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Clarey didn’t say anything.

Malesor’s pale face turned gray. “You mean we might not be given time?”

Clarey wiggled his ears. “Who can tell what’s in the mind of an Earthman?”

Malesor looked directly at him. “Why do you tell me this?”

“Because I’m one of you,” Clarey said stoutly.

Malesor shook his head. “You’re not. You never can be. But thanks for the warning—stranger.”

Never identify, the robocoach had said. You’ll never be able to become the character you’re trying to play. He was talking only of the stage, Clarey told himself angrily, as he left the Dome.

Reports trickled in from the cities. Earthmen had been stoned twice in Zrig, more often than that in Barshwat. Clarey got an agitated letter from his aunt. “Watch out for yourself, Nephew,” she warned. “They may take it into their heads to attack all foreigners. Remember, come what may, you’ll always have a home with me.”

Then everything broke open. A group of natives attacked Earth Headquarters in Barshwat. The Earthmen sprayed them with a gas which made the attackers lose consciousness without harming them; that is, it was intended to work that way. However, one of them hit his head on the wall when he fell, and he died the next day.