"No thanks are needed. I have only done my work."
"What will you do with us now?"
"There is an old freighter of your people which we have found abandoned and adrift. We have repaired it and stocked it with food taken from your own ship. You will awaken inside the freighter and be able to reach your own people."
"But won't I—can't I even get the chance to see you?"
"That would be inadvisable. We have some perhaps peculiar ideas about keeping our nature secret. That is why we shall take care that you carry away nothing that we ourselves have made."
"If I could only—well, even shake hands—do something—"
"I have no hands."
"No hands? But how could you—how can you—do such complicated things?"
"I may not answer. I am sorry to leave you in a state of bewilderment, but I have no choice. Now, please, no more questions about me. Do you wish to talk to your husband for a time before you sleep again?"
"Must I sleep? I feel so excited.... I want to get out of bed, tear off my bandages, and see what I look like!"