Part 2, The Crazy Eddie Point: Chapter 14, The Engineer Summary

Jonathan Whitbred pilots the small space taxi toward the alien mining vessel and opens his airlock, hoping the alien will get the message. The Midshipman crosses to the alien ship. The Motie is waiting for him.

The alien is shorter than the one that was in the pod and has only brown fur with no white markings on it. Small creatures scurry around the ship.

Jonathan invites the Motie to return to MacArthur with him. She puts on the suit in a moment and then grabs a couple of the small Moties and jams then in a plastic bag.

The alien executes an unbelievably perfect leap into the space taxi airlock. Jonathan quickly gets to the ship in time to stop the Motie from disassembling the control panel. The...