He put the other headband on, accepted the first, and walked out of the apartment, followed by Graham, who still carried the cap. As they came out and started across the parking lot, a man approached them. Bond looked at him, frowned, then cast a sidelong look at Graham. "_That what you meant?_" His thought carried an undercurrent of incredulity. Graham nodded wordlessly, and Bond looked toward the approaching man again. Once more, his face wrinkled distastefully, then he spoke aloud. "Oh, Ross. Want you to try some thing." He held out the headband he was carrying in his left hand. Ross came up, accepted the device, and looked at it curiously. "You mean this is the thing he's been working on?" He jerked a thumb at Graham. "Saw his wife come out a while ago. Guess she had one of 'em on. She went right back in again." Bond nodded. "This is it," he said. "Let's see how it works for you." Ross shrugged. "Try anything once, I guess." He adjusted the band to his head, then stood, looking at the two men. "_Notice anything?_" Bond looked at him sharply. Again, Ross shrugged. "Nothing special," he said with a slight grunt. "Seems as though this guy's pretty nervous." "_You don't have to say anything, just think it. And see if you can communicate with Graham._" "Huh?" Ross had been looking directly at Bond. He frowned. "_You mean, this thing--_" He paused, looking for a moment at Graham, then took the headband off. "Thing doesn't feel good," he complained. He held the device out to Bond, who accepted it. "But it works? You could communicate both ways with it?" "Oh, sure." Ross nodded grudgingly. "I got you, all right. But I couldn't get a thing out of this guy." He wagged his head toward Graham. "Except he was jittery about something." "I see. Thanks." Bond accepted the headband. "We're going to take these to Research," he added. "Let the technicians there find out how good they are." He turned away and led Graham to his helicopter. As Graham settled in the seat, he turned to the sector leader. "He just couldn't use it properly," he remarked. "Maybe only certain people _can_ use them." Bond nodded as he started the motor. "Or maybe only certain people can't." He busied himself in getting the machine up through the landing slot, then turned as they climbed into the night sky. "Maybe you've got to be able to understand and like people before you can establish full contact with them. Maybe ... Maybe a lot of things." He was silent for a moment. "You know, this thing might become far more valuable than you thought, Graham." * * * * * Howard Morely looked up from a memo as the clerk tapped on the door. "Come in." The man opened the door and stepped inside. "Sector Leader Bond is here, sir. He has some gentlemen with him." "And what does he want?" "He said it was about that new communicator, sir."