wouldn't tell you for obvious reasons. And afterward--well, you engaged all my skill and knowledge and I used them to bring you here by the shortest route. I didn't think it necessary to tell you until we actually arrived. Is that wrong?" It wasn't wrong; it merely illustrated the difference in the way an alien mind worked. Sooner or later, they would have found the place, but he had saved them months. "What's it like?" Emmer asked. Taphetta jiggled his ribbons. "I don't know. I was passing near here and saw the planet off to one side." "And you didn't stop?" Emmer was incredulous. "Why should I? We're great navigators because we do so much of it. We would never get very far if we stopped to examine everything that looks interesting. Besides, it's not a good policy in a strange region, especially with an unarmed ship." They wouldn't have that problem. The ship was armed well enough to keep off uncivilized marauders who had very recently reached the spaceship age, and only such people were apt to be inhospitable. "When will we land?" asked Halden. "In a few hours, but you can see the planet on our screens." Taphetta extended a head ribbon toward a knob and a planet came into view. There weren't two civilizations in the Milky Way that built on such a large scale, even from the distance that they could see it. Great, distinctive cities were everywhere. There was no question as to what they had found. "Now you'll learn why they ran away," said Taphetta. "A new theory," Kelburn said, though it wasn't, for they _had_ left. "What makes you think they were afraid?" "No air. If your calculations are right, there must have been an extensive atmosphere a few hundred thousand years ago and now there isn't any. A planet this size doesn't lose air that fast. Therefore, it's an artificial condition. Who takes the trouble to leave a planet uninhabitable except someone who's afraid others will use it--and who else runs away?" "They may have done it to preserve what they left," suggested Halden. "Perhaps," said Taphetta, but it was obvious he didn't think so. * * * * * The lack of air had one thing to recommend it--they needn't worry about their pests escaping. The disadvantage was that they had to wear spacesuits. They landed on top of a great building that was intact after thousands of years and still strong enough to support the added weight. And then-- Then there was nothing.