or Karn's keen hearing. An
hour passed; two hours. Nothing happened. Still he crouched, waiting.

His patience was rewarded. An opening appeared in the ball. There was a
puff of air being released from pressure. A figure stepped through the
opening and onto the earth. Another figure followed. What were they?

They were men! Clad in strange garments that covered them tightly, they
walked upright on two legs. But what puny men!

Half Karn's size they were, and hairless. Through their skin-tight
garments the bones of their narrow chests were visible. Their delicate
fingers hovered at their waists over small sticks. The scent of fear was
on them.

Karn's nose wrinkled in disgust. No danger here. Then a third figure
stepped out into the light and Karn's flagging interest reawakened. This
scent he recognized. This was a woman!

* * * * *

She was taller than the men and her garment clung tight to a rounded
figure that brought a gleam to Karn's eyes. This one had hair, thicker
than Karn's own. Her features were more delicate than those of the women
he had known, but somehow more pleasing.

He realized that the three were speaking. Their mouths did not move,
there was no sound. Yet they spoke. Karn could hear the voices inside
his head. Somehow he understood.

"What a place to land," the woman said.

"Couldn't be helped," one of the men replied. "At least it has air. Once
the tanks are full we'll be on our way again. In a minute or two I'll
test that liquid to see if we can drink it."

"Must you test everything? It looks all right. And why must we stand so
close to the ship?"

"Because we don't know what sort of place we've landed in," the second
man said.

"There's only one way to find out," she told him. "By moving around."

Her tone was openly contemptuous. Karn found himself agreeing with her.
These men were spineless. They must be so to let a woman talk to them
like this. Listen to the way they bickered. Like three women over a
piece of meat that had fallen from the cave fire.

Karn's nose twitched. What was wrong with these people? While they
argued senselessly among themselves their lives hung in the balance.
Couldn't they smell the gray wolf that was creeping toward them?

The three stood almost below Karn and jabbered back and forth. And not
twenty feet away gray-green eyes watched them intently. Karn saw the
wolf's haunches lower. In a moment three hundred and fifty pou