? Are we
supposed to be hiding anything?"

"I told you not to trust them!" Manning snapped. "Now if you can't even
match wits with a senile horsehead...."

"You were the one who said they might be more adept at telepathy than we
are," Rynason said. "It was a chance we had to take."

"There's a difference between taking chances and handing them
information on a silver platter," Manning said angrily. "Did you make
any effort at all to keep him from finding out too much about us?"

Rynason shrugged. "I kept him pretty busy. All of the time I was running
through Tebron's memories I could feel Horng screaming somewhere; he
must have been too upset to do any probing in my mind."

Manning was silent for a moment. "Let's hope so," he said shortly. "If
they find out how weak we are, how long it would take us to get
reinforcements out here...."

"They're still just a dying race, remember," Rynason said. "They're not
the Outsiders. What makes you so sure that they're dangerous?"

"Oh, come _on_, Lee! Think! They're in contact with the Outsiders; you
said so yourself. And just remember this: _the Outsiders obviously
considered it inevitable that there would be war between us_. Now put
those two facts together and tell me the horses aren't dangerous!"

Rynason said slowly, "It isn't as simple as that. The order given to
Tebron was to stop all scientific progress and stifle any military
development, and he seems to have done just that. The idea was that if
the Hirlaji were harmless when we found them there might be no need for
fighting."

"Perhaps. But we weren't supposed to know that they were in contact with
the Outsiders, either--that was probably part of the purpose of the
block in the race-memory. But we got through the block, and they know
it, and presumably by now the Outsiders know it. That changes the
picture, and I'd like to know just how much it changes it."

"They're not in contact with the Outsiders any longer," said Rynason.

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Tebron broke the contact--that was in the orders too. The priesthood,
which had been the connecting link with the Outsiders through the
machine, was disbanded. When Tebron died he didn't appoint a successor;
the machine hasn't been used since."

Manning thought about that, still frowning. "Where is the machine?"

"I don't know. If it hasn't been kept in repair it might not even be
usable any more, wherever it is."

"I'll tell you something, Lee,