down this very street earlier. And he did not mind the long climb
back, ramp by steep ramp, which brought him out at last beside the
flyer. His relief was so great that he put out his hand to draw it
along the sleek side of the craft as he might have caressed a
well-loved pet.

"Kurbi?"

At Hobart's bark he stiffened. "Yes, sir!"

"We camp here tonight. Have to make some plans."

"Yes, sir." He agreed with that. To attempt passage of the mountains
in the dark was a suicide mission which he would have refused. On the
other hand, to his mind, they would sleep more soundly if they were
out of the city. He speculated whether he dared suggest that they use
the few remaining moments of twilight to head into the open and
establish a camp somewhere in the countryside.

The alien officer made some comment in his slurred speech and faded
away into the shadows. Raf saw that the others had already dragged out
their blanket rolls and were spreading them in the shelter of the
flitter while Soriki busied himself at the com, sending back a message
to the _RS 10_.

"... should not be too difficult to establish a common speech form,"
Lablet was saying as Raf climbed into the flitter to tug loose his own
roll. "Color and pitch both seem to carry meaning. But the basic
pattern is there to study. And with the scanner to sort out those
record strips--did you adjust them, Soriki?"