I listened with interest to the continuation of the argument I'd interrupted. I too had heard these stories ...

and other stories. Among our Women's Officer Corps there'd been whispered discussions of recordings in existence telling of Earth's pursuit craft tracking a s.h.i.+p which had tauntingly identified itself as Amelia Earhart as it leaped to hyper-s.p.a.ce. And there were more storiesa"gleeful storiesa"that the escaping women had been exceptional, highly gifted, vital to the professions they'd abandoned .. . and that they and their strange s.h.i.+p had outwitted their pursuers, had vanished among the star systems .. . And that their disappearance had caused turmoila"and somewhat more liberalized treatment of women in all the professions, including my own . . .

Ross asked, too casually, "Laurel, what do you know about this?"

I shrugged. "The same stories."

"But think about it, men," Hanigan exulted. "If it is these women, then we're on a world ofa"d.a.m.n, we've landed in paradise!"

I suggested drily, "Your enthusiasm may not be shared by the inhabitants of .. . paradise."

But Coulter slapped Hanigan on the back and playfully flexed his own muscles, puffing out his chest.

"Come on, Laurel. When they have a choice ... I mean, when women really have a choicea""

*Ross said cautiously, smiling, "We'd better be selective. Some of these women, they're big. And look to be in as good shape as we are."

"Better," I could not resist saying.

The receiver crackled to life. Megan's cool voice inquired about our comfort, whether we would prefer their food or our own.

Ross replied shortly, "Ours."

She went on to inform us of the limits of the confinement area within which we must remaina"three square kilometers. Ross's face darkened with anger. We were less than a kilometer due west from the sea, she stated, and gave us its temperature and tide times, cautioning that we must not swim at high tide. In concise language she warned us of the suddenness and strength of the planet's nocturnal winds, and of the preparation we should make to secure our craft. Then she bade us a courteous farewell. Ross replied with a muttered obscenity; but Megan had switched off.

We made a meal from the EV's ample food store, and continued our speculations. Where were their settlements? The consensus opiniona"underground. How sophisticated was their technology? From all appearancesa"formidably sophisticated. Would they eventually agree to a.s.sist us in repairing our Cruiser, and allow us to leave? Whoever they were, if concealment of their existence was so primary a concerna"

not very likely.

The men were still debating this after the meal. I asked myself: Since the circ.u.mstance wasn't forced on me, why remain in their company? I left them, ostensibly to perform more tests. With purely sensory perceptions, I explored our area of confinement, the tiny expanse of this love

y world allotted to us, making my way through the high gra.s.s, removing my gloves to stroke it. I strolled toward the hills, acutely aware of soft warm air that stirred my hair, the late afternoon sunlight of this coral world gentle on my face.

Near the hills I entered a wooded cove of small but defiant trees shaped tortuously by the winds like some of our cypress trees on Earth. One, long since uprooted, lay across the base of another, and I sat on it, straddling it, my back against the living tree.

For some time I watched the sunlight dance in dappled patterns on the gra.s.sy ground as the needle-covered branches swayed in the warm breezes. I opened the neck of my jacket to savor, sun and air, conscious of the loneliness in me that could never be a.s.suaged by any of the companions a kilometer or so from me ... I longed to express the sweet sadness of my emotion in music, wis.h.i.+ng i'd brought my crystal reed with me.

But I did have my journal, and was recording these events when Coulter found me.

*III.

Journal of Lt. Laurel Meredith 2214.2.12 I'm exhausted . . . But I'll record these events as long as I'm able to .. . It's very late this night, my first night in the house of the women called Vesta and Carina. They are matesa"indeed, lovers.

I'm having difficulty adjusting to this unsettling aspect of my surroundings. Even while knowing rationally that on this world of women they would of course choose love partners among themselves, that of course their lives, their homes, their art would reflect and glorify their own physical beauty and the physicality of their love, I am discomfited by it. Their love is forbidden on Earth, a taboo enforced in our culture by a proliferation of laws and by all the communication media.

But I am far ahead of myself, of what happened to bring me here to this house of Vesta and Carina on the Toklas River in the colony of Cybele.

As I sat peacefully in the wooded cove not far from the EV, Coulter had inflicted his unwelcome presence on me, greeting me and then staring at the small expanse of throat I'd exposed to this world's gentle suns, now beginning their descent to the horizon.

"I want to talk to you, Laurel."

How I detested that huskiness in his voice! Over the months I'd learned enough in our close quarters about my s.h.i.+pmates to regard all of them with distaste. "There's nothing to be said," I answered, understanding his reference and therefore unconcerned with my rank or my obvious hostility.

His blue eyes narrowed. "You know how I feel, Laurel. You know it very well." He took my hands.

I tore my hands out of his. "Don't you touch me! I forbid it!"

