The ambassador felt better. Born diplomats, these men. That came of roaming the starways ... a cosmoplanetary polish ... charm no provincial could resist--"What did you say, Madame President? My mind wandered." "Let's take our teacups into the next room where it's quiet. I want to tell you the story of the Fishdollars." "Of course." The ambassador rose with courtly, cosmoplanetary grace. She sat beside him on the single cloth draped bench, and smoothed her short red skirt. "In the second century After Space, Stephen--may I call you Stephen?" she began. He nodded indulgently. The eighty-fourth planet colonized from Earth, she told him, was Fishdollar One, so named for Andrew Fishdollar, who founded the settlement and brought along many kinsmen. The settlement prospered but the planet had a strong Rho effect. Did he understand? "Yes, Madame President. An excess of female over male births until a certain population density is reached." "It may take _centuries_. It's terrible. Stevie, I've actually heard the Patrol sometimes sends ships...." She blushed prettily and looked down at the teacup on her rounded knee. "Yes. Yes, Wendrew. There is a special clause--oh, most delicately worded--in the standard Patrol treaty with Rho effect planets. Spacers call them good liberty planets." He felt warm, tugged at his tight collar and kept his gaze on the president's teacup. She took up her story. Genetic strains varied in susceptibility to the Rho effect, of course he knew, and it was terribly severe on Fishdollars. The clan became immensely wealthy through pioneer land holdings, but the name was dying out. Male Fishdollars were recruited from Earth and the other planets until the name was extinct elsewhere, but it was no use. Sex control was no good--bad psychic effects in the resultant males. Finally, in the fourth century, the Fishdollars settled a new planet, seeking a reduced Rho effect. "But Wendy, why not adopt boys, change names and so on?" "Against the laws, Stevie. People with low-Rho names believed the effect worked through the name and not the gene pattern. Silly superstition of course, but they had the votes." It was the same story on Planets Fishdollar Two and Three. Fishdollar wealth grew and Fishdollar males dwindled in inverse ratio. On Fishdollar Four, in the Sigma-3 Velorum system, they vanished altogether. A few hundred women still bore the name. "It's pitiful, Stevie, when a name dies after thousands of years," she said softly. She put down her teacup and smoothed nervously at her brief skirt. "I can imagine. Ten generations of Welnickis have served the Patrol." "We tried hard to keep the name alive," she went on, vainly tugging the pleated skirt lower on the smooth white legs. "Stevie, some of us here are haploid and some are illegitimate." Her head drooped. Wordless, he watched her hands. She raised a rosy face to him impulsively.