n no
interruption. "And if it's a solid, where did that much matter come
from? Through the hull?"

Hoskins, who knew the hull, how it was made, how fitted, how treated
once it was in place, snorted at the idea.

"If it was a gas," said Paresi, "there'd be diffusion. _And_ convection.
If it were poisonous, we'd all be dead. If not, the chances are we'd
smell it. And the counter's not saying a thing--so it's not
radioactive."

"You trust the counter?" asked Ives bitterly.

"I trust it," said Paresi. His near-whisper shook with what sounded like
passion. "A man must have faith in something. I hold that faith in every
single function of every part of this ship until each and every part is
separately and distinctly proved unworthy of faith!"

"Then, by God, you'll understand my faith in my own two hands and what
they feel," snarled Ives. He stepped to the bulkhead and brought his
meaty hand hard against it.

"_Touche_," murmured Hoskins, and meant either Ives' remark or the flat,
solid smack of the hand against the blackness.

In his sleep, Johnny uttered a high, soft, careless tinkle of youthful,
happy laughter.

"Somebody's happy," said Ives.

"Paresi," said the Captain, "what happens when he wakes up?"

Paresi's eyebrows shrugged for him. "Practically anything. He's reached
down inside himself, somewhere, and found a way out. For him--not for
any of the rest of us. Maybe he'll ignore what we see. Maybe he'll think
he's somewhere else, or in some other time. Maybe he'll _be_ someone
else. Maybe he won't wake up at all."

"Maybe he has the right idea," said Ives.

"That's the second time you've made a crack like that," said Paresi
levelly. "Don't do it again. You can't afford it."

"We can't afford it," the Captain put in.

"All right," said Ives, with such docility that Paresi shot him a
startled, suspicious glance. The big communications man went to his
station and sat, half-turned away from the rest.

"What are they after?" complained the Captain suddenly. "What do they
want?"

"Who?" asked Paresi, still watching Ives.

Hoskins explained, "Whoever it was who said 'Welcome to our planet.'"

Ives turned toward them, and Paresi's relief was noticeable. Ives said,
"They want us dead."

"Do they?" asked the Captain.

"They don't want us to leave the ship, and they don't want the ship to
leave the planet."

"Then it's the ship they want."

"Yeah," amended Ives, "without us."

Paresi said, "You