beyond
her to conceive. She had to give it up. They recalled to her mind a
little group of people in Helium who had forsworn the pleasures of life
in the pursuit of knowledge. They were rather patronizing in their
relations with those whom they thought not so intellectual. They
considered themselves quite superior. She smiled at recollection of a
remark her father had once made concerning them, to the effect that if
one of them ever dropped his egotism and broke it it would take a week
to fumigate Helium. Her father liked normal people--people who knew too
little and people who knew too much were equally a bore. Tara of Helium
was like her father in this respect and like him, too, she was both
sane and normal.

Outside of her personal danger there was much in this strange world
that interested her. The rykors aroused her keenest pity, and vast
conjecture. How and from what form had they evolved? She asked Ghek.

"Sing to me again and I will tell you," he said. "If Luud would let me
have you, you should never die. I should keep you always to sing to me."

The girl marvelled at the effect her voice had upon the creature.
Somewhere in that enormous brain there was a chord that was touched by
melody. It was the sole link between herself and the brain when
detached from the rykor. When it dominated the rykor it might have
other human instincts; but these she dreaded even to think of. After
she had sung she waited for Ghek to speak. For a long time he was
silent, just looking at her through those awful eyes.

"I wonder," he said presently, "if it might not be pleasant to be of
your race. Do you all sing?"

"Nearly all, a little," she said; "but we do many other interesting and
enjoyable things. We dance and play and work and love and sometimes we
fight, for we are a race of warriors."

"Love!" said the kaldane. "I think I know what you mean; but we,
fortunately, are above sentiment--when we are detached. But when we
dominate the rykor--ah, that is different, and when I hear you sing and
look at your beautiful body I know what you mean by love. I could love
you."

The girl shrank from him. "You promised to tell me the origin of the
rykor," she reminded him.

"Ages ago," he commenced, "our bodies were larger and our heads
smaller. Our legs were very weak and we could not travel fast or far.
There was a stupid creature that went upon four legs. It lived in a
hole in the ground, to which it brought its food, so we ran