ss."

She gave a little exclamation of frustration. Then after a pause she
asked:

"Do you think our way of life and your own could live together in peace,
could grow to be one?"

Again I made futile efforts to hide my revulsion and fear of them all.
It was no use. The flood of force pouring through my head was more
effective than any truth serum.

"No, to me you are horrors, and my people would never consent to live at
peace with you. You could never conquer us. Until the last of our
cultured members were dead they would resist the horrible practices of
your culture."

"That is as I surmised," she mused. "But I would have you tell me why
this is so. What is it you find so revolting about us."

"What have you done to my companions? Do you think men want that to
happen to them?"

"That was a punishment for entering here without permission. That would
not happen to any but enemies."

"Men could never accept the altering of the shapes of workers, the
tinkering with the hereditary form of their children, the artificial
grafting upon our race of revolting and unnecessary form changes. Your
whole science is a degeneration of wisdom into evil, tampering with life
itself. You are horrors, and you do not know it."

I could hear her steps as she turned and left, tapping angrily upon the
floor. After her I could hear the shuffling, heavier tread of her
retinue. As the flood of vibration ceased, I began to curse aloud for
the undiplomatic truths I had been forced to utter. In seconds my arms
were free, and I was led out, a tall grim-faced guard on each side, with
a firm grip on my arms. I wondered what was happening to the lovely
Zoorph, but I did not get a chance to look. I was thrown into a cell,
and the heavy wooden door shut. The thud of a bar dropped in place
punctuated the evening's experience with a glum finality.

* * *

I lay for hours with my mind in a whirl from the effects of the truth
ray. Jivros, or insect-priests, moved phantom-like before my sleepless
eyes, watching from the dark and waiting. Gradually my thinking became
more normal, and I began a systematic analysis and summing up of what I
had learned of these people. There were but a few members of the ruling
groups, and it was evident the rule was split between the Jivro caste of
the insect men and some normal-appearing groups who had divided the
power with them in the past. Under these were the Schrees, and under
these the malf