their field."

Brion had studied the reports on the social setup and not one word
of them made sense. They were a solid maze of unknown symbols and
cryptic charts. "Please continue, Doctor," he insisted. "The
societics reports are valueless so far. There are factors missing.
You are the only one I have talked to so far who can give me any
intelligent reports or answers."

"All right then--be it on your own head. The way I see it, you've
got no society here at all, just a bunch of rugged individualists.
Each one for himself, getting nourishment from the other life forms
of the planet. If they have a society, it is orientated towards the
rest of the planetary life--instead of towards other human beings.
Perhaps that's why your figures don't make sense. They are set up
for the human societies. In their relations with each other, these
people are completely different."

"What about the magter, the upper-class types who build castles and
are causing all this trouble?"

"I have no explanation," Dr. Stine admitted. "My theories hold water
and seem logical enough up to this point. But the magter are the
exception, and I have no idea why. They are completely different
from the rest of the Disans. Argumentative, blood-thirsty, looking
for planetary conquest instead of peace. They aren't rulers, not in
the real sense. They hold power because nobody else wants it. They
grant mining concessions to offworlders because they are the only
ones with a sense of property. Maybe I'm going out on a limb. But
if you can find out _why_ they are so different you may be onto
the clue to our difficulties."

For the first time since his arrival Brion began to feel a touch of
enthusiasm. Plus a sense of the remote possibility that there might
even be a solution to the deadly problem. He drained his glass and
stood up.

"I hope you'll wake your patient early, Doctor. You might be as
interested in talking to her as I am. If what you told me is true,
she could well be our key to the answer. She is Professor Lea
Morees, and she is just out from Earth with degrees in exobiology
and anthropology, and has a head stuffed with vital facts."

"Wonderful!" Stine said. "I shall take care of the head, not only
because it is so pretty but because of its knowledge. Though we
totter on the edge of atomic destruction I have a strange feeling
of optimism--for the first time since I landed on this planet."

IX

The guard inside the front entranc