But events on the second planet were not without consequences elsewhere. The Board of Directors of the Cetis Gamma Trading Company simultaneously jittered and beamed with anticipation. If Lon could convert one form of vegetable product into another, then the Company's monopoly of _thanar_ would vanish as soon as he got loose with his device. On the other hand, if the Company could get that device for its very own.... _Thanar_ had a practically unlimited market. Every year a new age group of the population needed a milligram a day to keep old age away. But besides that, there was Martian _zuss_ fiber, which couldn't be marketed because there wasn't enough of it, but would easily fetch a thousand credits a kilo if Lon's gadget could produce it from samples. There was that Arcturian _sicces_ dust--the pollen of an inordinately rare plant on Arcturus Four--which could be sold at more than its weight in diamonds, for perfume. And-- The directors of the Company shivered over what might happen; and gloated over what could. So they kept their fingers crossed while the space yacht of one of their number sped toward Cetis Gamma Two, manned by very trustworthy men who would carry out their instructions with care and vigor and no nonsense about it. Lon Simpson worked with his neighbors, converting all sorts of vegetable debris--the fact that some of it was scorched did not seem to matter--into _thanar_ leaf which was sound legal tender on that particular planet. From time to time he went to Cetopolis. He talked sentimentally and yearningly to Cathy. And then he went to Carson's office and raised the very devil because there was as yet no arrangement by which he and Cathy could enter into the state of holy matrimony. * * * * * Rhadampsicus looked over his notes and was very well pleased. He explained to Nodalictha that from now on the return of Cetis Gamma to its normal condition would be a cut-and-dried affair. He would like to stay and watch it, but the important phenomena were all over now. He said solicitously that if she wanted to go on, completing their nuptial journey.... She might be anxious to see her family and friends.... She might be lonely.... Nodalictha smiled at him. The process would have been horrifying to a human who watched, but Rhadampsicus smiled back. "Lonely?" asked Nodalictha coyly. "With you, Rhadampsicus?" He impulsively twined his eye stalks about hers. A little later he was saying tenderly, "Then I'll just finish my observations, darling, and we'll go on--since you don't mind waiting." "I'd like to see my pets again," said Nodalictha, nestling comfortably against him. Together, they scanned the second planet, but their thoughts could not penetrate its _Rhinthak_ screen. They saw the space yacht flash up to it. Rhadampsicus inspected the minds of the bipeds inside it. Nodalictha, of course, modestly refrained from entering the minds of male creatures other than her husband.