“I’m not going to do it twice, so just save your curiosity awhile. We’re heading for a rendezvous point now to pick up another operator. This is going to be a three-man team, you, me and an exobiologist. As soon as he is aboard I’ll do a complete briefing for you both at the same time. What you can do now is get your head into the language box and start working on your Disan, You’ll want to speak it perfectly by the time we touchdown.”

With an autohypno for complete recall, Brion had no difficulty in mastering the grammar and vocabulary of Disan. Pronunciation was a different matter altogether. Almost all the word endings were swallowed, muffled or gargled. The language was rich in glottal stops, clicks and guttural strangling sounds. Ihjel stayed in a different part of the ship when Brion used the voice mirror and analysis scope, claiming that the awful noises interfered with his digestion.

Their ship angled through jump-space along its calculated course. It kept its fragile human cargo warm, fed them and supplied breathable air. It had orders to worry about Brion’s health, so it did, checking constantly against its recorded instructions and noting his steady progress. Another part of the ship’s brain counted microseconds with moronic fixation, finally closing a relay when a predetermined number had expired in its heart. A light flashed and a buzzer hummed gently but insistently.

Ihjel yawned, put away the report he had been reading, and started for the control room. He shuddered when he passed the room where Brion was listening to a playback of his Disan efforts.

“Turn off that dying brontosaurus and get strapped in,” he called through the thin door. “We’re coming to the point of optimum possibility and well be dropping back into normal space soon.”

The human mind can ponder the incredible distances between the stars, but cannot possibly contain within itself a real understanding of them.