And then for an instant, the Cepheid's bright wink was dulled;
eclipsed. A tapering streamlined shape slipped silently across it, and
then was gone in the blackness, and the white dwarf resumed its
brilliant display.

But the commander of the Cepheid's interruptor had been giving little
time to appreciation of the myriad beauties in the great darkness that
had swallowed her ship. She had trebled her screens and had taxed her
craft's colossal power installation to its limit, forcing it to absorb
and reconvert every erg of radiant energy possible as it labored to
maintain the awful output necessary to cling to the very edge of
R-Space, barely clear of the E-continuum itself.

She might have been an Amazon of Earth save for the great intelligence
behind the high plane of her forehead, yet she was not without beauty,
nor were those of her ship's complement. On their close-fitting
uniforms were emblazoned the Planet-and-Circle insignia of their
homeland, for they were of the galactic hosts of Thrayx.

"They proceed toward a planet on the near side of this galaxy called
Earth," the second officer said. "Their mission is to replenish their
supply of breeders."

"You are certain of that?"

"I admit it is peculiar, for the breeders they seek are women of that
planet."

"_Women?_"

"Yes. However, the Earthmens' minds indicated a strong tendency to
refuse cooperation."

"I see. Do you think our probe was detected?"

"No. I withdrew it immediately when the Earthmen were taken aboard the
Ihelian destroyer."

There was a long moment of silence. The commander's eyes stayed
unwaveringly on the control sphere mounted in gimbals before her. They
remained concentrated on it when she spoke again.

"Women, you say. Hardly conceivable, Daleb, unless--unless it was
_not_ simply a penal planetoid which we destroyed!"

"A startling thought, Lady!"

"Yes. And the Earthmen, you say, did not have cooperative thoughts?"

"That is correct. They are not taking the Ihelian craft to their
planet of their own volition."

"That is difficult to understand, Daleb, for the Ihelians are like
ourselves in at least one respect. They are not aggressors. And if
they are refused their strange request, they will leave the planet
Earth peacefully. But if they are not refused it, perhaps the
Earthman's superiors will cooperate, Daleb! In which case--"

"Whatever their mission, it is our duty to prevent its success, Lady.
But to do this witho