Linder gave a sour laugh as he moved down the catwalk, throwing one communication circuit after another to ON position. "I imagine they're going to play very coy before we wangle an answer out of them--but not because they're indifferent, Stern. It's impossible for people to be indifferent to their fellows--cooperation or hate, those are the two possibilities, and Nodar alone refuses to cooperate. _Why_ should they be indifferent? _What_ could they have to develop beside the universe of people around them?" "I don't know," Stern conceded. "I don't even think my explanation's the likely one--yours is--but we do have to consider everything." "In--dif--fe--rent," Linder repeated, provoking laughter from his crew. He whirled his bulky frame around with the usual surprising ease and snapped a receiving screen on. "Look at it again, look at what we've been picking up from them the last six days. I think they've known we're up here all along--deliberately pulling wool over our eyes." * * * * * To the tune of running squeaks and rumbles unshaped colors flowed across the screen mixed with equally shapeless flickers of black and white. "Certainly looks deliberate," said young Crawford who was Linder's second in command but not ordinarily one of the yesman chorus. "Doctor, as our Chief Semanticist, do you get any message at all out of that stuff?" "No," he conceded again. "The lack of a message," said the Commander, "there's your only message. A slap in our faces and a kick in our teeth!" His jaw tightened. "Even if it means our finish, we've got to go down there and find out what we can. Council will be receiving all our information on the fastest hyperspace beam unless and until Nodar cuts us off. Now let's get the job done!" Stern was the first to applaud and every man there followed suit. They had spent a gruelling three months at speeds far beyond that of light and were impatient to be finished with the assignment. Their eyes gleamed with barely-suppressed anger as Linder started calling Nodar. "We are from Supreme Council. We wish to land. Our mission is charity but we insist on the right to land." He had just begun to repeat the message when the prompt response came through, ungarbled. "Land any time. You have been out there one week, three hours, eighteen minutes, three seconds and never bothered to call us! You could have come in at any time." "They have known all along!" There was a great outburst of indignation. "Those meatheads making fun of us!" Linder held down the local sender at OFF while he turned to Stern. "A good sign for our safety, though, heh?" "Yes," Stern agreed emphatically. "If they wanted to pull us into a trap they wouldn't be annoying us at this stage. They probably won't throw any obstacles in our way when we leave." Linder nodded and pointed at Barnes. "Your team will keep communications open and we'll get data back to Terra as long as we can."