nd his fellows labored day
after day learning every secret of every item of armament and equipment
aboard the heptagon.

"Did you finish up today, Norm?" asked Stevens one evening. "Kromodeor's
coming to life fast. He's able to wiggle around a little now, and is
insisting that we take off the one chain we keep on him and let him use
a plate, to call his people."

"All washed up. Guess I'll go in and talk to him--you all say he's such
an egg. With this stuff off my mind I can hide it well enough. By the
way, what does he eat?" And the two friends set out for the Venerian
rooms.

"Anything that's sweet, apparently, with just enough milk to furnish a
little protein. Won't eat meat or vegetables at all--von Steiffel says
they haven't got much of a digestive tract, and I know that they haven't
got any teeth. He's already eaten most all the syrup we had on board,
all of the milk chocolate, and a lot of the sugar. But none of us can
get any kind of a raise out of him at all--not even Nadia, when she fed
him a whole box of chocolates."

"No, I mean what does he eat when he's home?"

"It seems to be a sort of syrup, made from the juices of jungle plants,
which they drag in on automatic conveyors and process on automatic
machinery. But he's a funny mutt--hard to get. Some of his thoughts are
lucid enough, but others we can't make out at all--they are so foreign
to all human nature that they simply do not register as thoughts at all.
One funny thing, he isn't the least bit curious about anything. He
doesn't want to examine anything, doesn't ask us any questions, and
won't tell us anything about anything, so that all we know about him we
found out purely by accident. For instance, they like games and sports,
and seem to have families. They also have love, liking, and respect for
others of their own race--but they seem to have no emotions whatever for
outsiders. They're utterly inhuman--I can't describe it--you'll have to
get it for yourself."

"Did you find out about the Callistonians who went to see them?"

"Negatively, yes. They never arrived. They probably couldn't see in the
fog and must have missed the city. If they tried to land in that jungle,
it was just too bad!"

"That would account for everything. So they're strictly neutral, eh?
Well, I'll tell him 'hi,' anyway." Now in the sickroom, Brandon picked
up the headset and sent out a wave of cheery greeting.

To his amazement, the mind of the Vorkul was utterly unr