"You are certain of that?" "I admit it is peculiar, for the breeders they seek are women of that planet." "_Women?_" "Yes. However, the Earthmens' minds indicated a strong tendency to refuse cooperation." "I see. Do you think our probe was detected?" "No. I withdrew it immediately when the Earthmen were taken aboard the Ihelian destroyer." There was a long moment of silence. The commander's eyes stayed unwaveringly on the control sphere mounted in gimbals before her. They remained concentrated on it when she spoke again. "Women, you say. Hardly conceivable, Daleb, unless--unless it was _not_ simply a penal planetoid which we destroyed!" "A startling thought, Lady!" "Yes. And the Earthmen, you say, did not have cooperative thoughts?" "That is correct. They are not taking the Ihelian craft to their planet of their own volition." "That is difficult to understand, Daleb, for the Ihelians are like ourselves in at least one respect. They are not aggressors. And if they are refused their strange request, they will leave the planet Earth peacefully. But if they are not refused it, perhaps the Earthman's superiors will cooperate, Daleb! In which case--" "Whatever their mission, it is our duty to prevent its success, Lady. But to do this without violating the Book, without infecting a foreign area of the galaxy with our conflict?" "I think there is a way," the commander said. She twisted the sphere slightly, and again the two tiny pips it held were caught squarely at the intersection of the curving light traceries within it. "There is a way," she said. "Give me a complete description of the clothing these Earthmen wore, Daleb...." A tapering, streamlined shape slid shadow-like across the face of an undulating globular cluster, and then was swallowed quickly in the strange gray void of hyper-space. * * * * * Mason and Judith waited outside the towering New United Nations building in Greater San Francisco, their chauffeured government helio parked on a sky-ramp adjacent to the three hundredth floor. They waited for Kriijorl; they had been assigned, as Earthmen best acquainted with the alien, as his official hosts during his stay on their planet. Mason had protested, but Judith had kept the protests from reaching the wrong ears. "You won't make any mistakes. You're home, now!" she had whispered. "After all, he's only human!" It had been the first time Mason had heard a hint of levity in her voice, and he had liked it, and decided to take the assignment gracefully. And, the orders said, Sergeant Judith Kent went with the assignment. Without Cain! He hardly felt nervous at all as they waited for the Ihelian to leave the General Council chamber. "Wonder how he made out?" he said idly, offering the girl a self-lighting cigarette. "Been in there for hours...."