"Coffee?" he asked.

Murgatroyd popped his head out of his miniature sleeping cabin.

"_Chee?_" he asked interestedly.

"Go back to sleep!" snapped Calhoun.

He began to pace back and forth.

"I need to know something about the pigment patches," he said jerkily.
"Maybe it sounds crazy to think of such things now--first things
first, you know. But this is a first thing! So long as Darians don't
look like the people of other worlds, they'll be believed to be
different. If they look repulsive, they'll be believed to be evil.

"Tell me about those patches. They're different sizes and different
shapes and they appear in different places. You've none on your face
or hands, anyhow."

"I haven't any at all," said the girl reservedly.

"I thought--"

"Not everybody," she said defensively. "Nearly, yes. But not all. Some
people don't have them. Some people are born with bluish splotches on
their skin, but they fade out while they're children. When they grow
up they're just like the people of Weald or any other world. And their
children never have them."