do it--if he was still allowed to.

Minutes went by.

Then, as the blue sheet of neural energy flickered into being, Forrester
slumped in sudden relief. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The Veil was there--but was it what he hoped, or a trick? Possibly he
could focus the other terminal where he wanted it, but there was also
the chance that the Gods had set the thing up so that, when he stepped
through, he would be standing in the Court of the Gods facing a tribunal
for which he was totally unprepared.

It would be just like the Pantheon, he thought, to pull a lousy trick
like that.

But there was no point in dithering. If death was to be his fate, that
would be that. He could do nothing at all by sitting in his room and
waiting for them to come and get him.

He focused the exit terminal in Diana's apartment. There was no way of
knowing whether the focus worked or not until he stepped through.

He opened his eyes and walked into the Veil.

He felt almost disappointed when he looked around him. He had steeled
himself to do great battle with the Gods--and, instead, he was where he
had wanted to be, in Diana's apartment.

She was standing with her back to him, and Forrester didn't make a
sound, not wanting to startle the Goddess. She was totally unclad, her
glorious body shining in the light of the room, her blue-black hair
unbound and falling halfway down her gently curved back. But she must
have heard him somehow, for she turned, and for half a second she stood
facing him.

Forrester did not move. He couldn't even breathe.

Every magnificent curve was highlighted in a frozen tableau.

Then there was a sudden flash of white, and she was clad in a clinging
_chiton_ which, Forrester saw, served only to remind one of what one had
recently seen. It worked very well, although Forrester did not think he
had any need for an aid to his memory.

"My goodness!" Diana said. "You shouldn't surprise a girl like that! I
mean, you really gave me a shock, kid!"

Forrester took his first breath. "Well," he said, "I could be dishonest,
not to mention ungallant, and tell you I was sorry."

"But?" Diana said.

"Being of sound mind and sound body, I'm a long way from being sorry."

And Diana dropped her eyes and blushed.

Forrester could barely believe it.

But it did show a part of the Goddess's personality that was entirely
new to him. He was sure that any of the Gods or Goddesses could sense
when a Veil o