"It means that Captain Martin and the crew are not in charge of this ship."
"And that means—"
"That something latched on to the crew of the Andromeda on this planet they call Star Goal. It means that the ship's landing here was a ruse to get into Pluto Station, maybe from here on into the whole Solar System!" His voice grew grim. "It means that the fate the military was always afraid of has finally come in upon us, and has gotten under our guard. It means we have welcomed a race of monsters into Pluto Station. It means that Adam—How did Adam know that something was wrong?"
"Who is Adam?" Filo spoke.
"Just a man," Craig faltered.
"Ah—" Filo was apparently going to ask more questions but he was interrupted by the arrival of three other Sorodromes. Balls of glowing crystals, they came floating down the corridor from the interior of the ship. Energy seemed to flow from them. Craig felt his skin begin to itch and burn. The three conferred with Filo in a weird, wordless flow of communication between them. From the way their colors changed Craig had the impression that they were laughing at some secret joke of their own.
"Yes?" Captain Martin's voice whispered.
"Bring this human to us," Filo answered. "We will accommodate him in his desire to return to Star Goal. We will also assist him to set up traffic between our planet and his system." Again the colors changed as laughter seemed to ripple through them.
"What if others want to come too?"
"Bring them to the number of twenty. Do they seem suspicious?"