you
before we leave Earth." They were nearing a brightly lit thoroughfare
and he felt safer.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she said wistfully. She dug into a tiny
purse and handed him a card. "You'll notice there's another name on it,
too. That's Chloe, my half-sister. She's smart and I like her, but I
hope you don't like her--not better than me, anyway."

"I'm sure I won't. But why half-sister? I'd think it would be rather
difficult for your mother to marry again."

"Of course she couldn't," she said scornfully. "No woman's allowed more
than half a--"

"Mary Ellen!"

"All right, I won't say it," she said crossly. "But you asked."

* * * * *

He could fill in the missing information. With women drastically
outnumbering men, husbands had to be shared. Men were allowed more than
one mate, but women never were. Perhaps the development of polygamy had
been inevitable.

Earth was the center of a vast and spreading civilization. Men went out
to settle the newly discovered planets while, for the most part, women
tended to remain behind. More than that, there were some women who came
to Earth from planets that had been settled longer, attracted by the
glamor of an older civilization and high-paying jobs, never realizing
until they got there the other conditions that went with it.

Earth's dilemma was therefore a partial solution to one of the problems
of his own planet. But the important problem, getting the name changed
to Mezzerow, was harder than he had anticipated. He wasn't looking
forward to tomorrow.

He noticed Mary Ellen glancing curiously around. "Is there anything
wrong?" he asked.

"Nooo. It's just sort of funny that you'd stay here--in the heart of the
unmarried girls' residential district." She grinned at him. "Maybe I'd
better go in with you."

"I think you'd better," he said. That's what the pudgy clerk had meant.
He should have listened to him and gone to the men's hotel.

The lobby was crowded with women, many of whom, he suspected, had been
waiting for their return. On a man-starved planet, word got around.
Perhaps he was imagining it, but he thought he heard an audible sigh of
disappointment when they came in with Mary Ellen. She had more than
repaid them for the few anxious moments she had caused. Much more,
though she didn't know it yet.

They went directly to their rooms and Marcus sent Wilbur inside,
lingering at the door to talk with the girl. "Should