wouldn't mind us seeing them, but it hurts for them to look at us!"

Lockley said abruptly, "This box we're in. It's made by humans."

The moustached man said quickly, "We figured that. It's the shell of
a compost pit for the hotel that's goin' to be built around here.
They'll sink it in the ground and dump garbage in it, and it'll rot,
and then it'll be fertilizer. These critters from space are just using
it to hold us. But what are they gonna do with us?"

There were faint squeakings. The cover to the round opening lifted.
Three rabbits dropped down. The cover closed with a clang. The rabbits
shivered and crouched, terrified, in one corner.

"Is this how they're gonna feed us?" demanded the chunky man.

"Hell, no!" said the tall man, in evident disgust. "They're dumped in
here like we were. They're animals. So are we. This is a temporary
cage. It's got a sand floor that we can bury things in. It won't be
any trouble to clean out. The rabbits and us, we stay caged until
they're ready to do whatever they're goin' to do with us."

"Which is what?" demanded the chunky man.

There was no answer. They would either be killed, or they would not.
There was nothing to be done. Meanwhile Lockley evaluated his three
fellow captives as probably rather good men to have on one's side, and
bad ones to have against one. But there was no action which was
practical now. A single guard outside, able to paralyze them by
whatever means it was accomplished, made any idea of escape in