a flat, charred field
near the answer house. Unless the equipment was unusually heavy, the
attendant stationed in the house was expected to unload the god-car and
pile aboard the sacrifice ores mined on Rythar.

God asked two things from the settlement: the pieces of unusually heavy
metal which they dug from the hills, and tiny vials of soil. In an
hour's time they could mine enough ore to fill the compartment of a
god-car, and god never complained if they sometimes sent the cylinder
back empty. But he fussed mightily over the small vials of Earth. He
gave very explicit directions as to where they were to take the samples,
and the place was never the same. Sometimes they had to travel miles
from the settlement to satisfy that inexplicable whim.

For two weeks Mryna patiently ran off the endless films of new books and
unloaded the god-car when it came. She examined the interior of the
cylinder carefully and she weighed every possible risk. The compartment
was very small, but she concluded that she would be safe.

And so she made her decision. Tense and tight-lipped Mryna Brill slipped
aboard the god-car. She sealed the lock door, which automatically fired
the launching tubes. After that there was no turning back.

The dark compartment shook in a thunder of sound. The weight of the
escape speed tore at her body, pulling her tight against the confining
walls. She lost consciousness until the pressure lessened.

The metal walls became hot but the space was too confining for her to
avoid contact entirely. Four narrow light tubes came on, with a dull,
red glow, and suddenly a gelatinous liquid emptied out of ceiling vents.
The fluid sprayed every exposed surface in the cubicle, draining through
the shipment of sacrifice ores at Mryna's feet. It had a choking,
antiseptic odor; it stung Mryna's face and inflamed her eyes.

Worse still, as the liquid soaked into her clothing, it disintegrated
the fiber, tearing away the cloth in long strips which slowly dissolved
in the liquid on the floor. Before the antiseptic spray ceased, Mryna
was helplessly naked. Even her black boots had not survived.

The red lights went out and Mryna was imprisoned again in the crushing
darkness. A terror of the taboos she had defied swept her mind. She
began to scream, but the sound was lost in the roar of the motors.

Suddenly it was over. The god-car lurched into something hard. Mryna was
thrown against the ceiling--and she hung there, weig