"Well?" he wheezed. "Have you no suggestions in case he does have to destroy the subspace ship?" Ullo twirled one tentacle tip in the mud of his tub until he collected a sticky blob. This he flipped away with a snap of the tentacle. He derived a slight satisfaction from the _splat_ against the far wall. "We must try to preserve _one_ of his collections of information," he said. "It would entail considerable expense--not to mention time--to replace Zoya and repeat the scouting." Ahnu shifted his position irritably. Ullo saw that his reference to expense had been a shrewd blow. The Supervisor snorted and bubbled, but finally conceded that much and gestured for Ullo to continue. "So it would be unfortunate if he should succeed in regaining his big ship, only to return to his base and find it occupied by exploring _Earthmen_." "What do you suggest, then?" "He should try for _either_ the base or the ship, and arrange to destroy the other! If he can remain undetected for a short time at the base, he can dispose of his specimens after forwarding a report on them. If he gets to the ship safely, why leave behind any clues at all?" After considerable wheezing and puffing, it was agreed that Zoya should take a chance on having his base discovered while he was away, but provide for the eventuality by arranging a bomb that would be set off by the approach of any strange ship. He admitted that he already had one, keyed to be safe only after certain signals from his own rocket. He had only to hook it up. "If you do have to return," advised Ullo, "clean out your dissecting room and then make friends with the _Earthmen_. Give them some story of being cast away, and ask help in building a new ship." "You mean ... install our kind of drive without their knowing?" "Exactly!" said Ahnu, taking to the idea. "Then just drop out of sight some fine day and leave them wondering which way you went." At this point, Viri made bold to request that Zoya leave the televisor at the base operating, with a continuous view of the main chamber as now shown. He began to explain that he wanted to be sure not to lose contact, but Ahnu had heard enough. He cut Viri short by climbing out of his mud tub. "That settles it then," he summed up to Zoya. "If you _are_ forced to destroy the subspace ship, report from the base when you return and are ready to contact the natives. Otherwise, report from the ship!" He waddled out of the communications chamber without ceremony, followed by Ullo Dah-Gow. * * * * * The next day, the latter was kept busy with the many reports of arid planets he had to file in order to justify the expenses of exploration. _He always leaves explaining the budget to me_, he thought. He did, however, snatch time to put a copy tape of the last installment of Zoya's preliminary report on the speaker, having felt ill at ease for not being completely up to date at the previous evening's conference.