eddish surface of the spaceport upon which it
had landed but minutes before. Mason felt a chill of awed amazement,
not because of the unexpected beauty of the verdant hills that rolled
in a delicate blend of kaleidoscopic pastels on every side of the
'port and as far as the eye could see, nor was it even from the sight
of the exquisite towers that rose as though from the heart of some
fabled fairyland scant miles to the south.

"They're all--all _women_!" Mason breathed. "Not a single man!" And he
looked quickly to Kriijorl. "You mean you did not know this?"

"Know? By the teeth of Jhavuul, we never so much as suspected,
Lieutenant! We have not looked upon a Thrayxite face for five thousand
years."

The guards spoke to them tersely in the common tongue of Ihelos and
Thrayx, although peculiarly accented to Ihelian ears, and Kriijorl
gestured with a slight movement of his head to Mason. At a quick pace
they started down the ramp.

"We're sunk, kid," Mason said. And he saw the heaviness in the great
Viking's face. "We'll never make it out of here in a million years.
Even if we made a break for it; even if we had our hands free, where
could we hide? Couldn't make a move. Two men among an entire female
populace--"

He let the sentence trail off as he realized that Kriijorl wasn't
hearing him. And as their brief view of Thrayx was terminated by their
entrance into a smaller shuttle-ship, he saw the hint of a smile
flicker at the corners of the Ihelian's lips.

Their captors strapped them into hammocks, and when they had gone to
assist others in herding a portion of the Earthwomen aboard the same
craft, Kriijorl finally spoke.

"I think for the moment their probes may be off us," he said quickly.
"I was relieved of my own during my unconsciousness, so we're no
longer screened. And the fact that we speak in your tongue does us
little good. But hear me. If we are being taken where I hope we are,
then they are playing into our hands almost as well as we could have
asked. There will be a limited freedom there, and a chance, if we are
clever enough, to get to a mentacom installation. A planetary unit of
unlimited range."

"But among women?" Mason asked, and his throat was dry.

"That is the point," Kriijorl replied tersely. "We shall be among
males almost exclusively, save for the Earthwomen and those Thrayxites
who periodically will be sent to breed."

"You mean the planetoid that you talked of before...? But I--"