reported in satisfaction. "They must have higher fertility than I hoped if they can think of it while sick." Then her thoughts sharpened. "Take over your silth!"

The human at the board slumped abruptly. Arnek lashed out from the converted cells, felt a brief protest, and then was alone in the brain of the silth. He could not yet control it, but it had no independent will.

"There is food and water near if we have to rouse from hibernation while we grow into these silths," Ptarra reported. "Now--help me if you can."

Arnek let his weak thoughts blend into hers, trying to give strength as she had often done to him. She was straining her utmost will. Slowly and in jerks, the arm moved across the control board, and clumsy fingers managed to move controls. And at last, from Ptarra's mind, Arnek began to see the plan.

There was fuel enough to bring them at maximum speed across an eddy of the galaxy toward the lone sun they had found long before. There a single planet swung in orbit--a planet with food but no dangerous animal life. And there they could wait and grow strong, and multiply as their silths multiplied. They could reach it almost as soon as they came out of hibernation finally, and it would be a safe haven in its isolation. There would be no fuel for further travel. But that could wait, while their numbers grew, and they could restore their lost technology and weapons with the clever hands of the human silths. Then they could take over the galaxy--as they had taken the one so long away!

The hands fumbled under the limited control, but they moved across the board. And the automatic pilot was finally set and sealed.

"Logic!" Arnek thought softly, and there was wonder at a mind like Ptarra's that could achieve such understanding of even alien mechanisms. Yet under it there was still a cold knot of fear along his nerves. Ptarra's thoughts had begun to fade from the strain and the long interruption to her hibernation. But now she caught momentary control again. There was appreciation in them for his praise. And then there was amusement. "Logic," she agreed. "But perhaps intuition isn't too bad for a male. You've been right twice."

"Twice?" Arnek asked. He'd been somehow right that the silths controlled their own ships, of course. But....

"Twice," Ptarra said. "I've just realized my silth is a male, as you suggested it might be. Amusing, reversing the sexes, isn't it?"

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