rst youth--was a handsome woman,
but he would not have expected her somewhat cerebral type to appeal to
the captain. On the other hand, she was the only unattached woman in the
party and they were a long way from home.

Greenfield picked a fleck of dried violet mud from the side of the ship
and avoided Bernardi's eye. "One of the reasons I came along," he said
almost bashfully. "Thought I'd have the chance to be alone with her now
and again and impress her with, with...."

"Your sterling qualities?" Bernardi suggested.

The captain flashed him a glance of mingled gratitude and resentment.
"And now this damned lizard has to come along!"

"Cheer up, Captain," said the professor. "I'll back you against a lizard
any time."

* * * * *

Although the long twilight of Venus had deepened into night and it could
never really be cool there by terrestrial standards, the temperature was
almost comfortable. Everything was quite black, except for the pallid
purple campfire glowing through the darkness; the clouds that
perpetually covered the surface of the planet prevented even the light
of the stars from reaching it.

"Tell me more about the cross-versus the parallel-cousin relationships
in your culture, Jrann-Pttt," Miss Anspacher breathed, wriggling her
camp stool closer to the saurian's. "Anthropology is a great hobby of
mine, you know. How do your people feel about exogamy?"

"I'm afraid I'm rather exhausted, dear lady," he said, using one arm to
mask a yawn, and one to surreptitiously wave away the saurian head that
was peering out of the underbrush. "I shouldn't like to give a scientist
like yourself any misinformation that might become a matter of record."

"Of course not," she murmured. "You're so considerate."

* * * * *

A pale face appeared in the firelight like some weird creature of
darkness. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial both started. "Miss
Anspacher," the captain growled, "I'd like to lock up the ship, so if
you wouldn't mind turning in--"

Miss Anspacher pouted. "You've interrupted such an interesting
conversation. And I don't see why you have to lock up the ship. After
all, the night is three hundred and eighty-five hours long. We don't
sleep all that time and it would be a shame to be cooped up."

"I'm going to try to rig up some floodlights," Greenfield explained
stiffly, "so we won't be caught like this again. Nobody bothered to tell