A blossom of color spread from Browne's neck over his face. At last he said slowly, "I don't know how I can convince you, but I had no schemes." Lesbee gazed at Browne's open countenance, and suddenly he realized that the officer was sincere. Browne had accepted the compromise. The solution of a joint captaincy was agreeable to him. Sitting there, Lesbee experienced an enormous joy. Seconds went by before he realized what underlay the intense pleasurable excitement. It was simply the discovery that--communication worked. You could tell your truth and get a hearing ... if it made sense. It seemed to him that his truth made a lot of sense. He was offering Browne peace aboard the ship. Peace at a price, of course; but still peace. And in this severe emergency Browne recognized the entire validity of the solution. So it was now evident to Lesbee. Without further hesitation he told Browne that the creatures who had boarded the lifeboat, were robots--not alive at all. * * * * * Browne was nodding thoughtfully. Finally he said: "But I don't see how this could be utilized to take over the ship." Lesbee said patiently, "As you know, sir, the remote landing control system includes five principal ideas which are projected very forcibly on the thought level. Three of these are for guidance--up, down and sideways. Intense magnetic fields, any one of which could partially jam a complex robot's thinking processes. The fourth and fifth are instructions to blast either up or down. The force of the blast depends on how far the control is turned on. Since the energy used is overwhelming those simple commands would take pre-emption over the robot. When that first one came aboard the lifeboat, I had a scan receiver--nondetectable--on him. This registered two power sources, one pointing forward, one backward, from the chest level. That's why I had him on his back when I brought him in here. But the fact is I could have had him tilted and pointing at a target, and activated either control four or five, thus destroying whatever was in the path of the resulting blast. Naturally, I took all possible precautions to make sure that this did not happen until you had indicated what you intended to do. One of these precautions would enable us to catch this creature's thoughts without--" As he was speaking, he eagerly put his hand into his pocket, intending to show the older man the tiny on-off control device by which--when it was off--they would be able to read Dzing's thoughts without removing him from the cage. He stopped short in his explanation, because an ugly expression had come suddenly into Browne's face. The big man glanced at Third Officer Mindel. "Well, Dan," he said, "do you think that's it?" Lesbee noticed with shock that Mindel had on sound amplifying earphones. He must have overheard every word that Browne and he had spoken to each other.