Tall-Thin must have sensed the loathing in her mind, for he turned with a grimace of rage and trained the beam full upon her, taking care however to alter the tube's destructive potential with a quick twist of his thumb.
"A primitive would have been sorely tempted to kill you, Earth-child," he said. "Fortunately for you we have a high and undeviating code of ethics."
Back and forth over the children Tall-Thin played the beam, as if to make sure there would be no further unpleasantness from that source.
Then he clicked off the tube again, and turned to his remaining companion—a little man who apparently believed that silence and good order were the foundation of all things.
In a more primitive society he would have been considered a stooge but there appeared to be no such cultural concept in Tall-Thin's scale of values. He spoke with the utmost respect, as if anyone who agreed with him automatically became as exalted as himself.
"The primitive who constructed this rocket had a remarkable mind," he said. "We could not have constructed it for every culture, no matter how primitive, has resources peculiar to itself."
"That is very true, Hilili!"
Mary Anne tried to turn her head to look at Melvin but her neck felt as stiff as when she'd had the mumps and everyone had felt sorry for her. She was sure that the little men did not feel in the least sorry and all she could do was stare in helpless anger as they turned and scrambled into the rocket.
Finally she did manage to turn her head, just far enough to see what Melvin was doing.
Melvin wasn't moving at all. His head was lowered and he was thinking. She knew that he was thinking by the look in his eyes. Melvin was silently thinking and as she stared she ceased to be afraid.