"Well," remarked Lanko as he snapped the tractor off. "That's the first handful of sand for the cook pot."
Sira Nal drummed impatiently on the table before him.
"I thought you could handle routine operations," he said bitingly. "Now, you tell me you've been missing ship after ship. What happened to them?"
The high priest shook his head. "We haven't been able to find out, sir."
"Do you mean to tell me you haven't anything to report on them?"
"We have sent out investigating ships, sir."
"And?"
"They haven't reported back, sir."