"The same thing applies to the ship. Not only that, but suppose I steal an object right out of the hands of a human and place it elsewhere. To his mind it ceases to exist--never did exist. There was nothing to move it; it could not move itself; so his weak intellect takes the easiest way out by rejecting the whole affair. "All in all, we are about as safe as we could be. As long as there is one non-believer somewhere near us." "It is a good thing," remarked Koosh. "The Earthmen might resent us if they knew of our presence." "Yes." Thuko abruptly dismissed the subject and said, "I am increasingly aware of the pangs of hunger. Perhaps we could best launch our sojourn on Earth with a festive orgy at some food emporium." Koosh liked the idea and forthwith they hopped off in search of a supermarket, of which they had heard much from returning vacationers. Enough to start them drooling in anticipation. In the first two blocks they bounded past a dozen or more pedestrians, each of whom paid them no attention. Five blocks more and they found what they were looking for. It bore the name of a well-known chain, though the colorful sign was meaningless to the Shisti and his assistant, since the Martians had never taken the trouble to learn any of Earth's multifarious languages, either written or spoken. They entered, and at once their organs of scent were assailed by such a profusion of saliva inspiring odors that Koosh all but collapsed in an ague of rapture. He grasped a wheeled contrivance for support. Thuko wasted no time in such preliminaries, but hopped frantically down the aisle into the produce department, grabbed a huge cabbage and began eating with all the gusto of a circus fat lady down to her last three hundred pounds. Nearby the produce clerk leaned drowsily against the sacked potato display, enjoying the respite offered by a mid-morning slack period. Oblivious to the theft of the cabbage and the crunching sounds resultant therefrom, he speculatively eyed an under-dressed blonde tripping by the window. Thuko finished the vegetable and without pause started on a stalk of bananas. Meanwhile, in another aisle, Koosh had discovered the delights of Gro-Pup and was well into his second box. There was a lifetime of near-starvation to counterbalance, and if that could be done in one short year this voracious team would obviously accomplish it. They moved slowly along the shelves, stowing away incredible amounts of food and drink. When at last their paths met in the canned goods section, Thuko picked up one of the cylindrical objects and stared at it, thinking. Koosh waited patiently. A minute passed and it seemed the problem would defeat the Assistant Shisti. But then his eye was caught by the butcher wielding a cleaver on a side of beef.