"They have a matter transmitter, but I haven't the slightest idea of how it works. Obviously it's limited to living creatures or they could just as well have taken whatever it is they want instead of ... You don't happen to know what a high dragon bump is, do you?" "Don't be dumb. Of course I ... well, unless it's a dance or something. I use to be a dancer, ya know. Sort of." "With bubbles, I imagine," Wayne said. "Tassels. They was my specialty. But there's more money in posing for pitchers, and the work ain't quite so--" "I doubt that a high dragon bump is a dance," Wayne said. Then he rubbed his chin. High dragon bump? Bumps and grinds? Highland fling? Chinese dragon dances? Hell, why not? The idea of space travelers visiting earth to learn a new dance was no more fantastic than the idea of them being here at all. Wayne turned his face to the door and shouted, "Hey, is that it? A dance? You want us to teach you a dance called the high dragon bump?" A muffled metallic voice from the other side said, "Nod danz. Bump. Huguff quig." Wayne shrugged and grinned weakly at Sheilah. "Well, we're making headway. We know one thing that it isn't." The girl had drifted so close to him now that he could feel the warmth of her body and smell the overwhelming fragrance of her perfume. She put one hand on his arm, and Wayne found that he had neither the strength nor the inclination to jerk away. But he protested weakly, "Now, listen, there's no point in you--I mean--even if we did, I couldn't produce a high dragon bump." "What kind of work do you do, mister?" Sheilah asked softly, drawing herself even closer. "You know, you ain't even told me your name yet." "It's Wayne," he said, fumbling in an effort to loosen his tie so he could breath more easily. "I'm an instructor. I teach physics at Kyler College, and I've got a weekly science show on TV. In fact I'd just finished my show when they got me. I was leaving the studio, starting down the stairs. Thought at first I'd missed a step and was falling, but I just kept falling. And I landed here, and ... Now, don't do that!" "Why, I wasn't doing nothing. Whaddya do on your TV show?" "I talk. About science. Physics. Like today, I was discussing the H-bomb. How it works, you know, and why the fallout is dangerous, and ... Oh, good Gawd! Seduce, reduce! High dragon bump!" He shoved her away from him abruptly and violently and he went hurtling in the opposite direction. "Well, hey!" Sheilah protested. "You don't need to get so rough. I wasn't going to--" "Shut up," Wayne said. "I think I've figured out what the Cirissins want! "Hey! Hey, open the door," he shouted. "I've got to talk to you." The door opened and a Cirissin floated in. Sheilah turned her head away, shuddering, and Wayne found it wise to close his eyes and open them little by little to grow re-accustomed to the sight gradually.