Barton grinned. "Yeh, 1 know." He glanced at the screen, "They're coming up pretty good. You want to talk them into formation?"

Tarleton nodded-even the fleet commander had to wear two hats; his second one was communications. He activated the board and began coaching squadrons and individual ships into a dish-shaped formation, curving back from Ship One as center.

"Spread your group a little, Slowboat. Our drive wakes may be harmless below light speed, but let's don't get into bad habits. Right?'*

"Right," said Slobodna, and Squadron Two dispersed slightly.

Tarleton smiled and turned back to his second-in- command. "Well, Barton, there they are. The first star-

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ships Earth ever built, and all ready to go. Do they look as good to you as they do to me?"

"From here? Better." Barton shivered, remembering how close it had been-whether he'd ride this ship or stay home, in a cage. And the years he'd been caged by the alien Demu ... well, that was what the fleet was all about.

"Do we move it now?" he said.

"It's all yours."

Barton punched coordinates into the fleet's linked computers, took a deep breath, and stabbed a finger at the activating button. As one, the forty ships accelerated.

"Next stop, Tilara. Anything more we need, before the all-ships briefing?" Tarleton shook his head. "Okay."

To the woman sitting behind him. Barton said, "Limila, you want to get the others in here now?"

"All right. Barton."

"You'd better take ap Fenn or maybe Scalsa with you, to bring Hishtoo. Just in case that big lobster is still on his high horse."

"You think Hishtoo would harm me while you are on this ship? But, very well; I will ask Scalsa's aid." Briefly, before leaving, she touched Barton's cheek.

As the control-room door closed behind her, Tarleton said, **That*s some woman you have there."

"Yen. I noticed."

"What I meant is, that if she's any sample of the Til- aran race, we need them as allies."

"I told you that before."

"Relax, will you. Barton? We're in space now-the first time any of us have ever left the solar system under our own power. Or had the chance to meet other races ...'."

"Except as Demu captives! Yen, I know. Let it go, huh?"

Behind them the door opened; the crew of Ship One entered, along with the two Demu escorted by Limila.

Vito Scalsa came last and closed the door. The group- three men, five women, and two Demu-stood as if un- certain what to do next.

Tarieton didn't say anything, so Barton did. "Okay, it's time for the bossman to talk to the troops. Let's the rest of us get to the sides, out of center stage." He stood and motioned the others to either side, bringing Limila and the two Demu to stand with him. "All yours, Tarle- ton."

Tarleton pushed buttons. On the large screen at the

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front of the room appeared a segmented, composite pic- ture; each of the forty ships' control rooms was shown in miniature. The circuit was multipled; here and there Bar- ton saw people waving hellos to others they recognized on their own screens.

Tarleton cut it short. "All right, we can chatter later;

it's toll-free." The picture became still. "I'm Tarleton, commanding this fleet. I came into the job by way of being presidential assistant to the United States Space Agency and then in charge of getting the ships built. So it's new to me, and I expect I'm going to need all the cooperation I can get." The smiling, hand-waving miniatures on the screen looked fully cooperative to Barton; he nodded in satisfaction as Tarleton turned to him.

"Now I want you to meet Barton, second-in-command.

You've heard of him-his escape from the Demu in their ship that be brought back to us, along with three other prisoners and the two Demu here." He motioned to the smaller man. "Okay, you take it"

With deliberate confidence. Barton moved front and center. "I'm Barton. In a way, it's my fault you're here.

Some of you I don't know, but we'll be getting better ac- quainted, over this gadget

"Most of you have the background. But this was a hurry-up job-there were some last-minute people brought in. So I'll skim through it aJittle.'* He paused,- thinking of where to start, how to keep ,it short. "We're riding a souped-up version of the Demu space drive-the Labs improved a lot on the one I swiped. Besides their own weapons-the Shield and the sleep-gun-we have the only thing we could find that will punch through the Shield.

High-powered lasers. They may have more stuff; we don't know.

"Maybe you noticed the empty space at the front of your ships. That's on purpose. Before we tackle the Demu, we're going to visit some other folks; we need all the help we can get. And if they have any weapons we can use, we'll have the room to mount them."

Making speeches. Barton reflected, wasn't his specialty.

What next? Oh, yes-exhibit the two Demu. He mo- tioned for them to join him.

"These are Demu. The big one in the robe and hood -that's their standard-issue clothing-is Hishtoo. He was in charge of the raid that grabbed me, and others, off Earth. And he ran the research station where I ... spent

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nearly eight years in a cage." He could say it now, but

still not easily....

*The little one is Eeshta, Hishtoo's egg-child. I'll ex- plain that part later." Eeshta wore a short smock, and a cap like that of a baseball player.

*They're exoskeletal," he said. "Invertebrate. Take a look." He made a sign for the two to disrobe. Eeshta com- plied readily but Hishtoo refused. That figured. Barton saw no reason to force the issue; one was enough. So Eeshta's chitmous form was displayed for the fleet's en- lightenment.

Some of the viewers appeared shocked by the serrated lips, the lack of nose or ears, the smooth featureless crotch.

With a vague feeling that Eeshta might be embarrassed, Barton gently patted the hairiess skull.

"Don't think of the Demu as monsters," he said. *They evolved in their own way, that's alL Those lips are rock- hard; they chew with them. Open your mouth, please, Eeshta . . . see? No teeth-and notice the short tongue."

Eeshta lifted it. "That's bow they smile." The smile was turned to Barton and he responded, human-style.

"They're short one finger and toe all around, by our standards. That's all right-the Tilari. the first race we're going to meet, normally have six of each.

"I generally think of Eeshta as 'she,' but each Demu is both male and female. I don't know whether you can make out, over the screen, this pattern of little dots up the middle of the abdomen-but that's why you don't see anything where you expected to. They lay eggs, tiny ones that mature in breeding tanks. That's all I know about

that side of it." '

Shrugging tension out of his shoulders, he took a deep breath. "None of these differences make them monsters, or even enemies. They're our enemies for one reason only

*because they're firmly convinced, as a race, that the Demu are the only true people-that all the rest of us are merely animals.