hed. The owl, I
mean."

"So did mine," Jeff said.

While they stood marveling, the owls came back.

* * * * *

Chafis Three and Four were horribly shaken by the initial attempt at
communication with the natives. Nothing in Ciriimian experience had
prepared them for creatures intelligent but illogical, individually
perceptive yet isolated from each other.

"Communication by audible symbol," Chafi Three said. He ruffled his
feathers in a shudder. "Barbarous!"

"Atavistic," agreed Chafi Four. "They could even _lie_ to each other."

But their dilemma remained. They must warn the natives before the
prowling Zid found them, else there would be no natives.

"We must try again," Three concluded, "searching out and using the
proper symbols for explanation."

"Vocally," said Chafi Four.

They shuddered and teleported.

* * *

The sudden reappearance of his hallucination--doubled--startled Jeff no
more than the fact that he seemed to be holding Jennifer Mack tightly.
Amazingly, his immediate problem was not the possibility of harm from
the owls, but whether he should reassure Jennifer before or after
releasing her.

He compromised by leaving the choice to her. "They can't be dangerous,"
he said. "There are no land-dwelling predators on Calaxia. I read that
in--"

[Illustration]

"Nothing like _that_ ever hatched out on Calaxia," said Jennifer. She
pulled free of him. "If they're real, they came from somewhere else."

The implication drew a cold finger down Jeff's spine. "That would mean
other cultures out here. And in all our years of planet-hunting, we
haven't found one."

Memory chilled him further.

"A ship landed inland a few minutes ago," he said. "I took it for an EI
consulate craft, but it could have been--"

The Ciriimians caught his mental image of the landing and intervened
while common ground offered.

"The ship was ours," said Chafi Three. He had not vocalized since
fledgling days and his voice had a jarring croak of disuse. "Our Zid
escaped its cage and destroyed two of us, forcing us to maroon it here
for our own safety. Unfortunately, we trusted our star manual's
statement that the planet is unpopulated."

The Terrans drew together again.

"Zid?" Jeff echoed.

Chafi Four relieved his fellow of the strain by trying his own rusty
croak. "A vicious Canthorian predator, combing the island at this moment
for prey. You must help us to recap