"What do you call yourselves?" Tensor asked without difficulty, using sound patterns similar to what they had employed. "You speak English!" the creature blurted out in amazement, and Tensor felt rather irritated by its crude facial expression. He made a small adjustment, however, bringing his own somatic state into a closer harmony with that of the creature, and the desired level of contented appreciation rose. "Are--are you a native?" it asked hesitantly. "Yes," Tensor replied. It gazed at him with half closed, calculating eyes, starting at the head, running slowly to his feet and back again. "You look human," it muttered. "Naturally," Tensor replied cheerfully. The appreciation was growing subtly now, and he found that the creature's mouth interested him. It was a strikingly lovely shade of red--always Tensor's favorite color. And although there was a heavy and awkward sheath of artificial fabric about the alien, he observed with a rising fascination that the bulging of the thoracic sheathing indicated that it was female. Tensor became uncomfortably aware that he had better be careful of his induced somatic sympathy. After a moment of speculative silence, he said, "You haven't told me what you savages consider yourselves." "Don't call me a savage, you naked beast," she snapped back. "I beg your pardon," he murmured politely. "Merely a semantic difficulty. I'm sure. I assume that you consider yourselves human beings, then. Where do you come from?" "Earth--the third planet." "I see. And you used mechanical devices such as this little metal egg to get here. Most curious." Tensor contemplated the thought with great interest, for obviously they used mechanical skill to compensate for lack of direct control. An exceedingly poor substitute, of course; but it explained everything he wanted to know. "Are there many of you natives?" she asked him cautiously. "Not like there used to be," Tensor admitted. "But still quite a few--though not so many we get on each other's nerves." "How many in round numbers?" That was a silly question, Tensor thought. Nevertheless he told her, "Oh, I suppose about thirty or a hundred. We haven't counted for centuries. Nobody's interested." She appeared to be deeply absorbed in thought, gazing at him in an almost detached fashion. Finally she said. "Your civilization is based on the mind, isn't it? You do things with an act of will instead of with your hands." "Naturally. That is the essential mark of civilization. At least," he added politely, "from our point of view." "Are you--telepathic?" "Only with other telepaths," he said simply. "Then how did you learn my language?" "Oh, after you talk it a bit. I can see certain relationships. But the mental pictures are so discontinuous and nonspecific that it takes a little time before the pattern emerges." "That means you don't actually know what I am thinking?" "Correct. You have the potential, but you don't have the control necessary to permit it."