Hoqqueah turned and arose. His’ eyes were still warm and liquid, but there was no longer any trace of merriment in them.
“I know very well what it means,” he said. “And to some extent I understand the needthough I had been hoping to see ‘the planet of our birth first from space. But I don’t think you quite understood me. Captain. The moral watershed of which I spoke is not in the past. It is now. It began the day that the Earth itself became no longer habitable for the so-called basic human type. The flowing of the streams toward the common reservoir will become bigger and bigger as word spreads through the galaxy that Earth itself has been seeded with Adapted Men. With that news will go a shock of recog-nitionthe shock of realizing that the ‘basic’ types are now, and have been for a long time, a very small minority, despite their pretensions.”
Was Hoqqueah being absurd enough to threatenan un-armed, comical seal-man shaking a fist at the captain of the indefeasible? Or
“Before I go, let me ask you this one question, Captain.
Down there is your home planet, and my team and I will be going out on its surface before long. Do you dare to follow us out of the ship?”
“And why should I?” Gorbel said.
“Why, to show the superiority of the basic type. Captain,”
Hoqqueah said softly. “Surely you cannot admit that a pack of seal-men are your betters, on your own ancestral ground!”
He bowed and went to the door. Just before he reached it, be turned and looked speculatively at Gorbel and at Lt.
Averdor, who was staring at him with an expression of rigid fury.