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Updated: June 18, 2025
Bart's computers told him they were forging toward the sidereal location assigned for the first of the warp-drive shifts, which would take them some fifteen light-years toward Aldebaran. On the final watch before the warp-drive shift, the medical officer came around and relieved the Mentorians from duty. Bart watched them go, with a curious, cold, crawling apprehension.
"I guess I'm just jealous to think the Mentorians can sign on the Lhari ship as crew, while you and I will never pilot a ship between the stars. What did she do?" "She was a mathematician. Before the Lhari met up with men, they used a system of mathematics as clumsy as the old Roman numerals.
When he had finished, Tommy leaned forward and gripped Bart's hand tightly. "You make them sound like pretty decent people," he said, looking at Ringg. "A year ago, if you'd told me I'd be here with a Lhari spaceman and a bunch of Mentorians, I'd never have believed it." "Nor I, that I would be as friend under a human roof," Ringg replied. "But a friend to Bart is my friend also."
Ringg added. "You know that Mentorian the young one, the medic's assistant?" "I've seen her. Her name's Meta, I think." Suddenly, Bart wished the Mentorian girl were with him here. It would be nice to hear a human voice. "Oh, is it a female? Mentorians all look alike to me," Ringg said, while Bart controlled his face with an effort.
If they were right, if it was a Lhari trick to reinforce their stranglehold on the human worlds and keep the warp-drive for themselves, then Bart had nothing to fear. But he was afraid. Why did the Mentorians endure this, never quite trusted, isolated among aliens? Raynor Three had said, Because I belong in space, because I'm never happy anywhere else.
Sometimes we Mentorians call it catalyst color. I think only Mentorians can see it as separate color." "So what?" Ringg said impatiently, "What are we going to do, chatter about light waves or see the city?" Bart acquiesced, trying to sound eager, but a wild excitement was gusting up in him.
But for the moment he was alone in the long corridor beyond which he could see the glass ramps. Nearby, a door opened into a small office with glass walls; on a peg, one of the silky metallic cloaks worn by Mentorians doing spaceport work was hanging. On an impulse, Bart caught it up and flung it around his shoulders. It felt cool and soft, and the hood shielded his eyes a little.
Montano's face was perfectly calm. "No. We won't even try." He handed Bart a small strip of pale-yellow plastic. "Keep this out of sight of the Mentorians," he said. "The Lhari won't be able to see the color, of course. But when it turns orange, take cover." "What is it?" "Radiation-exposure film. It's exactly as sensitive to radiation as you are.
"I wish medic would find a way to keep them alive through warp," he said. "My Mentorian assistant could watch that frequency-shift as we got near the bottom of the arc, and I'll bet she could see it. They can see the changes in intensity faster than I can plot them on the photometer!" Bart felt goosebumps break out on his skin. Rugel spoke as if the certain death of humans, Mentorians, was a fact.
"All right," he said, thickly, "you can count on me." When he left Montano's house, he had the details of the plan, had memorized the location of the device he was to sabotage, and accepted, from Montano, a pair of dark contact lenses. "The light's hellish out there," Montano warned. "I know you're half Mentorian, but they don't even take their Mentorians out there.
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