Hours, weeks, or perhaps it was only minutes later, a rough persistent shaking brought him to again. Faces bent over him. He saw them through a haze, and the questions they asked penetrated to him slowly, and without much meaning.
"Why did you want the sun-stone?"
"Why wouldn't I want it? I could take it back to Earth and sell it for a fortune."
"What do they do with sun-stones on Earth?"
"Build gadgets, super-electronic, to study things. Wave-lengths too short for anything else to pick up. Thought-waves, even. What do you care?"
"Do they wear sun-stones in their foreheads, on Earth?"
"No...." His voice trailed off, and the voices, or the dream of voices, left him.
It was still daylight when he woke, this time normally. He sat up, feeling stiff and sore but otherwise rested. Jen came to him, smiling, and thrust a chunk of what he recognized as some species of rock-lizard into his hands. He gnawed at it wolfishly while she talked, having discovered that this was not the same day, but the next one, and quite late.
"They have decided," she said, "to let you live."
"I imagine you had a lot to do with that. Thanks."