The men named got slowly to their feet, fingering their light hunting
pistols self-consciously. Benson continued, "You may appreciate these
precautions when I tell you that Sam Rogers and I just encountered two
remarkably humanoid animals on the beach less than half a mile from
here."

Tension replaced levity, as Benson described our meeting with the
natives. I thought he gave it a needlessly grim emphasis with such terms
as, "_quicker than cats_", and "_devilishly intelligent_", but I held my
peace.

He summarized, "I do not want to alarm anyone unduly, but we must face
up to the fact that we are totally unprepared for such a contingency.
The exploration group failed us badly in overlooking these creatures.
They may not be inimical to our culture, but until this is established
we must consider them prime threats. That is all," he concluded.

No one grumbled aloud, but their faces showed keen disappointment at the
resumption of quartering in the ship. Reluctantly, the women began
rolling up the still-deflated air-mattresses that were scattered about
the soft, deep grass. Sue complained, "Sam, if these people don't get a
little privacy pretty soon we'll turn into an ant colony. There'll be
lovin' in the streets."

"It's not my idea," I said. "I'll be nailed to a table at the foot of
the ramp all day making check marks. Phil is taking this entirely too
big. The little people are really charming. He neglected to mention that
they are beautifully formed and quite gentle in their--their actions."

"Actions?" she said. "What happened, really?"

I described the conditions under which we first saw the natives, and she
laughed a little strainedly. "I can just imagine the look on Phil
Benson's face."

I knew what she meant. In trying to enforce the shipboard rule of
segregation of the sexes, our leader had developed an oversensitive
attitude toward certain aspects of modesty. In the unutterable boredom
of space, the pledge we had all taken to complete continence for the
voyage was a severe test to all forty couples.

Had propriety and space considerations been the only reasons for the
infamous "no-romance" regulation, it would never have held up. But all
concerned realized the problem of childbirth in space under the
jam-packed living conditions, tight water and food rationing and the
fetid, recirculated air.

Now the second honeymoons were over before they started. It was back to
the ship and the night-life of monks