"Universal gesture?" asked Hammond. "No. Drake must have taught them that." "Drake?" asked Tet'h. "You like?" "Extremely doubtful," said Hammond. He was misunderstood. McBride said nothing but that pinching of the nose between thumb and forefinger conveyed the idea excellently. "Telfans ... no like Drake." "No?" "No. Tall. Ugly-bald." Tet'h indicated his own luxurious pelt and then became confused as he realized that the Terrans were of the same, "Ugly-bald" complexion. He covered his face with both hands and muttered something that sounded apologetic and humble. "Forget it," laughed McBride. "We ... like Telfans." "Not like Drake," said Tet'h. "Thanks," said Hammond honestly. "How know ... here?" asked Timkins. "You here?" asked Tet'h pointing to the ship and the surrounding landscape. "Aren't we?" grinned Timkins. "Save the fine rhetoric for later when they get the point of double talk," suggested Hammond. * * * * * Tet'h led them to the plane and Gormal and Elyon lifted a large case out. Tet'h opened it and handed McBride a little instrument. It was a cabinetless job, every part exposed. "Holy spinach," he said. "A mechanogravitic detector." Hammond got a small mechanical planetarium showing Telfu and a minute sphere. Tet'h pulled a roller-map out of the base and indicated Telfu and the sphere. The map was a fairly accurate contour map of the blanketed region's contour. Tet'h signified the cusp and then pointed to the position of Soaky. Below the cusp, Tet'h indicated the planet and then pointed to the ground. "Here," he said. McBride and Hammond tangled in an effort to shake Tet'h's hand. The Telfan looked proud. "Many years," he said haltingly. "Work," indicating the detector. He made assembly motions. He pulled a book of mathematical identities from a pocket and said: "Found ... here." Then he made vast motions indicating a large construction. "Many years ... try like hell ... no work." He indicated the small satellite. "He make stop." "Bright lads," grinned Hammond. "Their civilization was ready to discover the gravitic spectra. They did. They found it in math. They tried it and it didn't click too well. They discovered why. Never having anything of any great power operating, they never got to the point where they could build anything big enough to get off of Telfu. Just plain stuck. Well, fellers, if that moonlet is cupralum, I can see a lot of birds mining it." "How're they going to land on it? Nothing gravitic will be worth a hoot that close." "Lift 'em off the dead spot by battery-powered gravitics. Inefficient as hell. Get into space and then use rockets to land on that moonlet. Mine it. Load it full of detonite and blast." "A hundred-mile moonlet?" "They've got a nine-thousand-mile planet here to support it. They can't power their machinery with gravitrons, but electronics is an art worth remembering. One of the earlier atomic gadgets would do plenty."