Thompson intervened. "Seems to me that you've both accomplished plenty. Lane here gained the confidence of the catmen and Downing has the fleet equipped with heavy stuff."
"Who?" asked Lane. "I have a hunch that it was your doing, Billy."
"And any confidence-getting he did was strictly fear of our natural environment coming here," returned Stellor Downing.
"All right, break it up."
"We're all to return here as soon as we get the machine destroyed," said Lane. "They want to know what the answer is, just as we do. I have a hunch that finding the machine itself will tell us plenty."
VII.
Toralen Ki turned from the communicator. "Hotang," he called. "They have the answer!"
"Good. Then our time has not been wasted! For now we have the other one back."
"The technicians on Tlembo have just given me full and complete instructions on how to lower the sensitivity of the detector to a proper level."