He stared at it, relief forming nebulously in his mind. A bird _had_ been there. How it had gotten in and then out again through closed doors, he didn't know. That part was unimportant. It _had_ been there. It wasn't a hallucination, though for a time he'd almost believed it himself. Now he knew. Gingerly he picked up the feather. It was no proof, except to himself. That was enough. He could do something about it. The trap for him was set, but wouldn't be closed immediately. The ship would not go out of the way except in extreme emergency. In another four months it would run low on fuel and material for the tagging operation, assuming normal conditions. The ship would then return to the nearest inhabited planet. That was the way tag ships operated. Unlike other ships, freight or passenger, their objective was not to get from one inhabited planet to another as fast as possible, but to stay away as long as they could. For that reason, of all ships, they alone had to have the plant. No other food supply was so economical of space and weight. Once they reached a planet, he'd be referred to the authorities for psychiatric examination. Eventually he'd be cleared, but by then it would be too late. _Unless he could forestall it._ There was a way to do that, though it was dangerous for him, and he stood a chance of ruining the plant. He made up his mind and went back down the line of controls. Larienne might question some of the new settings, but she'd defer to his judgment. It took two weeks for the plant to decline so even the captain could see that it was impossible to go on. As master of the ship, he disliked abandoning tagging operations even temporarily, but the crew had to eat. * * * * * It was a planet. Nothing out of the ordinary, there were many planets like Earth. Not many that were settled, though; almost uniformly, that kind of planet lacked the heavy elements that made colonization economically feasible. It was pleasant and sunny, great grassy glades and an equal amount of forests. No intelligent life on it, so there was nothing to worry about on that score. Animals, big and little, but ordinary weapons would discourage them. Half a mile away was the ship, ready for instant flight. Not that there was anything to flee from. That was the way it had to come down if it was ever to rise again. The plant had been stripped to components and spread over the ground. An extensive layout, but it was necessary if the plant was going to get full benefit of planetary conditions. It had been put together to facilitate disassembly, and it hadn't taken long to remove it from the ship. A transparent canopy covered it, protection from the elements. A sudden rainstorm could drastically alter the concentration of the vital fluids. There was also an electrified fence to keep out stray animals.