"We'll never leave here. Never." He grasped my shoulders, tried to draw me to him. "You're what I want, none of these women here. Service regulations don't matter anymore. Or what Ross wants us to doa""

"Don't touch me!" Furiously I pushed him away, and stood to confront him. "I ordered you not to touch me, I'll, put you on report to Ross, don't think I won't, youa""

"Fool, you little foola"" He leaped to his feet and came toward me and what I saw in his face made me afraid. I tried to run but he caught me easijy, tangling his hands in my hair, pulling me against him as I struggled and pushed at him. His arms tightened powerfully, his mouth searched for mine.

We were both flung violently to the ground.

*"Lieutenant, over here,"

I lay dazed, but recognized Megan's voice, and realized that Coulter and I had been struck by an energy charge. I got to my feet, stumbled over to her; she stood on the fallen log, feet braced, one hand extended to me, the other holding a silver object trained on Coulter. I reached to her; she grasped my hand and with unexpected strength pulled me over the log and behind her.

Coulter got to his feet, came at her. And was again hurled to the ground.

"Colonel, don't be foolish. Leave us. Return to your s.h.i.+p."

But Coulter rose to his feet swearing and came at her againa"with the same result. He scrambled to his knees and rasped, "Put that d.a.m.n thing away just once you coward b.i.t.c.h-"

To my utter astonishment she did so, tucking the silver , weapon into her belt.

"No!" I shouted, "He'll-"

Coulter, leaping to his feet, did not hesitate. As he charged she seized the tree branch, above her and with a swift whipping motion of her body, drove her boots into his chest.

With an "Oof!" of surprise he staggered and stumbled backward, then regained his balance. Fists clenching and unclenching, a crouching beast of pure menace, he stalked her as she stood braced and waiting on the log. Arms extended, he rushed her again.

And was hurled to the ground. And this time hauled to his feet and secured, his arms pinioned, by two burly women. A dozen more materialized from the woods behind us, among them a handsome woman with short-cropped blonde hair and dressed in green pants anda s.h.i.+rt. She confronted Megan, hands on her hips. "Megan," she sighed in exasperation.

Megan said with an entirely attractive grin, "Danya, what took you so long?"

"You know very well we were a distance further from here than you." With a motion of her head toward Coulter, Danya asked with an amused smile, "What method of hand-to-hand combat were you planning next?"

Again Megan grinned. "I'd have thought of something."

And with that grin, humorous, prideful, I felt a stirring .. .of something stronger than admiration, an emotion I could not identify.

"What business is this of yours?" Coulter snapped, pulling against the two women who held his arms secured. "We're Earth citizens, you have no right to interfere."

*Megan nodded to the two women holding Coulter. "Adria, Paige, thank you. You may release the Colonel."

Coulter brushed at the gra.s.s and soil staining the pristine white of his EV suit. Megan waited until he finished and looked up at her.

"This is our world. You are subject to our standards. Not," she added contemptuously, "your own."

"Spying on us," Coulter snarled. "I should have known."

"You should have expected some kind of surveillance, Colonel, when you come here bearing military rank on a s.h.i.+p bristling with weapons. But still we had expected better of you. You were under random sweep surveillance only, and only by chance I monitored your. . . behavior."

She turned to me. Her voice was firm but her green eyes seemed wounded. "We cannot overlook or chance recurrence of . . . this. We extend to you again the offer of safe conduct among us. If you still prefer to remain with your s.h.i.+p, then we must sequester Colonel Coulter elsewhere."

I hesitated. Coulter's absence would only create further stresses between myself and the men, I decided.

"I'll go with you."

"Laurel, let them take me. You know I never meant to hurt you." Coulter was calm now, his voice soft and husky. "But you don't know that about these .. . creatures. G.o.d knows what they'll do to you when they get their hands on you, they . . . they'll . . . they'll probably ..."

Coulter faltered into obviously furious silence; the women were responding to his words with increasingly raucous laughter. "Lieutenant," Megan said to me, her eyes fixed derisively on Coulter, "is this a concern to you? I can give you no a.s.surance other than our word."

"It's not a concern," I declared as bravely as I could, with a pa.s.sing thought to Coulter's behavior should he ever be in a position to take female captives.

"We can provide for all your needs," Megan told me, "but is there anything you wish from your s.h.i.+p?"

After a moment I replied, "My crystal reed,"

"Danya," Megan said, "would you escort the Colonel to his s.h.i.+p and then bring the Lieutenant's crystal reed to my house?"

"Consider it done." Danya spun Coulter around and sent him on his way with a far from gentle shove.

Megan led me to a hovercraft scarcely large enough for two. I asked, "Why did you put your weapon away? You must have knowna""

"My greatest weakness," she said seriously, "seems to be my inability to resist a challenge."

*And then there was that grin again. I said awkwardly, "If I may call you Megan, then will you call me Laurel?"

She climbed into the craft, extended a hand and pulled me in with her. She smiled. "Very weil, Laurel."

