sentences:  While the other humans believe that she is mistaken, Ib begins to suspect that something underhanded is going on.The Hoffmans would prefer to deal honestly with the Mesklinites, but they have to deal with the prejudices, not only of fellow humans with political motives, but with the more paranoid of the non-human supervisors of the mission.Having an inkling of what Barlennan is really after (to have his people learn to fly starships and eventually explore the galaxy in their own right), Ib Hoffman finally breaks the deadlock by convincing the human administrators that they should treat the bug-like creatures as equals rather than hired hands.