ry a while ago--the
latest best-seller thing of Thornton's named 'Interstellar Slush' or
some such tr...."

"Cleophora--An Interstellar Romance," she corrected him. "I thought it
was wonderful!"

"I didn't. It's fundamentally unsound. Look at our nearest neighbors,
who probably came from the same original stock we did. A Tellurian
can admire, respect, or like a Venerian, yes. But for _loving_ one of
them--wow! Beauty is purely relative, you know. For instance, I think
that you are the most perfectly beautiful thing I ever saw; but no
Venerian would think so. Far from it. Any Martian that hadn't seen many
of us would have to go rest his eyes after taking one good look at
you. Considering what love means, it doesn't stand to reason that any
Tellurian woman could possibly fall in love with any man not of her own
breed. Any writer is wrong who indulges in interplanetary love affairs
and mad passions. They simply don't exist. They _can't_ exist--they're
against all human instincts."

"Inter-planetary--in this solar system--yes. But the Dacrovos were just
like us, only nicer."

"That's what gives me the pip. If our own cousins of the same solar
system are so repulsive to us, how would we be affected by entirely
alien forms of intelligence?"

"May be you're right, of course--but you may be wrong, too," she
insisted. "The Universe is big enough, so that people like the Dacrovos
may possibly exist in it somewhere. May be the Big Three will discover a
means of interstellar travel--then I'll get to see them myself, perhaps."

"Yes, and _if_ we do, and _if_ you ever see any such people, I'll bet
that the sight of them will make your hair curl right up into a ball,
too! But about Barkovis--remember how diplomatic the thoughts were that
he sent us? He described our structure as being 'compact,' but I got the
undertone of his real thoughts, as well. Didn't you?"

"Yes, now that you mention it, I did. He really thought that we were
white-hot, under-sized, overpowered, warty, hairy, hideously opaque and
generally repulsive little monstrosities--thoroughly unpleasant and
distasteful. But he was friendly, just the same. Heavens, Steve! Do you
suppose that he read our real thoughts, too?"

"Sure he did; but he is intelligent enough to make allowances, the same
as we are doing. He isn't any more insulted than we are. He knows that
such feelings are ingrained and cannot be changed."

* * * * *

Bre