Slowly they trudged down the hall behind the Engineer.
"How long did it take to build this city?" asked Gary.
"Many years," said the Engineer. "Since we came here.”
"Came here?" asked Gary. "Then this isn't your native planet?”
"No," said the Engineer, but he did not offer to explain.
"Say," said Herb, "you didn't ask our names. You don't know who we are.”
Gary thought he detected a faint semblance of dry humor in the answer of the Engineer.
"Names," he said. "You mean personal designations? I know who you are without knowing names.”
"Maybe," said Herb, "but we can't read thoughts like you can. We got to have names." He trotted along at the heels of the Engineer. "Don't you fellows have names?" he asked.
"We are designated by numbers," said the Engineer. "Purely as a matter of record. The individual doesn't count so much here as he does where you came from.”