thrust us into any of the rooms.

I entered the nearest one. Verana followed hesitantly.

The walls of the large room were lined with shelves containing thousands of variously colored boxes and bottles. A table and four chairs were located in the center of the green, plasticlike floor. Each chair had no back, only a curving platform with a single supporting column.

"Ed!" I joined Verana on the other side of the room. She pointed a trembling finger at some crude drawings. "The things in this room are food!"

The drawings were so simple that anyone could have understood them. The first drawing portrayed a naked man and woman removing boxes and bottles from the shelves. The second picture showed the couple opening the containers. The third showed the man eating from one of the boxes and the woman drinking from a bottle.

"Let's see how it tastes," I said.

I selected an orange-colored box. The lid dissolved at the touch of my fingers.

The only contents were small cubes of a soft orange substance.

I tasted a small piece.

"Chocolate! Just like chocolate!"

Verana chose a nearby bottle and drank some of the bluish liquid.

"Milk!" she exclaimed.

"Perhaps we'd better look at the other rooms," I told her.

The next room we examined was obviously for recreation. Containers were filled with dozens of strange games and books of instructions in the form of simple drawings. The games were foreign, but designed in such a fashion that they would be interesting to Earthmen.

Two of the rooms were sleeping quarters. The floors were covered with a spongy substance and the lights were dim and soothing.

Another room contained a small bathing pool, running water, waste-disposal units and yellow cakes of soap.

The last room was an observatory. The ceiling and an entire wall were transparent. Outside, the stars shone clearly for a few seconds, then disappeared for an equal time, only to reappear in a different position.

"Hyper-space drive," Verana whispered softly. She was fascinated by the movement of the stars. For years, our scientists had sought a hyperspatial drive to conquer the stars.

We selected a comfortable chair facing the transparent wall, lit cigarettes and waited.

A few minutes later, Marie entered the room.

I noticed with some surprise that her face was calm. If she was excited, her actions didn't betray it.

She sat next to Verana.

"What happened?" my wife asked.

Marie crossed her legs and began in a rambling manner as if discussing a new recipe, "That was really a surprise, wasn't it? I was scared silly, at first. That room was dark and I didn't know what to expect. Something touched my head and I heard a telepathic voice—"

"Telepathic?" Verana interrupted.

"Yes. Well, this voice said not to worry and that it wasn't going to hurt me. It said it only wanted to learn something about us. It was the oddest feeling! All the time, this voice kept talking to me in a nice way and made me feel at ease ... and at the same time, I felt something search my mind and gather information. I could actually feel it search my memories!"

"What memories?" I inquired.

She frowned with concentration. "Memories of high school mostly. It seemed interested in English and history classes. And then it searched for memories of our customs and lives in general...."

Kane stalked into the room at that moment, his face red with anger. "Do you know where we are?" he demanded. "When those damned aliens got me in that room, they explained what this is all about. We're guinea pigs!"

"Did they use telepathy to explain?" Verana asked. I suddenly remembered that she was a member of a club that investigated extra-sensory