Sheltered by the mist and the darkness, the stolen barge moved rapidly north along the coast. Tak Laleen lay unconscious in the bottom of the boat, wrapped in her white uniform; Pendillo sat shivering beside her. Lanny and Gill stood in the stern. Although the motor was controlled by an automatic navigator, Gill tore out the flimsy destination tape and guided the wheel manually. "Even this the Almost-men can't do for themselves," he remarked to his brother. "Do you suppose they really can't read direction from the sun or the stars?" "All their brains are in their machines." "And machines are nothing." "Juan has always said that," Gill said slowly. "It sounds logical and reasonable. But I don't know what it means, Lanny!" For a long time they stood watching the heaving shadow of the sea, each of them trying in his own way to make sense of the riddle. Suddenly the motor sputtered. Gill tinkered with the machine until it was purring smoothly again. "The power cells are nearly empty," he said. "We'll have to run the barge aground sometime tomorrow and start walking again." "Yes, I know." Lanny clenched his fist over his brother's arm. "But how do we know it, Gill? How can we run this machine, when we have never seen it before?" Gill laughed uneasily. "Don't forget, before the invasion our people were pretty good at building machines, too." "That doesn't answer the question, Gill. When I fired the energy gun, I felt as if it were a part of myself--as if I knew all the cells in the metal just as I know my own." "That happened to me when I sat in the automobile in the showroom." "It scares me, Gill. I keep thinking I should remember something but--" "I was scared last night, too, because I thought I'd made the motor go by forcing it to move with my mind. And that's absurd. If we had that much control over machines, as we do over our hunting clubs, how could the enemy ever have defeated us?" Tak Laleen opened her eyes, then, and sat up stiffly. The wind struck her face and swept her hair back. Shivering, she pulled her uniform tight around her throat. "Where are you taking me?" she demanded. "You're our prisoner," Lanny answered. "The Sacred Triangle will not pay ransom. We volunteered to serve here on the earth; we knew the risks." Lanny moved toward her. Fearfully she slid away from him until her back was against the gunwale. "Don't touch me!" she begged. He shrugged and dropped on the deck close to her feet. "When you came out of the Triangle to take care of our sick, you never were repulsed by--" "Not the normal ones, no." "Your aversion applies only to me?" "Don't pretend." She twisted her hands together. "What kind of a--a thing are you?" Juan Pendillo intervened, "We dragged you aboard rather unceremoniously, Tak Laleen. Let me introduce my sons, Lanny and Gill." "You're lying. Where did you get the metals to make him?" Lanny stared at his father. "Is she--has her mind been affected--"