One of the women was very old and completely hairless. The other was young and beautiful. As Barrent moved closer to the table, he saw, with a sense of shock, that her legs were joined below the knee by a membrane of scaly skin, and her feet were of a rudimentary fish-tail shape. "What do you wish us to skren for you, Citizen Barrent?" the young woman asked. "How did you know my name?" Barrent asked. When he got no answer, he said, "All right. I want to find out about a murder I committed on Earth." "Why do you want to find out about it?" the young woman asked. "Won't the authorities credit it to your record?" "They credit it. But I want to find out why I did it. Maybe there were extenuating circumstances. Maybe I did it in self-defense." "Is it really important?" the young woman asked. "I think so," Barrent said. He hesitated a moment, then took the plunge. "The fact of the matter is, I have a neurotic prejudice against murder. I would rather _not_ kill. So I want to find out why I committed murder on Earth." The mutants looked at each other. Then the old man grinned and said, "Citizen, we'll help you all we can. We mutants also have a prejudice against killing, since it's always someone else killing us. We're all in favor of citizens with a neurosis against murder." "Then you'll skren my past?" "It's not as easy as that," the young woman said. "The skrenning ability, which is one of a cluster of psi talents, is difficult to use. It doesn't always function. And when it does function, it often doesn't reveal what it's supposed to." "I thought all mutants could look into the past whenever they wanted to," Barrent said. "No," the old man told him, "that isn't true. For one thing, not all of us who are classified mutants are true mutants. Almost any deformity or abnormality these days is called mutantism. It's a handy term to cover anyone who doesn't conform to the Terran standard of appearance." "But some of you are true mutants?" "Certainly. But even then, there are different types of mutantism. Some just show radiation abnormalities--giantism, microcephaly, and the like. Only a few of us possess the slightest psi abilities--although all mutants claim them." "Are you able to skren?" Barrent asked him. "No. But Myla can," he said, pointing to the young woman. "Sometimes she can." The young woman was staring into the pan of water, into the faceted glass. Her pale eyes were open very wide, showing almost all pupil, and her fish-tailed body was rigidly upright, supported by the old woman.