And we take no heed of the law which says that men may not think of women, save at the Time of Mating. This is the time each spring when all the men older than twenty and all the women older than eighteen are sent for one night to the City Palace of Mating. And each of the men have one of the women assigned to them by the Council of Eugenics. Children are born each winter, but women never see their children and children never know their parents. Twice have we been sent to the Palace of Mating, but it is an ugly and shameful matter, of which we do not like to think. We had broken so many laws, and today we have broken one more. Today, we spoke to the Golden One. The other women were far off in the field, when we stopped at the hedge by the side of the road. The Golden One were kneeling alone at the moat which runs through the field. And the drops of water falling from their hands, as they raised the water to their lips, were like sparks of fire in the sun. Then the Golden One saw us, and they did not move, kneeling there, looking at us, and circles of light played upon their white tunic, from the sun on the water of the moat, and one sparkling drop fell from a finger of their hand held as frozen in the air. Then the Golden One rose and walked to the hedge, as if they had heard a command in our eyes. The two other Street Sweepers of our brigade were a hundred paces away down the road. And we thought that International 4-8818 would not betray us, and Union 5-3992 would not understand. So we looked straight upon the Golden One, and we saw the shadows of their lashes on their white cheeks and the sparks of sun on their lips. And we said: “You are beautiful, Liberty 5-3000.” Their face did not move and they did not avert their eyes. Only their eyes grew wider, and there was triumph in their eyes, and it was not triumph over us, but over things we could not guess. Then they asked: “What is your name?” “Equality 7-2521,” we answered. “You are not one of our brothers, Equality 7-2521, for we do not wish you to be.” We cannot say what they meant, for there are no words for their meaning, but we know it without words and we knew it then. “No,” we answered, “nor are you one of our sisters.” “If you see us among scores of women, will you look upon us?” “We shall look upon you, Liberty 5-3000, if we see you among all the women of the earth.” Then they asked: “Are Street Sweepers sent to different parts of the City or do they always work in the same places?” “They always work in the same places,” we answered, “and no one will take this road away from us.” “Your eyes,” they said, “are not like the eyes of any among men.”