"Oh? What for?"
"The Khethlani is sending me back to my ship," Carter explained. "It thinks some of the equipment I have aboard can be built into the generator."
"Very good," Gendron said. "That stuff can be important to us, all right. You want someone to go with you?"
Another test, Lieutenant Carter thought. "Of course not! The Khethlani is guiding me!"
"Of course, Lieutenant."
The trouble was that the Khethlani was not guiding him, and it took him several hours to find his way back to his ship. Eventually he found it, climbed up the catwalk, and entered.
Waves of thought beat at him suddenly. He sensed hatred, anger. The Khethlani was aware! His deception was at its end.
At this distance, though, the Khethlani's commands were just so much tinny jangling in his mind. Methodically, Carter went about his work, grimly adjusting the automatic pilot of the ship, computing an orbit.
It took fifteen minutes. When he was finished, he blasted off, and his small ship rose high above the atmosphere of Deneb IV. He snapped on his radio.
The detectors immediately picked up the SOS broadcast. Evidently the Khethlani kept its lure out at all times. He ignored it, and began to speak into the mike.