stared him in the eye, then bowed silently.

Vyrtl saw that she realized what it might mean. He hoped she would not arrange an "accident" before her ship returned.

He had Wilkins take over and check with the captain of the rocket. It was determined that the best effort would bring the ship back to the dome on Klo about "mid-morning." Vyrtl left orders that the woman was to be brought before him the moment she arrived, and retired for the night.

He found Xota sprawled confidently upon his bed, and kicked her off in a temper. His groping had found no loose object to fling after her as she slunk out the door, and that made his temper worse. He was a long time getting to sleep....

he next morning, he pecked at his breakfast and sneered at the artificial dawn that had been delayed for his benefit.

"Get me a lozard and a squad of guards!" he snarled to Wilkins. "I'll have a run through the woods while I wait."

He left the guards at the fringes of his engineers' forest and rode the eight-legged reptile recklessly among the huge trunks. Since the builder had artfully omitted all low branches, there was little chance of his knocking his head off.

Towards noon, he paused to rest at the little pool on the edge of the woods. He waved to a group of guards he saw peering at him across an open field of what looked very much like grass. One of the men ran over.

"The Jursan envoy is back, Your Illustrious Sublimity."

Vyrtl sighed.

"Tell General Wilkins to bring her here immediately."

He turned away and sat upon a flat stone beside the pool.

After a while, he noticed that the ground was liberally supplied with pebbles for casting into the water. He was watching the spreading ripples about fifteen minutes later when he heard approaching voices behind him.

A glance over his shoulder showed him Wilkins and two guards escorting the old woman. He turned away, tossing another pebble into the pool with a half-hearted motion of his arm.

When Wilkins coughed discreetly behind him, he told the aide and the guards to withdraw. He listened to the footsteps until he knew they were beyond range of ordinary conversation.

"You are the same Daphne Foster?" he asked, still facing the pool.

"The same, Your Illustrious Sublimity."

"Let us dispense with formality. Tell me how you did it."

"It is simple ... in a way. But it requires the use of a not-so-simple instrument."

"Such as I?" he asked, apparently intent upon the water.

"I did not mean Your Illustrious—I did not mean it that way. It is a little triumph of our Jursan technicians, which will shortly be at your disposal. I used it to force an illusion upon you."

"And very cleverly, I admit. Do you have it with you?"

"Yes. It is compact. It merely operates upon the idea that other forces can be used to produce hypnosis besides lights, drugs, and soothing sounds."

"Turn it on!" ordered Vyrtl.

e waited a moment, then twisted around on the stone to face her. There was no sign of the woman he had seen crossing the field. Before him seemed to stand the black-haired, lithe girl.

The only change was in her eyes, which no longer smiled into his so provocatively.

Funny, thought Vyrtl. When we actually were strangers, she seemed so intimate. Only now does she look at me so coldly.

"You see?" she said, and started to reach for some switch or button concealed by the jewel at her breast.

Vyrtl stopped her with a gesture.

"You must also be skilled in the sciences of the mind," he remarked. "What I mean is ... I suppose you never really looked like that?"