Joe assured her that he was not offended and Rhena took him in two and headed for the bathroom. Opening a cabinet, she explained that the console there was similar to the food console except that this one supplied the necessary articles for personal grooming. She told Jo- Anne to have a seat and then started to apply the various products while explaining their use. "I learned your language by studying recordings of your radio and television signals that were gathered by our unmanned space ships which collect such information for future use, so forgive me if I make some foolish mistakes. Our code experts insist that they can relate strange words to objects that we use ourselves, but perhaps they have made some mistakes in presenting the language that I have learned.

Joe was just about to tell her about her error in using the word men to describe the women who had captured him, but she was rubbing a soothing lotion onto his face and he could not speak without getting his mouth full of the stuff. "This is the shaving lotion," she said as she began to wipe the lotion off, "but I'm afraid that we don't have any razors on Verna, or if we do, I wouldn't recognize one." Joe explained the function of a razor and Rhena broke into laughter. "Your people must be very primitive in some ways. Why would you remove a beard that way when shaving lotion does the job so much better?" Joe knew what she meant when he felt his face and realized that he had just gotten the smoothest shave that he had ever had in his life and he re- laxed to let Rhena apply the various cosmetics. When she was done and Joe looked in the mirror he knew that if he were home at that mo- ment he would be the envy of every girl on Earth, and that knowledge made him feel exceptionally good.

They returned to the living area and Rhena produced a miniature recording device. "I will be recording your answers to my questions, so please answer carefully. My government wants to know why your people destroyed our space ship, and why your patrols are seeking our planet." Joe was quite surprised. So these were the people that all of the Earth men were so afraid of. "We destroyed your ship only after you had attacked one of our Earth ships. It seemed to be apparent that your race was hostile and therefore it was decided to seek out your planet and attack before you could do the same thing to us.” Rhena was upset by his answer and she replied; "That is not what happened at all. Our monitoring equipment received a message that one of your Earth ships was in trouble and our cruiser sped to give assistance if possible. Unfortunately, your vessel exploded before we arrived. The last message sent by our ship indicated that they would

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