"No!" it ordered. "Not now. There'll be time ... yet."
"What's all this?" snapped Timmy.
Thurner smirked, "You're on Neptune ... and are ... shall we say ... a guest of the Tsom Clan."
"Distinctly," hissed the semi-human figure behind Thurner. "Oh most distinctly ... a guest."
"And this ... renegade?"
"You allude to Shelton Thurner?"
"Yes!"
The Neptunian looked from Timmy to the big pilot. "I do not believe," he said, "that you will understand this easily. But you do your late associate an injustice. He is no renegade ... but a leader of the Tsom Clan."
"A Neptunian? Impossible!"
"Not at all my dear sir. We Neptunians have science. Given the proper materials, our surgeons can duplicate the ... rather ... loathesome appearance of you humans."