tle impotent tomcat," Belle soothed him
aloud, between giggles and snorts. "Us Earth-girls will take care of our
lover-boys, see if we don't. You won't need any nasty little...." Belle
could not hold the pose, but went off again into whoops of laughter.
"_What_ a brain you've got, Lola! I thought I could imagine _anything_,
but to make these two guys of ours--the two absolute tops of the whole
Solar System--it's a stroke of genius...."

"Shut up, will you, you human hyena, and _listen_!" James roared aloud.
"There ought to be _some_ better way than that."

"Better? Than sheer perfection?" Belle was still laughing but could now
talk coherently.

"If you can think of another way, Jim, the meeting is still open."
Garlock was wiping his eyes. "But it'll have to be a dilly. I'm not
exactly enamored of Lola's idea, either, but as the answer it's one
hundred percent to as many decimal places as you want to take time to
write zeroes."

There was more talk, but no improvement could be made upon Lola's idea.

"Well, we've got until morning," Garlock said, finally. "If anybody
comes up with anything by then, let me know. If not, it goes into effect
the minute we open the locks. The meeting is adjourned."

* * *

Belle and James left the room; and, a few minutes later, Garlock went
out. Lola followed him into his room and closed the door behind her. She
sat down on the edge of a chair, lighted a cigarette, and began to smoke
in short, nervous puffs. She opened her mouth to say something, but shut
it without making a sound.

"You're afraid of me, Lola?" he asked, quietly.

"Oh, I don't.... Well, that is...." She wouldn't lie, and she wouldn't
admit the truth. "You see, I've never ... I mean, I haven't had very
much experience."

"You needn't be afraid of me at all. I'm not going to pair with you."

"You're not?" Her mouth dropped open and the cigarette fell out of it.
She took a few seconds to recover it. "Why not? Don't you think I could
do a good enough job?"

She stood up and stretched, to show her splendid figure to its best
advantage.

Garlock laughed. "Nothing like that, Lola; you have plenty of sex
appeal. It's just that I don't like the conditions. I never have paired.
I never have had much to do with women, and that little has been urbane,
logical, and strictly _en passant_; on the level of mutual physical
desire. Thus, I have never taken a virgin. Pairing with one is very
defini