II, for emergency
communication, and if a lifeboat didn't bring news of a planetary
crisis, no crisis would be considered to exist. Nobody could imagine a
landing grid failing!

Maybe in a year somebody would think that maybe somebody ought to ask
around about Xosa II. It would be much longer before somebody put a note
on somebody else's desk that would suggest that when, or if, a suitable
ship passed near Xosa II, or if one should be available for the inquiry,
it might be worth while to have the noncommunication from the planet
looked into. Actually, to guess at three years before another ship
arrived would be the most optimistic of estimates.

"You're a civilian," said Bordman shortly. "When the food and water run
low, you go back to the ship. You'll at least be alive when somebody
does come to see what's the matter here!"

Aletha said mildly:

"Maybe I'd rather not be alive. Will you go back to the ship?"

Bordman flushed. He wouldn't. But he said doggedly;

"I can order you sent on board, and your cousin will carry out the
order!"

"I doubt it very much," said Aletha pleasantly.

She returned to her task.

* * * * *

There were crunching footsteps outside the hulk. Bordman winced a
little. With insulated sandals, it was normal for these colonists to
move from one part of the colony to another in the open, even by
daylight. He, Bordman, couldn't take out-of-doors at night! His lips
twisted bitterly.

Men came in. There were dark men with rippling muscles under glistening
skin, and bronze Amerinds with coarse straight hair. Ralph Redfeather
was with them. Dr. Chuka came in last of all.

"Here we are," said Redfeather. "These are our foremen. Among us, I
think we can answer any questions you want to ask."

He made introductions. Bordman didn't try to remember the names.
Abeokuta and Northwind and Sutata and Tallgrass and T'ckka and
Spottedhorse and Lewanika---- They were names which in combination would
only be found in a very raw, new colony. But the men who crowded into
the office were wholly at ease, in their own minds as well as in the
presence of a senior Colonial Survey officer. They nodded as they were
named, and the nearest shook hands. Bordman knew that he'd have liked
their looks under other circumstances. But he was humiliated by the
conditions on this planet. They were not. They were apparently only
sentenced to death by them.

"I have to leave a report," sa