The animal ship was landed while the controlling vessel hovered high above to note reactions. After a time, the first ship took off and the two sped back to Siykul. Tests previously conducted had proven that animals could be made insane by inaudible notes of music and by scientifically-induced frustration. But these animals had not been affected by their exposure to whatever it was that had driven their more intelligent neighbors into idiocy. It was therefore assumed that the malignant aura which hung over the green continent could affect only the brainy, possibly because the aura was electrical in nature and in some way short-circuited the brain through thought, which is another form of electricity. Hence the pilgrimage of the little Siykulan. Provided with what might best be described as a brainmeter, or intelligence-tester, he had roamed the spaceways in his golden ship searching for a race with a modicum of intelligence, but not too much. Steve put out his cigarette. "It's been a very interesting story, Peachy," he said, "if not very complimentary, but I'm sorry we can't oblige you. We have a date on Jupiter." "Yes," said Myra. "We're sorry to have to chase you out like this, but we must be getting on. Drop in to see us again any time you're in the neighborhood." Although there was no change in the demeanor of the Siykulan, or in the inflection of the voice that came from him through the black box, he seemed to them suddenly stern and, ridiculous though it seemed in one his size, awesome. "You must do what I say. You don't seem to understand that upon you rests the fate of five hundred million people...." "... like you," said Myra scornfully. "Like me," said Peachy proudly. "They are depending on me, and I shall not fail them. You need have no fear of not being compensated--" "It's not compensation," said Steve. "I don't know what your life span is, but ours is roughly a hundred years, and we aren't anxious to waste any of it on a trip to Centauri." "So!" said Peachy triumphantly, "since that is your only objection, you will--" "It's _not_ our only objection," said Myra, but Peachy went on inexorably. "--you will be glad to know that we are already in the atmosphere of my planet." "Don't be silly," said Steve. Then, uncertainly, "We couldn't be." "You shall see," said Peachy. He dropped his wire and glided to his own ship. He returned in a moment and with a grandiloquent motion of his hand, indicated the opaque, glass-like bubble. As they watched, it wavered and grew transparent, then disappeared. The Horn's space-launch and the meteor ship of the Siykulan were drifting a scant ten miles above an alien planet from which immense buildings, for as far as they could see, reached up to them like greedy fingers. * * * * * Steve Horn flicked cigarette ashes onto the floor of what seemed to be the room of a Siykulan hotel.