The boy's fingers flew over his controls and in a matter of seconds he had the Estival Telephone Exchange. The first operator spoke no Terranian languages at all. The second one could only speak French and German. Then the chief operator took over and filled the room with the peculiar sing song quality of a Priman speaking English. Grimes reminded himself that the Primans had done a miraculous job in learning any Terranian tongues at all, considering the terrific strain under which the teaching had taken place. They had been taught from the air by Dr. Allen Russell, after the first Terranian exploration had ended in a hundred per cent fatalities. Then the famous doctor himself had landed and had never made it back to his ship. That had set off the clamor at home for direct action against the dark skinned people of Primus. Mobs had actually stormed the UN building in Paris demanding blood. Grimes aroused himself with a contemptuous shrug. Blood! The imbeciles! Most of them didn't know enough about Primans to know if they even had any blood; yet they were sure it was a case of wholesale murder. The Primans didn't want anybody to get their precious uranium ore--that was the popular belief. And he had to risk the lives of the best space crew ever assembled to satisfy their impatience or the UN would be forced into a full scale attack. "Here's the Mayor of Estival, sir," the radio operator said. Grimes took a handset. "Captain Grimes ... Spaceship Vulcan ... Mister." He waited for the acknowledgement. The mayor's voice was high pitched and unsteady, but his command of English was more than satisfactory. "Mister of Estival," he said. "Greetings, Captain Grimes. Will you land?" "We ... will ... not ... land ... at ... once. Our ... mission ... may ... be ... the ... last ... peaceful ... one ... to ... visit ... Primus ... if ... the ... mystery ... of ... the ... Terranians' ... deaths ... is ... not ... solved." "I understand you very well, Captain. You may speak more readily with me. What can I do to help you?" Grimes relaxed and winked encouragingly at the doctor and Manson, then turned his attention back to the radio. "We want a complete explanation of the cause of death of all Terranians who have landed on Primus. Have you performed autopsies on any of the bodies?" "We are not equipped to operate as you are, Captain. We have almost no medical science on Primus. We are doing what we can but so far we have discovered nothing." "My orders are to exploit every possibility. After us will come only a task force, Mayor of Estival." * * * * * The mayor's voice carried a certain anxiety in spite of its sing-song quality. "Of course we will try to defend ourselves, but it would be hopeless. Our civilization is much further advanced than yours in many ways, but we have none of your weapons of war. We wouldn't even know how to take care of our wounded."