"As many as wish to be. There is no difference made between the sexes, only between individuals according to their abilities. There are many women in the task force--pilots, technicians, officers, gunners, ordinary troops." "Nobody thinks a thing of it?" "Why should they?" Wyatt could not really think of any good reason, except that on Earth they did. Brinna reached for a panel at her right side and started to open it. Instantly Wyatt was alert. "What are you doing there?" "You want to go to Washington. Unless you can tell me the exact coordinates yourself, I must have the computer work out a course." "Okay," said Wyatt. "Open the panel, but slowly." Behind it there was only a remarkable compact receptor-effector unit. "You see?" she said. "Now if you will allow me--" He allowed her. He asked, "Do you have a chart designation for Washington already in that thing?" "For everywhere in your world," said Brinna. "_Naturally._" * * * * * A chill went crawling down Wyatt's back. Some of the larger implications of the situation were beginning to catch up with him. Enemies had entered the skies of Earth, spying, charting. Enemies from another star, so far away that Earth had never heard of it. Earthmen had been kidnapped, the names of cities had been written down, plans had been made. And somewhere out there, in the immense black and fire-blazing gulf that surrounded Earth--not any longer as a protective barrier but as a pathway for invasion--an alien fleet proceeded on its way. Wyatt stared in horror out the window and wondered how, even if all Earth's defenses were mustered, she could fight off an attack by an enemy so superior in technology that interstellar flight was a commonplace. "Brinna," he said, "what--" He started to turn his head toward her and out of the tail of his eye he saw her hand move on the controls but it was already too late to do anything. The plane went out from under him sideways and the window tried to push itself through his head. Then he was thrown the other way with a violence that nearly snapped his neck. The seat belt cut into him and his arms flew out wildly. The gun was pulled from his hand as by a powerful magnet. He yelled involuntarily and then for the second time direction was reversed and his head slammed into the window again and all the stars went out. When he came to he had no weapon at all and his hands were securely fastened to the back of the seat with his own belt. His head ached abominably. "That was a dirty trick," he said. "Now I see why you made that first turn so gentle--so I wouldn't know how fast this thing could maneuver at right angles." Brinna said, "Would you have expected me to give you a performance sheet?"