"A voice spoke in his head, mellow and vast: "Who's there?" he quavered. "Who are you?" "Malfunction! Malfunction!" squalled the scouter. "Shut up, it's not a malfunction. Who's talking to me?" The scouter was lunging wildly, buffeting him as it tried to escape the white grasp. Strange crunches, firings of unknown weapons. Still the white stasis held. "What do you want?" he cried.