Marsden wished he had a shirt, for it wasn't right for Alice Cooper to have to see his sun-scorched, hair-matted chest while she ate. But Marsden felt somewhat better when he let his eyes rove to the men of Earth. They sat tall and straight in clothing fancier than it was right for a man to wear, but they were thin, pale and--well, a little washed-out looking. "Why don't you show me around?" Alice Cooper suddenly asked him. "You can't see a place unless a native shows it to you, and we have to leave tonight." "Tonight?" "Of course, Harry. We have lots of planets to visit and we can't spend more than a day on an out-of-the-way mote like Talbor." "Well, now, there are plenty of interesting things on Talbor." "Oh, I know. I know. Rustic cabins, rocky fields, stolid farmers who work the soil all day and fall into bed exhausted at night. It's all very thrilling." "We have some mighty nice scenery," Marsden told her. "Madison falls are two-hundred feet high, and we've got some mountains that--" "Certainly, Harry. But I can see that sort of thing just anyplace. I want you to show me your farm, your fields. How you people of Talbor can get by on this rocky, God-forsaken place I'll never know. Why your parents came here I could never figure out." He stood up awkwardly. "I guess--well...." Alice Cooper rose to her feet in a liquid motion beautiful to behold. The top of her head came up to his shoulders and she reached out with one small, dainty hand and touched his upper arm. "My, but you have big muscles." Marsden smiled. "You need them in this grim, dreary place, of course. You probably wish you didn't. You probably would rather be thin and wear glasses maybe and spend most of your time in an air-cooled office and do things like that." "I don't know. A man would grow bored working in an office." "See?" Alice Cooper cried. "See? I just knew I'd love Talbor. You're so primitive. Why, you're practically--Cro-Magnon. Come on outside, Harry. I want to take your picture." She took his big hand and led him to the door. Marsden looked back uncomfortably and saw Charlie Adcock off in a corner with two of the women of Earth, talking avidly. Strangely, he thought Charlie was scowling about something. Talbor's strong orange sunlight made him squint while Alice Cooper said: "Tremendous place for a camera enthusiast. I hear it never rains around here. Surprising this place isn't a desert, don't you think?" "It rains when it has to." "Here. Stand over here. Yes, facing the sun. Can you do something to show you're almost--almost ancestral?" "I don't understand, Miss." "Goodness, I mean your muscles. Flex them. Use them to do something like lifting a heavy object. Break something if you want to. I'm sure those muscles are good for something besides weeding your fields or pulling a plow."