"Maybe this is like the old fairy tale," said Devon, "The one about the little shoemaker who went to bed and found the good little gnome had done his work when he woke up."
Kennely strolled towards the opposite side of the room, glancing down at the silver threads criss crossing the floor. He stopped and pointed.
"Look, Chris. Maybe these bugs came in with some shipments. Look how these threads all seem to converge on this big box."
"Yeah, that's right. I'd never noticed it before. Wonder what's in the darned thing? Let's have a look."
He took up a hammer from a bench and began ripping at one of the boards, pounding and prying.
Abruptly, a heavy voice said, "Thanks, fellow. — That was just enough to unbalance the blanking matrix. Now we know where the thing is, — we can work on salvage."
The engineers felt the short hairs prickle on the backs of their necks.
"Kennely — was that you talking?"
"No — look! Those two guys — who are they?"
Beside the large box, two strangers were staring at the engineers. The two were not more than five feet tall. Their dress was not wholly alien, but the cut of the overall type garments was distinctly unfamiliar.