Penger said, "They did what?"
"The Josmian, the purple Josmian! I found it and they stole it from me. You've got to help me, Penger!"
Penger said, "You're crazy."
"But I found it, I tell you! A big one. I'll sell it to you, Penger. I'll—"
Penger said, "You're crazy with tsith. There hasn't been a Josmian found in this swamp for ten years."
"Penger, listen to me—"
Penger said, "Forget it. You want tsith? You'll have tsith. But you'll work and you'll work hard. You'll get the draanga-weed out."
"Penger, I'm an Earthman! I'm asking you as one Earthman to another—" Latham stopped. He shivered. He looked into Penger's colorless eyes and what he saw made his soul curl up within him.
"You're a what? An Earthman? You were an Earthman! Now you're a grubby little specimen of the genus tsith! You're a miserable, whining little speck of matter wriggling toward the final transfixation! In another year you won't even be that. You'll be dead and forgotten. Don't come crawling to me talking about Earthmen!" The voice scraped across Latham's naked nerve-ends. Penger's eyes blazed, and in his trembling anger he almost raised a fist.
Latham cringed away. From out of his forgotten past something came to Latham. He stared at the loom of jungle where Kueelo and the Jovian had disappeared.