The crew of the ship stood waiting at the lock. There were not many of them, a score or so, and nearly all of these were scientists. The ship, they had said, practically ran itself. Nor were they at all spectacular. They looked like very ordinary human beings of a curiously mixed race—dark skin, Mongoloid eyes of a light shade, thin Caucasoid noses, woolly hair. They wore robes of a shimmering blue material, and had no outward insignia of rank.

“Greetings, gentlemen,” said one, in accented but ready-flowing English, “Permit me to introduce myself—Gor Haml, the one of us who learned your language. The others, of course, have learned other tongues of your planet.”

“I am Philip Brackney—” Introductions went around, acknowledged by the Taithans with grave bows. Thereafter Gor Haml led the way along a bare metal corridor and into a small—well, living room, thought Brackney, who was no sailor. It was furnished with chairs and tables of a comfortable, massive style, and there were some uncannily three-dimensional pictures on the walls. As the party sat down, they felt the chairs mold themselves to the body contours.

“I take it that the visit of such high dignitaries may be considered official?” asked Gor Haml.

“Certainly,” replied Brackney. “But—may I ask if your own visit is in the nature of a formal embassy? Your refusal to admit anyone to your ship, or to hold other than the most academic discourse with those you met, until your invitation to me yesterday—that suggests you are on an official mission yourselves.”

“Yes and no,” answered the Taithan. “We are travelers, exploring this section of the Galaxy, but we are representatives of the Taithan people too, empowered to decide policy with regard to any world we visit.”

“But why did you hold yourselves so aloof?” The Secretary of State looked worried. “All Earth was ready to welcome you. Nearly all churches held thanksgiving services that you had come. Every government has besieged you with official congratulations and invitations.”

Gor Haml seemed a little unhappy. “We have met great courtesy everywhere,” he said, “but it is a rule of the exploration service not to perform any policy-making act until the new planet is—classified.”

“I should hardly think a month would suffice for that,” ventured Brackney.

Gor Haml rubbed a hand over his weary eyes. “It is grueling work,” he admitted, “but it can be done, due to a combination of the highly evolved Taithan psychotechnology and certain phenomena of evolution and history. We have a very exact technique for dealing with human races.”

“Human races!”

“Yes! It seems strange, but the fact is that in three hundred years of Galactic exploration the Taithans have never found an Earth-like world which was not inhabited by a human race. Oh, there are differences, of course, and even races which look and think exactly alike could hardly be so similar as to make interbreeding possible—but by and large, the similarities exceed the differences.”

“I should think the random element—”