The Mating Center by FRANK BELKNAP LONG Copyright 1961 [Transcriber's Note: Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] A Chariot Book EXCITING READING FOR MEN Printed in the U. S. A. _The characters in this book are entirely fictitious and are the products of the author's imagination. They in no way represent actual people._ _TELEMAN BEGAN TO TREMBLE...._ _The lovely woman approaching him on the travel strip was non-sex-privileged--he could tell by her attire--but she looked at him boldly._ _As she came abreast of him she stumbled, and he instinctively flung out his arm to catch her. The feel of her body against his sent a shock through his system._ _She was trembling also, and she whispered strange words to him. "It is breaking down! Can't you feel it? The love instincts are returning--"_ _"No," he protested._ _She clung to him, grinding her body against his. "Love me," she whispered. "I know you want me. I can see it in your eyes."_ _He tried to push her away._ _"Look at me," she pleaded. "Am I not beautiful?" She unbuckled the golden belt at her waist so that the brief, diaphanous garment hung free, revealing the generous curves of her body. She stood very straight, her full red lips slightly parted, her jutting breasts heaving with the intensity of her emotion...._ PROLOGUE The Guiding Specialist paused, as if to stress the importance of what he was about to say. "Love," he went on, his voice rising slightly, "must be stripped of all artificial romantic glamour and exposed for what it is: a necessary biological technique for the propagation of the race. Its exercise must be confined to a rigorously selected few men and women whose sole function in our society is to further that aim." A murmuring arose in the hall and ran back and forth between the tiers. The speaker paused again and his features took on a harsher aspect, so that his image on the lighted screen no longer seemed beneficent but resembled more that of a man passing inexorable judgment. There was a murmuring in the seven-tiered speaker-guidance hall, a heightening of tension, a drawing together of many thoughtful minds. The hall had a seating capacity of eight thousand, and every seat was taken. Every seat was occupied by Ruling-Caste Monitors, the guardians of the most powerful and complex World State that Earth had ever known. It was a society of gigantic industrial plants and research laboratories, of vast agricultural projects, of inland waterway and harbor-spanning bridges, of atomic generators and throbbing power turbines, of parks and playgrounds and athletic arenas where recreation was carefully supervised.