But Koroby, with supreme confidence, walked toward the stranger, her lovely body graceful as a cat's, her face radiant. The man did not hear her. She halted behind him, waited silent, expectant, excited--but he did not turn. The green fire sputtered upward. At last the girl stepped to the man's side and gently touched him again. He turned, and her heart faltered: she swayed with bliss. He was probably a god. Not even handsome Yasak looked like this. Here was a face so finely-chiseled, so perfectly proportioned, that it was almost frightening, unhuman, mechanical. It was unlined and without expression, somehow unreal. Mysterious, compelling. He was clothed very peculiarly. A wonderfully-made metallic garment enclosed his whole body--legs and all, unlike the Venus-men's tunics. Even his feet were covered. Perhaps it was armor--though the Venus-men usually wore only breastplate and greaves. And a helmet hid all of the man's head except his face. Around his waist was a belt with many incomprehensible objects dangling from it. If he was so well armored, why was he not carrying a sword--a dagger at least! Of what use were those things on his belt--for instance, that notched L-shaped thing? It would not even make a decent club! The stranger did not speak, merely gazed deeply into Koroby's eyes. And she, returning the gaze, wondered if he was peering into her very soul. The words of a folk-ballad came to her: "--He'll smile and touch my cheek, And maybe more; And though we'll neither speak, We'll know the score--" * * * * * Suddenly he put his hands to her cheeks and bent close to her, his eyes peering into hers as though he were searching for something he had lost in them. She spoke her thought: "What are you doing? You seem to be reading my mind!" Without removing hands, he nodded. "Reading--mind." He stared long into her eyes. His dispassionate, too-perfect face began to frighten her. She slipped back from him, her hand clutching her throat. He straightened up and spoke--haltingly at first, then with growing assurance. "Don't be afraid. I mean you no harm." She trembled. It was such a wonderful voice--it was as she had always dreamed it! But she had never really believed in the dream.... He was looking at the wrecked globe of metal. "So there are people on Venus!" he said slowly. Koroby watched him, forgot her fear, and went eagerly to him, took his arm. "Who are you?" she asked. "Tell me your name!" He turned his mask of a face to her. "My name? I have none," he said. "No name? But who are you? Where are you from? And what is that?" She pointed at the metal globe. "The vehicle by which I came here from a land beyond the sky," he said. She had no concept of stars or space, and he could not fully explain. "From a world known as Terra." She was silent a moment, stunned. So there was another world! Then she asked, "Is it far? Have you come to take me there?"