And now there was famine on Dara for the second time, and they were of no mind to starve quietly. There was food on the planet Orede, monstrous herds of cattle without owners. It was natural enough for Darians to build a ship or ships and try to bring food back to its starving people. But that desperately necessary enterprise had now roused Weald to a frenzy of apprehension. Weald was if possible more hysterically afraid of blueskins than ever before, and even more implacably the enemy of the starving planet's population. Weald itself throve and prospered. Ironically, it had such an excess of foodstuffs that it stored them in unneeded space-ships in orbits about itself. Hundreds of thousands of tons of grain circled Weald in sealed-tight hulks, while the people of Dara starved and only dared try to steal--it could be called stealing--some of the innumerable wild cattle of Orede. The blueskins on Orede could not trust Calhoun, so they pretended not to hear--or maybe they didn't hear. They'd been abandoned and betrayed by all of humanity beyond their world. They'd been threatened and oppressed by guardships in orbit about them, ready to shoot down any space-craft they might send aloft. So Calhoun pondered ... * * * * * A long time later Calhoun heard small sounds which were not normal on a Med Ship in overdrive. They were not part of the random noises carefully generated to keep the silence of the ship endurable. Calhoun raised his head. He listened sharply. No sound could come from outside. He knocked on the door of the sleeping-cabin. The noises stopped instantly. "Come out," he commanded through the door. "I'm--I'm all right," said Maril's voice. But it was not quite steady. She paused. "I was just having a bad dream." "I wish," said Calhoun, "that you'd tell me the truth occasionally! Come out, please!" There were stirrings. After a little the door opened and Maril appeared. She looked as if she'd been crying. She said quickly; "I probably look queer, but it's because I was asleep." "To the contrary," said Calhoun, fuming, "you've been lying awake crying. I don't know why. I've been out here wishing I could sleep, because I'm frustrated. But since you aren't asleep maybe you can help me with my job. I've figured some things out. For some others I need facts. How about it?" She swallowed. "I'll try." "Coffee?" he asked. Murgatroyd popped his head out of his miniature sleeping-cabin. "_Chee?_" he asked interestedly. "Go back to sleep!" snapped Calhoun. He began to pace back and forth.