A minute later the red-faced visitors were set back on their feet while most of their mild assailants walked away, each laughing on one side of his face or the other. Jackson held two empty palms toward them. "You see--nothing else. You are free to go." Linder struggled to reassert his dignity. "This isn't the end of the matter." "Of course not, Commander. Some day we'll reestablish the contact you so ardently desire. Very peacefully too." "Council will not wait _that_ long," Linder said over his shoulder as he stalked away. * * * * * They returned to the ship in silence and when those who had remained on board demanded to know what had happened Linder insisted they be told nothing. "The matter," he said ominously, "will be settled when we reach Terra. Stern, you're to keep silent too. Council is going to be very interested in finding out why you received such favored treatment." "But, Commander, I think I have a slight idea what this is all about--" "Not interested in your ideas," Linder said angrily, striding away. "Tell them to Council." "I don't have the equipment in my cabin to work the analysis out." "Silence!" Linder had turned at the door of Stern's cabin and was glaring at him. "I don't want to hear a word from you the rest of this voyage." Stern sighed and calmly sat down at his desk to make some preliminary calculations. It would probably work out all right; after a few days in hyperspace Linder would come to him, more or less his old congenial self, and this prohibition would be quickly forgotten. But it did not work out that way. Every time Stern started a conversation with the Commander or Barnes they stared unresponsively at him and even Crawford sometimes backed away, trying to exchange as few words as possible. One day Linder approached the permaquartz window to find Stern, deep in thought, muttering to himself some ancient rhyme about _Patty cake, patty cake, baker man_. Oblivious to everything else about him, Stern was holding his right hand above his head and his left close to his stomach. The right hand, palm downward was moving in a clockwise direction while the other went anti-clockwise, but at the words _Baker man_ the movement of both hands was abruptly reversed. For a while Linder watched these reversals, sometimes inaccurately changed into both clockwise or both anti-clockwise movements. Finally he said "Hmmph!" and strode away, leaving Stern standing there in confusion at discovering he had been observed.