They spread over the field, pulling carrots and potatoes and chewing them raw, for they had been a month now on concentrates.
"We will repay you," the leader assured.
Paul shrugged: "Just so you leave enough for seed."
The doctor chuckled at this. "Come on man. Put your arm about my shoulder, we will take you home."
Paul stood back with his thumb hooked in his belt.
"I wonder if you could pay me for the vegetables now, in books."
"Certainly, we have a first class library. Come aboard."
"You misunderstand, I want to read them here. Not trash; medical books, teachers' training, how-to-do-it manuals."
"You have been alone too long. You need not be afraid of our ways. We do not try to convert spacemen in any case." The doctor took a forward step but stopped, off balance, when Paul's hand slapped the automatic.
"My wife—," Paul had a perplexed, embarrassed look.