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“The Theks manufacture them, don’t they?” the cartographer said, giving Kai a sideways look.

“They have done so, but I think . . . Gaber, it won’t wash.”

“But don’t you see, Kai? The Theks know this planet has been surveyed. They’re back for some reason of their own. You know how they like to watchdog a likely colony . . .”

“Gaber!” Kai wanted to shake the older man, shake him out of his asinine and dangerous notion that the expedition had been planted. But, as he stared at the man’s eager, intense face, Kai realized how pathetic the cartographer was. Gaber must surely know this would be his last mission and was vainly hoping to extend it. “Gaber!” Kai gave the man a little shake, smiling kindly. “Now, I do appreciate your confiding your theory to me. You’ve done just as you should. And I appreciate the facts on which you base the notion, but please don’t go telling anyone else. I’d hate giving the heavy-worlders any excuse to ridicule one of my team.”

“Ridicule?” Gaber was startled and indignant.

“I’m afraid so, Gaber. The purpose of this expedition was too clearly set out in the original program. This is just an ordinary energy-resource expedition, with a bit of xenobiology thrown in as practice for Varian, and to keep the heavy-worlders fit and the youngsters occupied while the EV chases that cosmic storm. Just to reassure you, though, I’ll query EV about your theory in my next report. If, by some remote chance, you’re correct, they’d tell us. Now we’re down. In the meantime, I really do advise you to keep your theory between us, huh, Gaber? I value you as our cartographer too highly to want you mocked by the heavy-worlders.”

“Mocked?”

“They do like their little jokes on us light-gravs. I don’t want them to have one on you. We’ve a laugh for them, all right—on the Theks—with this!” Kai held up the core. “Our rocky friends are not so infallible after all. Not that I blame them for forgetting all about this planet, considering how it smells.”

“The heavy-worlders would make me a joke?” Gaber was having difficulty in accepting the possibility, but Kai was certain he’d found the proper deterrent to keep the man from spreading that insidious rumor.

“Under the present circumstances, yes, if you came out with that notion. As I mentioned, we have the youngsters with us. You don’t really think the third officer of EV is planting her son?”

“No, no, she wouldn’t do that.” Gaber’s expression changed from distressed to irritated. “You’re right. She’d’ve opposed it.” Gaber straightened his shoulders. “You’ve eased my mind, Kai. I hadn’t really liked the idea of being planted: I’ve left research unfinished and I only accepted this assignment to try and get a fresh perspective on it . . .”

“Good man.” Kai clapped the cartographer on the shoulder and turned him back toward the sled.

It occurred to Kai that he’d have all the arguments to press again once Gaber, and the others, learned that the EV had not picked up the secondary reports. He’d worry about that when the time came. Right now he had more to ponder in the ancient core in his hand. He didn’t think they had any apparatus in the shuttle for dating the device. He couldn’t remember if it had ever come up in discussions how long one of these cores could function. Portegin was the man to ask. And wouldn’t he be amazed at what his malfunctioning screen was recording?

In fact, Portegin was already puzzling over the print-out when Kai and Gaber strode into the chart dome.

“Kai, we’ve got some crazy echo on the seismic . . . what’s this?”

“One of those echoes.”

Portegin, his lean face settling into lines of dismay, weighed the device in his hand, peered at it, turning it round and round, end for end, before he looked with intense accusation at Kai.

“Where’d you get this?”

“Approximately here,” said Kai, pointing to the gap in the line of old echoes on the screen.

“We haven’t cored that area yet, boss.”

“I know.”

“But, boss, this is Thek manufacture. I’d swear it.”

Margit, who’d been filling in her report, came over to