"No girls," he said, feeling a twinge of guilt about the Aldebaranese.

She blew him a kiss and the connection was broken.

Manning knew that he would have to wait almost two hours before the carrier-jet would arrive. He dug through his library and found an encyclotape on Aldebaran. He put it on and turned the switch, adjusting the tape so as to skip the physical description of the system.

"... The people of Aldebaran Three are evolved from one of the two thousand known forms of the order of Chiroptera. Unlike those found in other parts of the Federation, however, they have become completely humanoid in the process of evolution. They have retained none of the physical characteristics of their order or genus, although many of their habits are still related to those of their primitive ancestors. It is believed that the Aldebaranese of the third planet are descended from the genus Phyllostomatidae since they are almost entirely fruit eaters. Judged by human standards, they are quite attractive, the females being especially beautiful. They seem to be sexually attracted to humans and other humanoid races and there are records of a number of mutually satisfactory unions. The Aldebaranese of the fourth planet are quite different in—"

Manning cut off the switch. He had been curious about Velmar Shonda, but she came from the third planet and there was no point in listening to the dry, academic description of her cousins on the other planets. He replaced the encyclotape with a musictape and settled back to wait for the carrier-jet.

VI

Two hours later, a light glowed on the instrument panel of the Alpha Actuary, indicating that the carrier had come to rest in the receiver-lock. Manning waited a few minutes, then opened the inner door to the lock. He opened the carrier and took the two small packages it contained. One was a completely sealed canister which buzzed when he held it up to his ear. The other was a large bouquet of flowers, fresh-sealed so that they would keep indefinitely.

Putting the two packages in a hand-pack, Manning left the ship and went back to the kiosk. When he reached the underground level, he ordered the driver back to the hotel.

There were two people waiting in the lobby for him. One of them was Velmar Shonda. Her yellow eyes lighted up at the sight of him.

"Manning," she exclaimed, coming to meet him. She put her hand over his and the touch of 

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