"No," Len told him maliciously, "I've practically made up my mind to quit. There doesn't seem to be any point to it any more." "The woman _has_ changed! That's the whole trouble, isn't it? Even though it's not apparent, in some way she has changed?" "No," Len said again, "she hasn't changed at all. In fact, I think that's what the trouble is. She hasn't changed, but _I_ have." "I never thought of that," the kqyres confessed. * * * * * The night of the Jump, Mattern turned in at the kqyres' suggestion. "For once, your men can take care of the ship," the xhind said, "since there will be no trading stop." Lyddy would be drugged, but Mattern would not need drugs, for hyperspace held no more horrors for him. Or so he thought. But that night he was awakened by the sound of a screaming so hideous that, if he hadn't known voices don't change during the hyperjump, he would be tempted to think it was one result of the law of mutability--so monstrous were these shrill, worse-than-animal cries. * * * * * He rushed out of his cabin. In the corridor stood Lyddy, still screaming, her face contorted with terror that only the sight of Alard Raines standing there in his normal shape let Mattern know that they had already passed the Jump. The shrieking separated into words. "I saw it! It was horrible!" And she made an ugly noise in her throat. "You were right, Alard. It's true! There's a monster on board and it did something _awful_ to me...." Her voice ebbed to a bubble as she looked down at her body beneath the thin veil of fabric and found the same voluptuous curves she had started out with. Mattern sighed. "Better come into my cabin, Lyddy." And then he jerked his head at Raines. "You come, too." He paused in the doorway when he saw there was no need for privacy. "Where are the other crewmen?" "Asleep," Raines said. "Drugged. As usual. Who do you think you're fooling, anyway?" Mattern was too disturbed at the news to take notice of the boy's manner. "But they weren't supposed to be drugged this trip! And who's in charge then? _You?_" Raines flushed and struggled to pronounce the word he wanted to use in return. "Your kek--kqyres, I'd say, is in charge. Like he always has been," he concluded triumphantly. Mattern shut the cabin door behind the three of them. Lyddy went over and sat down on the edge of the bunk, quieter now that she found her personal transformation had been ephemeral. Seeing a monster is not, after all, anywhere near as bad as being a monster. Her fright dimmed and was outshone by a strong sense of personal injury. "I thought all Alard's talk of kek-kek-monsters was just superstition," she babbled, "but it's _true_. I saw that thing with my own eyes and it's _hideous_! Len, _why_ do you have it on board, especially when _I'm_ here?" "I have to," Len said. "He's my partner."