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Baird explained, his teeth chattering. "Hah!" grunted the skipper. "Taine was a mistake. He shouldn't ever have left ground. When a man's potty in one fashion, there'll be cracks in him all over. What's this?" The Plumie in the golden armor very soberly offered the skipper the object Taine had meant to introduce into the Plumie's ship.
He snarled: "Why doesn't this Plumie take off its helmet? It lands on oxygen planets! Does it think it's too good to breathe our air?" Baird caught the Plumie's eye. He made a gesture suggesting the removal of the space helmet. The Plumie gestured, in return, to a tiny vent in the suit. He opened something and gas whistled out. He cut it off.
Baird got other images of the Plumie ship into sharp focus. So near, the scanners required adjustment for precision. "Take a look at this!" he said wryly. She looked. The view was of the Plumie as welded fast to the Niccola. The welding was itself an extraordinary result of the Plumie's battle-tactics.
It was exactly like the reason for human features or figures as decorative additions to the inscriptions on Space Survey marker plates. Even the Plumie's hands had odd crestlets which stood out when he bent his fingers. The other Plumies were no less graceful and no less colorful. They had equally clear soprano voices. They were equally miniature and so devoid of apparent menace.
He's drawn two pressure-suited figures going in their air lock. One's larger than the other. Will you go?" "Naturally!" said Baird. Then he added thoughtfully: "But I'd better carry a portable scanner, sir. It should work perfectly well through a bronze hull, sir." The skipper nodded and began to sketch a diagram which would amount to an acceptance of the Plumie's invitation.
Then Taine's voice snapped: "Rocket crews, arm even-numbered rockets with chemical explosive warheads. Leave odd-numbered rockets armed with atomics. Report back!" Diane strained her ears for possible re-transmission of the Niccola's signals, which would indicate the Plumie's willingness to try conversation. But she suddenly raised her hand and pointed to the radar-graph instrument.
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