they sped
through the void at the greatest safe speed. Wade had only to watch the
view-screen carefully, and if a star showed as growing rapidly, it was
proof that they were near, and nearing rapidly. If large, a touch of a
switch, and they dodged to one side, if small, they were suddenly
plunged into an instant of unbelievable radiation as they swept through
it, in a different space, yet linked to it by radiation, not light, that
were permitted in.

Zezdon Afthen had elected to stay with him, which gave him an
opportunity he had been waiting for. "If it's none of my business, just
say so," he began. "But that first city we saw the Thessians destroy--it
was Zezdon Fentes' home, wasn't it? Did he have a family?"

The words seemed blunt as he said them, but there was no way out, once
he had started. And Zezdon Afthen took the question with complete calm.

"Fentes had both wives and children," he said quietly. "His loss was
great."

Wade concentrated on the screen for a moment, trying to absorb the
shock. Then, fearing Zezdon Afthen might misinterpret his silence, he
plunged on. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't realize you were
polygamous--most people on Earth aren't, but some groups are. It's
probably a good way to improve the race. But ... Blast it, what bothers
me is that Zezdon Fentes seemed to recover from the blow so quickly!
From a canine race, I'd expect more affection, more loyalty, more...."

He stopped in dismay. But Zezdon Afthen remained unperturbed. "More
unconcealed emotion?" he asked. "No. Affection and loyalty we have--they
_are_ characteristic of our race. But affection and loyalty should not
be uselessly applied. To _forget_ dead wives and children--that would be
insulting to their memory. But to mourn them with senseless loss of
health and balance would also be insulting--not only to their memory,
but to the entire race.

"No, we have a better way. Fentes, my very good friend, has not
forgotten, no more than you have forgotten the death of your mother,
whom you loved. But you no longer mourn her death with a fear and horror
of that natural thing, the Eternal Sleep. Time has softened the pain.

"If we can do the same in five minutes instead of five years, is it not
better? That is why Fentes has _forgotten_".

"Then you have aged his memory of that event?" asked Wade in surprise.

"That is one way of stating it," replied Zezdon Afthen seriously.

Wade was silent for a while, absorbing this. But