e Helga. And now she says she's going to marry me,
too!"

"You do not wish this? We understand. Do not be concerned. We
will--ah--send instructions to our people the next time. She will
change her feelings about this."

She dropped the marriage bit completely.

We had what you might call an idyllic association, in spite of her
being such a big, husky model--a fact which never bothered me when I
was with her. "She is happy," I was assured, "very happy." She seemed
pleased and contented enough, even if she developed, I thought, a sort
of an inward look about her. She and I never discussed our--uh--people.
We had a fast whirl for a couple of weeks. And then I'd quit my job
with Uncle John, and we sort of drifted apart.

Next thing I heard of her, she married Uncle John.

Well. I have my doubts about how faithful a wife she was to him, but
certainly she seemed to make him happy. And my government assured me
Uncle John was not colonized. "Too late," they said. "He is too old to
be worth the risk of settling." But they respected my scruples about my
uncle's wife and direct communication with Helgaland was broken off.

But there were others.

IV

For the next nine years--things came easy for me. I suppose the
restrictions, the lack of freedom should have made me a lot more
dissatisfied than I was. I know, though they didn't say so, that my
people did a little manipulating of my moods by jiggering the glands
and hormones or something. It must have been that with the women.

I know that after Helga I felt guilty about the whole thing. I wouldn't
do it again. But then one afternoon I was painting that big amazon of a
model and--Wow!

I couldn't help it. So, actually, I don't feel I should be blamed too
much if, after the first couple of times, I quit trying to desert, so
to speak.

And time went by, although you wouldn't have guessed it to look at me.
I didn't age. My health was perfect. Well, there were a couple of very
light headaches and a touch of fever, but that was only politics.

There were a couple of pretty tight elections which, of course, I
followed fairly closely. After all, I had my vote, along with everyone
else and I didn't want to waste it--even though, really, the political
parties were pretty much the same and the elections were more questions
of personality than anything else.

Then one afternoon I went to my broker's office to shift around a few
investments according to plans worked out the