"A little over," confirmed Kinton. "It's extremely unusual that anything
gets through to the surface, let alone a spaceship. What happened to
you?"

* * * * *

Birken's stare was suspicious.

"Then you ain't heard about the new colonies? Naw--you musta come here
when all the planets were open."

"We had a small settlement on the second planet," Kinton told him. "You
mean there are new Terran colonies?"

"Yeah. Jet-hoppers spreadin' all over the other five. None of the
land-hungry poops figured a way to set down here, though, or they'd be
creepin' around this planet too."

"How did you happen to do it? Run out of fuel?"

The other eyed him for a few seconds before dropping his gaze. Kinton
was struck with sudden doubt. The outposts of civilization were followed
by less desirable developments as a general rule--prisons, for instance.
He resolved to be wary of the visitor.

"Ya might say I was explorin'," Birken replied at last. "That's why I
come alone. Didn't want nobody else hurt if I didn't make it. Say, how
bad am I banged up?"

Kinton realized guiltily that the man should be resting. He had lost
track of the moments he had wasted in talk while the others with him
stood attentively about.

He questioned the doctor briefly and relayed the information that
Birken's leg was broken but that the other injuries were not serious.

"They'll fix you up," he assured the spaceman. "They're quite good at
it, even if the sight of one does make you think a little of an iguana.
Rest up, now; and I'll come back again when you're feeling better."

For the next three weeks, Kinton flew back and forth from his own town
nearly every day. He felt that he should not neglect the few meetings
which were the only way he could repay the Tepoktans for all they did
for him. On the other hand, the chance to see and talk with one of his
own kind drew him like a magnet to the hospital.

The doctors operated upon Birken's leg, inserting a metal rod inside the
bone by a method they had known before Kinton described it. The new
arrival expected to be able to walk, with care, almost any day; although
the pin would have to be removed after the bone had healed. Meanwhile,
Birken seemed eager to learn all Kinton could tell him about the planet,
Tepokt.

About himself, he was remarkably reticent. Kinton worried about this.

"I think we should not expect too much of this Terran," he warned Klaft
uneasily.