"I see why you were able to rescue me so quickly," I murmured. In scant seconds we had come upon her house which I did not immediately recognize as a house until the craft dipped into an alcove of it, so artfully had it been carved from the rocky coastline. So this was why their settlements were not observable from the air.

"I was nearest to you," she said quietly as we walked into her house. "When you had to push him away a second time I knew to come. And of course I signaled for Danya and our security team."

"Thank you. This is my first mission, all the rrien were a trial but he was the worst, he wouldn't believe or accept my invoking of the privacy regulations, he'd have been more of a problem except for Ross, he's a rules and regulations Commander, his lack of imagination almost killed usa""

I knew I was rambling like a fool, speaking with only part of my mind. I was staring helplessly at the house we had entered, struggling to absorb its searing simplicity and beauty. The wall tapestries were woven complexities, the fleece floor coverings of warm earth tones, the furnis.h.i.+ngs of contrasting brilliant blues.

There were many art objects . .. Her house itself was pure art, beautiful in all its elements, overwhelming in its totality, each element intrinsically compelling, yet blending into the whole.

Hypnotized by a soaring sculpture of silver that reflected in its angular planes the colors and designs of the room, I whispered, "Did you make this?"

"No, that was created by Zandra. I have only the capability of appreciating it."

I asked abruptly, "What is your function here, Megan?"

She hesitated. "I am ... a coordinator."

I understood her hesitation. I'd joined them because of circ.u.mstance, not conviction. I said, "I believe that you're the women who escaped on the s.h.i.+p you called Amelia Earhart. And I'm happy you succeeded."

She smiled. And relaxed visibly. "That makes things much simpler, Laurel."

She touched a place on a crystal table; a large section of tapestry disappeared to reveal lumiscreens and data receivers. All the screens were active; I recognized our EV on one, the surrounding area on another, in slow pan. "Please be comfortable," she said absently, eyes scanning her message screen. "I need but a moment. .."

Then Danya arrived, bearing the case with my crystal reed, "The officers were conducting a meeting in loud tones as I left," she said with a chuckle. "Commander Ross was most upset with Colonel Coulter."

*"He would be," I said, visualizing with amus.e.m.e.nt Ross's apoplexy at this new complication.

"Shall I escort Lieutenant Meredith to her quarters?" Danya asked politely.

I looked at Megan; but her gaze was on the screens. "Laurel," she asked, "have you eaten?"

"No," I answered impulsively, curious about her and wanting to remain with her longer.

"Then we'll take you to Vesta's now, and later I cana""

"I require little food," I interrupted, attempting to correct my error. "I have no needa""

"Would you mind answering some questions, then? Perhaps sharing what food I have?"

"I wouldn't mind at all."

"Megan, security is fully functional," Danya said. "Relax and leave all the monitoring to us after your long day."

I had already seen that Megan was held in considerable esteem on this world. Danya's tone was entirely deferential, and she looked at Megan with admiring affection.

"With full confidence and gladness," Megan said, touching the crystal table. Tapestry again covered the walls. "I'll bring Lieutenant Meredith to Vesta's house shortly. Good, night, Danya." Again that grin as she extended a hand. "And thank you."

Smiling, Danya grasped Megan's hand and clasped it in her tW;0. "If I hadn't been there in time, do you realize what the Unity would have done to me?" She bade us'both good night.

"You know nothing of our food, you'll.simply have to trust me." Megan moved gracefully in preparation of our meal and I watched with pleasure, watched her fine hands pulling temperature tabs, arranging both steaming and chilled contents on two highly polished curved gla.s.sine surfaces which adjusted, to tray height as she served us. She poured drink from a metallic flagon. I tasted it first: a most exquisite wine. We ate with a variety of implements which were strange to me and no more efficient than those I knew, but pretty, and interesting to wield.

"How much is known on Earth of our Unity?"

"Strong rumors. They persist stubbornly despite emphatic and constant denials." As we ate I related fulky th

e stories I'd heard: She often smiled, and sometimes laughed,lovely laughter.

I ate very little of the wonderful and savory food; not only was I not hungry, but I was strangely unsettled by her, and by the green eyes that looked so perceptively into mine. She ate with good appet.i.te, asking questions about events and places on Earth, obviously enjoying our meal together, her long fingers *handling her implements with delicate grace. "Not much has changed since we left," she mused, "but then it's been only fifteen of our years." She removed my tray. "You ate little. I so rarely have a guest. .. was the food not to your liking?"

"No, it was ... I was.. . Ia"It was' wonderful," I stammered like an idiot.

"If you liked this," she said, smiling, "Vesta's creations will enchant you. She's truly an artist with food."

I watched her place our trays in a disposal unit and pull down white s.h.i.+rt sleeves she had roiled to the elbow.

Obviously, she was planning now to take me to the person named Vesta.