From: The Shaldron Race

To: The Human Race

Greetings:

Your presence on this planet has been noted and the reason for your visit analyzed by our instruments. We have, therefore, taken the liberty of selecting one of your party for our first contact, one whom we feel is best suited to grasp the motivations of both our races and arrange for future group contacts.

Peter Collard stared at the message with a cold feeling of foreboding. He felt pity for the poor devil.

"Who is this selected contact?"

"Ah, now," Dyson became suddenly interested in the papers on the table. "Well, I'm sorry and all that but, as a matter of fact, they want you."