"You--_no_!" she said quickly. "I was but trying to ease your lot." He dropped his cynicism instantly. Rhinegallis seemed honestly hurt at his calloused attitude. "You cannot, Rhinegallis," he said softly. "I am no longer a youth, to whom personal passion and pleasure is the ultimate. I give you a demonstration of affection." He placed both hands upon her shoulders and squeezed gently. He leaned down and kissed her lightly "Not deep, but still a genuine gesture. Do you respond? No, you do not, for your race is utterly alien despite your appearance. Do you then expect me to continue, knowing that you do not even understand why I might derive sensual pleasure from such contact?" "Even though we be alien," she said, "the fact that you do enjoy contact might give me--" "Stop rationalizing," he said roughly. "I'm not," she said. "There is a meeting of minds that far exceeds any crude mating of bodies." "Then," he said with a queer crooked smile, "let's keep this on a mental basis, huh?" * * * * * Rhinegallis nodded quietly. She went to a side cupboard and took out a single reel of wire. "Here is what you want," she told him. "Swiftly now, for Kingallis must never know." "A nibble of the carrot," he observed. "You want a whole meal?" she returned angrily. "Are you devoid of understanding?" "I am permitted to play with innocuous trifles," he said. "When I discover their ineffectiveness I am invited to seduction. Failing that, I am offered some trifle of value. Tell me, Rhinegallis, how far will you go to lull my mind into inactivity?" For answer, Rhinegallis turned and left him. Perhaps if Rhinegallis had been one of Sol's children she might have been crying or at least racked with the bitterness that comes of having an honest gesture scorned. Whatever her reaction Carroll shrugged as she left the room and he forgot her as he looked at the single recording. "I hope," he said, "that this carrot is sweet...." Carroll came out of the semi-coma produced by the machine with a premonition of danger--not danger to himself, but a vague unrest, as though someone near to him were being threatened. He was alone and he knew at once that Rhinegallis was the only one of the aliens who knew the truth of this night. Had any of the others come, they would have seen at once that he was working on a volume of importance and would have stopped him. However, as the minutes passed, the feeling of worry ceased and Carroll felt relief. He attributed the feeling to a situation known as "wandering concern" which is based upon insecurity. He had been in the mental coma for hours, during which time much might have happened. He had succeeded, with Rhine's aid, in delving into the truth about the alien culture.