A good job had been done on it, for all the speed. Rooms and corridors has been melted out of the rock, the floors had been carpeted, the walls painted, and the ceiling lined with light panels. All of the furnishings had been transferred here from the original dome, and the result looked, on the whole, quite livable. As livable as the dome had been, at least. But the base commander, Darquelnoy, waiting for his old friend Ebor near the inner door of the lock, looked anything but happy with the arrangement. At Ebor's entrance he raised a limp tentacle in weary greeting and said, "Come in, my friend, come in. Tell me the new jokes from home. I could use some cheering up." "None worth telling," said Ebor. He looked around. "What's happened here?" he asked. "Why've you gone underground? Why do you need cheering up?" Darquelnoy clicked his eyes in despair. "Those _things_!" he cried. "Those annoying little creatures on that blasted planet up there!" Ebor repressed an amused ripple. He knew Darquelnoy well enough to know that the commander invariably overstated things. "What've they been up to, Dar?" he asked. "Come on, you can tell me over a hot cup of restno." "I've been practically living on the stuff for the last two dren," said Darquelnoy hopelessly. "Well, I suppose another cup won't kill me. Come on to my quarters." "I've worked up a fine thirst on the trip," Ebor told him. * * * * * The two walked down the long corridor together and Ebor said, "Well? What happened?" "They came here," Darquelnoy told him simply. At Ebor's shocked look, he rippled in wan amusement and said, "Oh, it wasn't as bad as it might have been, I suppose. It was just that we had to rush around so frantically, unloading and dismantling the dome, getting this place ready--" "What do you mean, they _came_ here?" demanded Ebor. "They are absolutely the worst creatures for secrecy in the entire galaxy!" exclaimed Darquelnoy in irritation. "Absolutely the worst." "Then you've picked up at least one of their habits," Ebor told him. "Now stop talking in circles and tell me what happened." "They built a spaceship, is the long and the short of it," Darquelnoy answered. Ebor stopped in astonishment. "No!" "Don't tell me no!" cried Darquelnoy. "I _saw_ it!" He was obviously at his wit's end. "It's unbelievable," said Ebor. "I know," said Darquelnoy. He led the way into his quarters, motioned Ebor to a perch, and rang for his orderly. "It was just a little remote-controlled apparatus, of course," he said. "The fledgling attempt, you know. But it circled this Moon here, busily taking pictures, and went right back to the planet again, giving us all a terrible fright. There hadn't been the slightest indication they were planning anything _that_ spectacular." "None?" asked Ebor. "Not a hint?"