going to challenge
any of this stuff they hand out. We won't find the answer by standing
around and taking _their_ word on everything."

"I forgot to tell you one thing," Cameron said slowly. "We may not have
to take their word for it. Someone else here knows the truth of the
situation, also."

"Who?"

"The Ids." He told her then of the warning Sal Karone had given him
aboard the ship on the way to the Nucleus, the statement that "My
Masters are a people who cannot yet be understood by the men of other
worlds."

"The Ids know what the Markovians are and what they are trying to hide.
I had almost overlooked that simple fact."

"But you can't go out and challenge them to tell the truth any more than
you can the Markovians!" Joyce protested. "Because Sal Karone went out
of his way to warn you doesn't mean he's going to get real buddy-buddy
and tell you everything you want to know."

"No, of course not. But there's one little difference between him and
the Markovians. He has admitted openly that he knows why we're here.
None of the Markovians have done that yet. We don't have to challenge
him because there already exists the tacit understanding that something
is decidedly phony.

"And besides, he invited us to come and visit the Id communities outside
the city. I think that's an invitation we should accept just as soon as
possible."

IV

Sal Karone had not repeated his invitation that the Terrans visit the Id
communities, but he showed no adverse reaction when Cameron said they
would like to take him up on his previous offer.

"You will be very welcome," he said. A soft smile lightened his
features. "I will notify my leaders you will come."

With a start, Cameron realized that the existence of any kind of
community probably implied leaders, but he had ignored this in view of
Marthasa's insistence that the Ids had no culture of their own. He
wondered just how untrue that assertion might be.

For the first time, he sensed genuine disapproval in the attitude of
Marthasa when he mentioned plans to go with Sal Karone to the Id
centers. "There's nothing out there you'd want to see," the Markovian
said. "Their village is only a group of crude huts in the forest. It'll
be a waste of your time to go out there when there's so much else we
could show you."

"Sal Karone suggested the visit before we arrived," said Cameron. "He'd
be hurt if we turned him down. Perhaps just to satisfy him--"

Angry indecision hid b