"You mean the androids didn't run helter-skelter for the Cradle and show you where it was."
Trevor nodded. "There was another angle to it, too. They might have pulled some of their guards off the crisis points. That would have helped us some."
"Double-barreled," said Sutton.
"Oh, most assuredly," said Trevor. "Nothing like getting the other fellow square behind the eight-ball."
He squinted at Sutton's face.
"Since when," he asked, "and why did you desert the human race?"
Sutton put his hand up to his face, felt the hardness of the plastic that had remodeled his features into those of another person.
"It was Herkimer's idea," he declared. "He thought it would make me hard to spot. You wouldn't be looking for an android, you know."
Trevor nodded agreement. "It would have helped," he said. "It would have fooled us for a while, but when you walked away and the tracer followed you, we knew who you were."
The squirrel came hopping across the grass, sat down in front of them and looked them over.