For this new arrival had been made in almost perfect imitation of a bee!  It was very close to an exact reproduction.  For one exception, it did not have the hairy appearance so characteristic of bees; the body and “legs” were smooth, and shiny. (Later, Van Emmon saw machines which went so far as even to imitate the hairs.) Also, instead of trying to duplicate the two compound eyes which are found, one on each side of a bee’s head, a perfectly round representation of a single eye was built, like a conning tower, toward the front of the bow.  Presumably, the observer sat or stood within this “head.”

But otherwise it was wonderfully like a drone bee.  Van Emmon was strongly reminded of what he had once viewed under a powerful lens.  The fragile semitransparent wings, the misshapen legs, and even the jointed body with its scale-like segments, all were carefully duplicated on a large scale.  Imagine a bee thirty feet long!

At first the geologist was puzzled to find that it carried a pair of many-jointed antennae.  He could not see how any intelligent being would make use of them; they were continually waving about, much as bees wave theirs.  Evidently these were the loose objects he had already noted.  “Now,” he wondered, “why in thunder did the builders go to so much trouble for the sake of mere realism?”

Then he saw that the antennae served a very real purpose.  There was no doubt about it; they were wireless antennae!

For presently the newcomer, who so far had not shown himself at any point on his machine, sent out a message which was read as quickly as it was received by Van Emmon’s agent, and as unconsciously translated: 

“Number Eight Hundred Four, you are wanted on Plot Seventeen.”

Whereupon Van Emmon’s unknown assistant replied at once: 

“Very well, Superior.”

It was done by means of an extremely faint humming device, reminding the geologist of certain wireless apparata he had heard.  Not a word was actually spoken by either Sanusian.

Van Emmon kept a close watch upon the conning tower on the other machine.  The sun was shining upon it in such a fashion that its gleam made inspection very difficult.  Once he fancied that he could make out a short, compact figure within the “eye”; but he could not be sure.  The glass, or whatever it was, reflected everything within range.

Was the airman a quadruped?  Did he sit or stand upright, like a man?  Or did he use all four limbs, animal-fashion?  Van Emmon had to admit that he could not tell; no wonder he didn’t guess the truth.

Shortly after receiving the summons, the geologist’s agent changed his direction slightly; and within ten minutes the machine was passing over a large grain field.  On the far edge was a row of trees, and it was toward this that the Sanusian proceeded to volplane, presently coming to another nausea-producing stop.  Once more Van Emmon was temporarily helpless.