trikes his ear, he gingerly probed deeper and deeper,
exploring this strange and fascinating structure that was unlike
anything he had ever experienced. It was an extraordinary complexity
that spread before him--a maze, a labyrinth, a magnificent corruption
of order and reason.

His first discovery he half expected. This was a mind of an intelligence
level not far beneath his own, though fearfully hobbled by
misconceptions, superstitions, half-truths and fallacies. Life had
brutally mishandled and shackled--_life_ had? It was an adult of its
species. How could its condition have existed undetected for so long?
He extended his explorations, and suddenly the incredible truth lay
revealed.

The dominant species on this planet was that theoretically possible
but logically improbable mistake of nature, a race of intelligent
nontelepaths!

Fantastic as it was, there was no room for doubt. He was glad he had
ordered the Challonari to withdraw from contact. To accept the existence
of such beings required a flexibility under shock, an adaptability of
reasoning, that the limited Challonari could never rise to. It was like
a blow at the structure of the universe, but it raised a fascinating,
age-old problem--what possible means of adequate communication could
they have?

Excited despite the great discomfort of maintaining contact with this
mind, he extended his explorations in search of the answer. A growing
suspicion was quickly confirmed beyond question, explaining at once
the sickening deformities of the wasted mind and the enigma of the
alternative means of communication. There simply was no adequate
communication! From that, all else stemmed. Each of these creatures,
these--he searched for the term--these "Man" as they called themselves,
was an island, an isolation of ego in a flood of dark fears that began
lapping about them in early childhood and never ceased to rise. And
this, by its own conception, was a "normal" specimen! It had "matured"
in a thoroughly competitive society instead of the completely
cooeperative society of the Challon. It had never really known or
understood its own true nature, much less that of its fellows. It had
never truly known security, serenity, freedom, or peace. The eternal
wonder was that it had progressed at all.

Deeper and deeper he explored, tracing and classifying, filled with awe.
The incredible creature knew little or nothing of its own nervous system
and would not have been awar