either side which looked as if they might be stores. Most of the signs were in an unfamiliar script which Manning assumed was Regulusian, although there were a few in Terran and other Federation languages. The buildings were all only one storey high, and the architecture mostly looked like the upper half of an egg.

"I suppose," Manning said, "that one of the penalties of building underground is that you're restricted on how high you can make your buildings. Doesn't that make the city take up a lot of space?"

Xelia Zon grinned. "I'm afraid you're still thinking in terms of Terran culture. These buildings are all of fifteen or twenty storeys and we have many that are still larger. You see, here, the street floor is the top one. Everything is built toward the core of our planet instead of skyward as you build."

"I'm beginning to get it," Manning said. "Everything works just the opposite as with us." He grinned. "Tell me, is it true what they say about Regulusian women—" He broke off as he realized Xelia Zon wasn't getting it. "Never mind. It wasn't even a very good joke when it first started on Terra a long time ago."

"If you'll notice," Xelia said, "you'll see the burrow-ways running off the street and leading down to the last floor which is usually used for parking."

Manning saw the openings, looking like tunnels, angling down from each side of the street.

By this time traffic was fairly heavy and there were considerable Regulusians on the sidewalks hurrying about their business. Considering the size of the city, there were very few citizens from other planets.

Everywhere the street was bright with the same indirect lighting Manning had noticed earlier, but once they passed through a section where the quality of light was different, more like sunlight.

"It is sunlight," Xelia said when Manning asked him about it. "This is one of the sections to which we pipe sunlight from the surface. Most of the embassies from other planets are in this section and it is done here for their convenience."

Finally Xelia's car darted into one of the burrow-ways and began the descent. When he braked the car to a stop, they were obviously inside a building. There were a number of other cars parked on the floor.

"This," Xelia said, answering the expression on Manning's face before he could put it into 

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