I'll question the Hlat and we'll find out."

Quillan looked at him. "Those control devices make it possible to hold
two-way conversations with the things?"

"Not exactly," Klayung said. "You see, major, the government
authorities who were concerned with the discovery of the Hlats
realized it would be almost impossible to keep some information about
them from getting out. The specimen which was here on the Star has
been stationed at various scientific institutions for the past year; a
rather large number of people were involved in investigating it and
experimenting with it. In consequence, several little legends about
them have been deliberately built up. The legends aren't entirely
truthful, so they help to keep the actual facts about the Hlats
satisfactorily vague.

"The Hlat-talker is such a legend. Actually, the device does nothing.
The Hlats respond to telepathic stimuli, both among themselves and
from other beings, eventually begin to correlate such stimuli with the
meanings of human speech."

"Then you--" Quillan began.

"Yes. Eltak, their discoverer, was a fairly good natural telepath. If
he hadn't been abysmally lazy, he might have been very good at it. I
carry a variety of the Service's psionic knick-knacks about with me,
which gets me somewhat comparable results."

He broke off as the vestibule portal dilated widely. Lady Pendrake's
cubicle floated through, directed by two gravity crane operators
behind it. Klayung stood up.

"Set it there for the present, please," he directed the operators. "We
may call for you later if it needs to be moved again."

He waited until the portal had closed behind the men before walking
over to the cubicle. He examined the settings and readings at some
length.

"Hm-m-m, yes," he said, straightening finally. His expression became
absent for a few seconds; then he went on. "I'm beginning to grasp the
situation, I believe. Let me tell you a few things about the Hlats,
major. For one, they form quite pronounced likes and dislikes. Eltak,
for example, would have been described by most of his fellow men as a
rather offensive person. But the Hlats actually became rather fond of
him during the fifteen or so years he lived on their island.

"That's one point. The other has to do with their level of
intelligence. We discovered on the way out here that our charges had
gained quite as comprehensive an understanding of the functioning of
the cubicles that had been constructed fo