"Ah, come on," Mr. Mason said. "He won't bite you." He led the way up the steps of the porch and into the lounge and over to where a small, mustachioed man, wearing eyeglasses and appearing to be in his late forties, was working a crossword puzzle in the morning paper. "Mr. Steariot," Mr. Mason said, "I should like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, also guests here. They have just seen your saucer." "Charmed," Mr. Steariot said, and got to his feet. He shook hands with Fred Daniels. "Are you here for a long stay, Mr. Daniels?" "I'm not sure," Fred said, a little unhappily. "Mr. Mason told us you were from Venus." "I told them about you, Mr. Steariot," Mr. Mason said. "Naturally, they don't believe it any more than anybody else." "No reason why they should," Mr. Steariot said amiably. "No reason in the world, if I may coin a phrase. Dr. Phelps at the Institute didn't believe it either." Mr. Mason said, "Mr. Steariot here had a long interview with Dr. Phelps of the Geophysical Institute at Princeton when he first arrived here on Earth with us." "Oh," Fred said. He gazed uncomfortably at Mr. Steariot. "We didn't mean to interrupt you." "I was only doing the crossword puzzle," Mr. Steariot said. "Do you know a two-letter word for sun-god?" Alice said, "Is this your first trip here?" "You mean here to the hotel," Mr. Steariot said, "or to Earth?" "Earth," Fred said, dismally. "My second," Mr. Steariot said. "First trip I wound up near Leningrad. Terrible time. I thought they'd talk English, but they don't, and they thought I was an American, and two of their officials got into the saucer with me, and the only way I could save myself was to take off with them. They're on Venus now." "This accounts," Mr. Mason broke in, "for the way those two high Russian officials suddenly disappeared from sight three years ago. You remember? Everybody thought they'd been liquidated." Fred Daniels looked around the room. A hollow, frightening feeling had come upon him. There were hundreds of questions he could have asked, and yet he wanted nothing so much as to be away from there. His wife Alice, though, was constrained to learn more about Mr. Steariot. She said, "Mr. Steariot, may I ask you something?" "By all means," Mr. Steariot said, and blinked owlishly at her. "Do you," Alice said to him, "carry any money?" It was, Fred Daniels realized, a marvelous question. If there were sham here, this would be the quickest way to-- "Why, of course." Mr. Steariot said, and reached for his wallet. "Let's see--health insurance--saucer driver's license--here, my dear. A five-djino bill." He extracted a yellow banknote and handed it to Alice. The banknote, slightly larger than an American dollar bill, was remarkably similar in other particulars. It had upon it a picture of a flying saucer, the figure 5, and, spelled out, "FIVE DJINOS". "Let me sign it for you," Mr. Steariot said, taking out a pen. "You can have it for a souvenier."