"Bob doesn't talk, not exactly. He uses telepathy. All members of his species have very strong psychic abilities. However, I wouldn't be surprised if his thoughts read differently than a regular dog's. He's a lot smarter, for one thing."

Kinner doesn't doubt that Things and humans see the world very differently, though he hasn't talked to Bob enough to know the details.

"Some of us were willing to assume it wasn't evil when we found it. The one we met made no attempt to communicate with us. One of our scientists, Connant, was on guard when it escaped, and I'm afraid from all evidence he was its first meal rather than a conversation partner. People reported nightmares about it when they fell asleep with it in the base, even when it was frozen."

Kinner fixes up some grilled salmon for himself to eat.

"Care if I join you?" Kinner smiles. "But yeah, Blair does like to talk. And he's on the arrogant side, though he's trying to do better. When I knew him back at Big Magnet, he was even worse."