"Those ships are coffins, Kim Rendell! Every man in the crews is dead! But no man can go aboard until their beams are cut off! I'll send up the women from Khiv Five to board 'em. They'll attend to things! If any man's alive they'll slit his throat for him!" 9 _Homecoming_ A considerable time later, Kim Rendell eased the _Starshine_ down through the light of the two Terranovan moons to the matted lawn outside his homestead in the Second Galaxy. A figure started up from the terrace and hurried down to greet him as he opened the exit-port and helped Dona to the ground. "Who's this?" asked Kim, blinking in the darkness after the lighted interior of the _Starshine_. "Who--" "It's me, Kim Rendell," said the Colony Organizer for Terranova. He sounded unhappy and full of forebodings, "We've been doing all we can to take care of the crowds who came through the matter-transmitter, but it was a difficult task--a difficult task! "Now the crowd of new colonists has dropped to a bare trickle. Every one has a different story. I was told, though, that you were coming back in the _Starshine_ and could advise me. I need your advice, Kim Rendell! The situation may be terrible!" Kim led the way to the terrace of his house. "I wouldn't say it will be terrible," he said cheerfully enough. "It's good to get back home. Dona--" "I want to look inside," said Dona firmly. She went within, to satisfy the instinct of every woman who has been away from home to examine all her dwelling jealously on her return. Kim stretched himself out in a chair. The stars--unnamed, unexplored, and infinitely promising--of all the Second Galaxy twinkled overhead. Terranova's two moons floated serenely across the sky, and the strange soft scents of the night came to his nostrils. Kim sniffed luxuriously. "Ah, this is good!" he said zestfully. "But what's happened?" demanded the Colony Organizer anxiously. "In three weeks we had four hundred thousand new arrivals through the transmitter. Most of them were children and boys. Then the flood stopped--like that! What are we to do about them? Did you get fuel for your ship? I understand the danger from Sinab is over, but we find it hard to get information from Ades. Everyone there--" "Everyone there is busy," said Kim comfortably. "You see, we smashed the Empire without killing more than a very few men. On Sinab Two where the Empire was started, we chased the men out of the cities and put them at the mercy of the women. "So many men had emigrated to the planets whose men had been killed off, that there was a big disproportion even on Sinab. And the women were not pleased. They'd been badly treated too. We didn't approve of the men, though.