Behind the veil she saw maimed lips move in a kind of smile. "Yes, Doctor. As Eeshta would say, I am not eggborn. For more than six years, after what was done, I lived as Demu. But even yet, I know them only from outside." Her hands, together, clasped and unclasped.

"And Eeshta? I do not know. The Demu never speak another's language. It may be that they cannot leam as we do. We can only continue to try."

^Yes, and hope for success." A knock sounded. "Come in." A boy entered with coffee and a snack plate. An- nette moved papers to clear space on the table. "Thank you." she said. He smiled, set down the tray, and left the room.

"I'll pour, TJmila. Cream? Sugar?"

Her cup prepared, Limila raised it. She held it before her veil a moment, then set it down. 'Thank you, but I do not want any, after aIL I must go now."

"Limilal We're going to he working together a long time, probably. Can't you-?"

"You have seen me." The voice was flat, wooden. "In the pictures, at least. Do you wonder that I hide myself?"

A small five-fingered hand shot out to grasp one that

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now had only four. "Oh, damn alll I do tend to forget that anything is important, except my work. But I feel I know you only from outside, and-well, it was a long session; you should have some coffee and a bite to eat.

ril go out, if you wish. I'm sorry, Limila. Forgive me?"

Limila shrugged. "You have not harmed me; it was done before. And if you wish to see me, I can bear it if you can. When we are alone ..." She removed the veil and pushed back the hood.

For long seconds, seeing what had been a woman's face, Annette Ling could not speak. "Yes," she said at last. "When we are alone. Thank you, Limila." She busied herself, leafing through her notes.

"Now I'd like you to look at the questions my team has prepared for us to ask Eeshta tomorrow. Do you think perhaps . . . ?"

As they talked, Limila sipped coffee and ate small bits of cheese and wafers. Without teeth it was a slow process.

The young person has eaten. It sits with its egg-parent Hishtoo and the two Demu not eggbom. They are of the type that does not grow its young inside but supplies cells to fulfill the eggs. Siewen, the frail one, supplies no more such cells. It is one of the first of its kind to be made Demu, and live; there was not knowledge that to provide correct appearance" to its legs-juncture would render it useless for breeding. Like Limila, it speaks with , animals, but only in response. Here among Demu it does not speak.

The other has taken the Demu name Shestin and does not speak with animals. It has been given citizenship later when more is known of its kind. Its appearance where its legs join is not fully correct Protrusion has been minimized but not entirely eliminated; this one, it is hoped, retains ability to fulfill eggs. It shows no signs of wishing to do so. On the ship it did not speak to Barton.

Barton called it Whosits. Those who bring food call it The Freak.

Hishtoo addresses its egg-child. "It is that you speak with animals?"

."I speak with Limila, who speaks with animals. I do as you."

"It is that I should not. But the animal Barton-"

"It is that first you do not speak with Limila in pres-

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ence of animals. But when Barton makes the sound 'crab salad,' then you speak. I do not kno^ that sound."

From Doktor Siewen comes a harsh cackling.

"It is," says Hishtoo, "that your mind is not waking when Barton first makes that sound. Then, if I do not give the ship to it, it eats you. On the ship it destroys use of my arms. And the animal Barton eats me now if I do not speak of the ship with Limila and Siewen. But I speak much of &o truth."

"It is that if Barton finds you speak not truth, Hishtoo . . ."

"It is that we have no certain way of safety. That the worlds must know the Demu and become Demu. Barton eats me before I allow it to eat our race."

The young person pauses, thinking of what it knows.

"It is that Barton harms me also when we meet, but not again. I do not know when it says to eat me, for, as you say, my mind is not waking. It is tfiat the animal puts its hand to my head and makes a soft sound when I have pain and want no more."

"It is that you forget, Eeshta, that it is an animal and of no assured mind. You forget no animal is Demu. Bar- ton has not our speech, nor correct appearance."

"You say much truth, Hishtoo. I think on your saying."

The young person thinks of what it knows, and of what it does not know.

Limila waited. When Barton arrived, his dinner would not take long to prepare. He did not need her to cook for him; he could manage well enough on packaged meals.

But he had brought what was left of her away from the Demui she had no one else, and felt he deserved some payment for suffering her monstrous presence. So she did what she could, though she found it ever more difficult to talk with him.

A groundcar stopped outside; Barton's footsteps ap- proached, and he entered. "Hi, Limila. You have a good day?" He sounded as though be were reciting a set speech.

"Well enough, I suppose. Are you hungry. Barton?"

He looked at her, then away again. When they were alone she did not wear the veil; it was no use. On the ship he had seen her too long without it.

"In a little while-any time you're ready. Right now I

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need a beer." He made busy at the refrigerator, then sat near her.

"Hishtoo's lying* you know," he said. **At least half the time, maybe more. That big lobster is nobody's foot"

"You have charged him with lying?"

Impatiently, Barton shook his bead. "Wrong approach.

Let him think he's getting away with it. For now, at least.

No, we just keep asking questions, sometimes the same ones from a different angle. He'll slip up; he already has.

Well transcribe the tapes and cross-check; feed it to the computers. Nobody can lie consistently over the long haul.

The parts of his story that don't stay put, we can throw out. Where it hangs together, it's probably fact And sooner or later we*U figure out how the Demu ship works."

"And the Demu mind. Barton?"

He looked at her, his expression unguarded for a mo- ment, as though she still had a face. "That's the hard part, isn*t ii? What you're doing. We need force, sure-ships, and all-to stop the raids. But we need to know about them, too, and the little one's the key. How you coming with her, by now?"

"It is hard to be certain. She answers questions, but obliquely."

"Comes by it naturally. I expect; her egg-daddy's a liar by the clock. Too bad-I've gotten to like the kid, but she sure as hell comes from a rotten family."

Explanation was too difficult; she served dinner instead.

Barton ate silently, saying only. **Hey, pretty good there,"

after the first bites. When he finished, he said, "You want to watch the Trivia or anything?"

"The Tri-V? No, Barton."