"Why I must not fail," she replied drily. "I know. I must not fail. But I must be allowed to enjoy my Earth form for a while. It is beautiful." She looked him squarely in the eye. "It _is_ beautiful, is it not, father? Am I not more beautiful than you have ever seen me?" "Homekind makes recordings of our conversations, my daughter ... as it is psychiatrically right that they should. And in their analyses, I do not want them to have to ever say that Threlkeld succumbed to the skin-deep world of the Earth people. I must warn you again, Gelerie," he went on, "that Earth people base nearly all of their existence, their plans, their hopes on how attractive they may be, how young or how old they may look, how withered their skin. For they live chiefly for vanity, very little else." The way Gelerie sighed told him he had failed. "One thing more, my daughter," he said in another attempt. "Homekind made you that attractive merely for the purpose of luring this male Earth creature into our conveyor. Now can you do it? Will you keep your mind on your task?" Gelerie said, "Where will you be, father?" "I will make the selection for you. Then I will transfer my mind into yours, just to make certain you complete your task." The girl was lost again in self-appraisal. She extended her supple human arms and legs and observed them almost lovingly. "I like the short garments they wear. Such beauty should never be hidden." "Homekind arranged it that way with a definite purpose in mind. Remember that," he said, now trotting ahead to find some sign of a boat. He was about to give up, afraid to admit Homekind might have erred, when Gelerie shrieked, "Look--over that way. A leafboat." A warm sense of thanks went out from Threlkeld silently. He led the way to the large blue-green leaf that lay flat upon the water, stiffened with wax, water-resistant, entirely buoyant. They pulled it close and stepped aboard. There was no need for paddles, since a modified leafboat constructed by Homekind and transported by Homekind always naturally had built-in propulsion. Tiny molecules of water were converted along the underside of the leaf into a moderate amount of energy which shoved them forward under Homekind's magnetic command toward a collection of tall glass spires. "Remember, Gelerie," Threlkeld said to the dreaming girl who let her hand dangle in the waters of Earth, "my future is at stake. You are a six-footed tree-hanging creature. You will return to your native form the moment our mission is completed. Now I will not warn you again. Another moody spell and we return to the vehicle with only one thing assured--Threlkeld the Great's impending retirement." But if he expected an assurance out of Gelerie that she would not fail, he was wrong, for she did not respond. * * * * *