"Are you going to talk to them, Jed?"
"I'm going to try."
The four figures approached. Hargraves smiled. That was to show his good intentions. A smile ought to be common language everywhere.
The four strangers did not return his smile. They just stopped and looked at him with no trace of emotion on their faces.
What strange thing was this? Who were these people and what was their power?
They looked human. They weren't, of course. Parallel evolution accounted for the resemblance, like causes producing like results.
Nielson was watching them like a hawk. Without making an aggressive move, the way he held his gun showed he was ready to go into action at a moment's notice. Behind them, the ship was silent, its crew alert. Hargraves bent to manipulate the complicated tuning of the teletron.