"A telepath, this never happened before!" Eve told herself, to slow the racing of her heart. Almost imperceptibly JS began to tap on her hand with his fingers. It was their secret code and she remembered too well when he had insisted on teaching it. They were still on New Mars when he said: "Today spy class: the spook signs' language." "Humph, as mind-readers we don't need it." she replied. "It's deadly boring!" "One never knows what's in the lap of the gods. I am a good teacher, am I not?" JS added lightly. He bent over her and fired her ear's lobe up with soft strokes of his tongue. "Small taps, like that mean Still As A Shadow." He whispered with a deep purr that made her toes curl. Then he drummed her nipples with his fingers. Eve was totally enthralled when JS reached the soft folds of flesh between her thighs. Done his lesson, JS smiled: "Learned the tap code?" "Mmm, I need more practice." Eve's eyes were glinting beneath heavy lids. Now the tapping meant: "Open your mental barrier just a little, or they'll take notice of us." Eve nodded. "Think about harmless things." Humor lit JS's face, "as you're doing just now." Eve blushed, his merry quips still had this effect on her. Suddenly Vickie blurted: "Hey guys, we ships thought that if you use a higher frequency, we'll be in touch without getting caught." "Capital notion!" Eve mind-said in the higher frequency. "It's like an ultrasonic whistle," JS agreed. "But with caution, OK?" Carefully JS began to scout around people's minds in a hit and run way. He found out that Maurr and other guys were slaves on the galleys, and the natives harbored a deep hatred and a fierce desire for revenge. The Insectoids' minds were a totally different matter. At the spaceport JS and Eve had carefully perused their minds. They were alien to the bones, or better to the chitin. The Insectoids were dominated by need. The absolute, all-encompassing need of the swarm. This single, obsessive, primal thought was branded in their minds. No individual need was taken into account, only those of the swarm and the queen. "The mind-reader isn't an Insectoid." Eve mind-whistled. Now JS was determined to find him. Not an easy task. Pacing on the plaza he noticed that the Insectoids subtly channelled the tourists to the ziggurat. "The mind-reader must be there." JS thought. Waving a leaflet Golo, their host, shouted excitedly: "They offer a buffet for the distinguished guests on the terrace at the top of the tower!" "Eve," JS whispered, "the Bugs are looking for hot worlds, focus on New Mars and chat Puhrr up about fashion. They already know everything about Regulus 8 because of Maurr." Meanwhile, he engaged Golo on a confab about winter sports. "I can't see Maurr, here!" Puhrr pouted. "I recommend these sandwiches!" Golo chuckled, handing Puhrr a tray. She tasted one with disdain. "Royal jelly for a royal princess!" JS laughed and tapped "Look Inside" on Eve's hand. In the great hall there was a golden cage. A small alien guy who looked like Hodgepodge's cousin was locked inside. "It's him!" she tapped. JS took her arm in arm and strolled inside. "He's stoned." JS said. "He sees people's thoughts like hallucinations." An Insectoid approached the cage and crumbled dried flowers in the watering hole. Hodgepodge-2 looked at the infusion with disgust, but another Insectoid showed him a taser. The little one drank, and the mind-contact became stronger. "Those dried flowers amplify his powers in an insane way. The Bugs do the rest by electroshocks. We must to get him out of here!" "And Maurr?" Eve asked. "Both of them, we must free them both. This is our problem." Many tourists swarmed on the docks to watch the crews. Badu's Omega Team had come as tourists with the Sirius Star Cruiser. "There, sir!" one of his men pointed a ship. "There're Rogues on that galley." Badu took a small spotting scope and watched the slaves rowing. -- Thanks!