ove me
more this way."

"No," George said, touching her hair again. "I don't love you more, but
if you can do this, why then, we'll have no more worries. Don't you
see?"

"I think so," Gistla said, looking away.

George's voice was excited, and his eyes darted over her face and body.
"Would other people see you as I do?"

"If I wished, yes."

"Then you see? It's all changed! You are what I see. Golden-haired and
pale-skinned--"

"I am still Gistla. You would always know that. Would you love something
that is not real, just because you see it with your eyes?"

* * * * *

"But I can feel that you're real," George said, putting his hands on her
shoulders. He pulled her closer and kissed her hair. "You're Gistla," he
said, "and you're beautiful." He tipped her face up to his and bent to
kiss her mouth.

His lips touched smooth green skin and he looked into Gistla's large
round lidless eyes. He recoiled as though he had been touched by fire.

She watched him as he wiped a trembling hand across his chest, and her
globular head glistened in the reflection of the late sun.

She nodded. "When you see what I really am, the difference _is_
important." She gathered her cloak around her and stood up.

George felt the flush of his face, and he could not meet her eyes. He
heard her walk a few steps away.

"Good-by, George," she said.

He jumped up quickly. "That wasn't fair."

"No," she said slowly, "but it proved the value of things."

"It wasn't fair," George repeated. "And it didn't prove anything."

"I think it did," she said, moving away.

"No, listen, Gistla," he said. "You can't judge anything by what I did
or said. We are different, in a physical sense, but that doesn't really
matter. If a golden-haired girl materializes in front of my eyes, you
can't blame me for what my emotions did. It's still you I love. Not the
color of your skin or the shape of your mouth. But you and what you or I
or anybody else looks like isn't important!"

He followed her and caught her arm. She turned to face him. "You can say
that," she said. "Your words tell me that and your eyes, but I know it
isn't true."

The embarrassment was still inside him, but the way she denied him made
him want her more than ever. He held to her arm and then he said,
"Gistla, could you change me? I mean, so that other people, even I,
would see me as they see you--as a Venusian?"

She stood very still, staring at