_"Why?"_
_"I have a hunch about these creatures."_
_"What is it?"_
_"No time now. Trust me."_
Another long pause in which Orne and Tanub continued to study each
other. Presently, Stetson said: _"O.K. Go ahead as planned. But find out
where the_ Delphinus _is! If we get that back we pull their teeth."_
"Why do you keep touching your throat?" demanded Tanub.
"I'm nervous," said Orne. "Guns always make me nervous."
The muzzle lowered slightly.
"Shall we continue on to your city?" asked Orne. He wet his lips with
his tongue. The cab light on Tanub's face was giving the Gienahn an
eerie sinister look.
"We can go soon," said Tanub.
"Will you join me inside here?" asked Orne. "There's a passenger seat
right behind me."
Tanub's eyes moved catlike: right, left. "Yes." He turned, barked an
order into the jungle gloom, then climbed in behind Orne.
"When do we go?" asked Orne.
"The great sun will be down soon," said Tanub. "We can continue as soon
as Chiranachuruso rises."
"Chiranachuruso?"
"Our satellite ... our moon," said Tanub.
"It's a beautiful word," said Orne. "Chiranachuruso."
"In our tongue it means: The Limb of Victory," said Tanub. "By its light
we will continue."
Orne turned, looked back at Tanub. "Do you mean to tell me that you can
see by what light gets down here through those trees?"
"Can you not see?" asked Tanub.
"Not without the headlights."
"Our eyes differ," said Tanub. He bent toward Orne, peered. The vertical
slit pupils of his eyes expanded, contracted. "You are the same as the
... others."
"Oh, on the _Delphinus_?"