placed it against
his stomach, and gave out with a clear, beautiful, experimental note
which was again not the one he desired.

He still had not found it an hour later, when the Sound came. The Sound
was a low unpleasant rumble, a sound lower than any Longtree had ever
heard, and he wondered what it was. Thinking of it, he remembered he had
seen a large flash of fire in the sky a moment before the roar came. But
since this last was clearly not likely at all, he dismissed the whole
thing as imagination and tried again to coax some new note from the
blowstring.

A half hour later, Channeljumper came bounding excitedly over a sand
dune. "They're here," he cried, screeching to a halt and emitting yellow
flashes of color.

"Who's here?" Longtree demanded, turning violet in annoyance at the
interruption.

"The visitors from space," Channeljumper explained. "They landed near my
hole. They're little creatures, only half as big as we are, but thicker
and grey colored."

"Grey colored?" Longtree repeated incredulously, trying to picture the
improbability.

"But only on the outside," Channeljumper went on. "They have an outside
shell that comes off, and inside they're sort of pink-orange."

"Ah-ha," Longtree said, as though he'd suspected it all the time.
"Evidently they wear grey suits of some kind, probably for protection."

"They took them off anyway," Channeljumper said, eager to impart his
knowledge, "and they were sort of pink-orange underneath. There are only
two of them, and one has long hair."

"Strange," Longtree mused, thinking of their own hairless bodies.
"Wonder what they want."

Channeljumper shrugged to indicate he didn't know. "The short-haired one
followed me," he said.

Longtree felt the chill blue of fear creep along his spine, but
immediate anger at himself changed it conveniently to purple, and he was
certain Channeljumper hadn't noticed. When he had controlled himself, he
said, "Well, it doesn't matter. I've got to get on with my symphony.
That last note--"

"He's here," Channeljumper announced.

"What?"

Channeljumper pointed eagerly, and Longtree's eyes followed the
direction to where the alien stood at the top of a nearby dune staring
at them. Longtree could feel his skin automatically turning red with
caution, blending with the sand while the ever-trusting Channeljumper
remained bright orange.

"Good gosh," the alien exclaimed. "Not only do they look like modified
grasshoppers, they