byVraj lifted his gaze from the magazine and sighed. He passed the magazine to his companion.
“Look at that, Gol. If this is a specimen of the reasoning of the race we have to deal with, it’s going to be a pushover.”
Although he came from a system two hundred light years from Earth and was speaking to a fellow-Antibian, he said just that. He called it a pushover. The two of them had been conversing in this intolerably clumsy tongue all the way here. It was part of the plan. There must be no mistakes, no slipping back in an unguarded moment into their native tongue. Their work must go as efficiently as the first scouting expedition’s had.
Vraj reflected that three years ago an Antibian ship had landed here and phased into invisibility. A raiding party had picked up two living specimens o
