fully reclining in
the deck chair. Her long, gray robe parted--by design, I have no
doubt--to display her shapely, satin-sheathed legs. Her black hair was
coiled in a heavy knot at the back of her neck; her carmined lips were
parted with a mocking, alluring smile. The exotic perfume of her
enveloped me.

She glanced at me sidewise from beneath her sweeping black lashes.

"Be serious," I added.

"I am serious. Sober. Intoxicated by you, but sober."

I said, "What sort of a contract?"

"A theater in Ferrok-Shahn. Good money, Gregg. I'm to be there a year."
She sat up to face me. "There's a fellow here on the Planetara, Rance
Rankin, he calls himself. At our table--a big, good-looking blond
American. He says he is a magician. Ever hear of him?"

"That's what he told me. No, I never heard of him."

"Nor did I. And I thought I had heard of everyone of any importance. He
is listed for the same theater where I'm going. Nice sort of fellow."
She paused, and added suddenly, "If he's a professional entertainer, I'm
a motor-oiler."

* * * * *

It startled me. "Why do you say that?"

Instinctively my gaze swept the deck. An Earth woman and child and a
small Venus man were in sight, but not within earshot.

"Why do you look so furtive?" she retorted. "Gregg, there's something
strange about this voyage. I'm no fool, nor you, and you know it as well
as I do."

"Rance Rankin--" I prompted.

She leaned closer toward me. "He could fool you. But not me--I've known
too many real magicians." She grinned. "I challenged him to trick me.
You should have seen him trying to evade!"

"Do you know Ob Hahn?" I interrupted.

She shook her head. "Never heard of him. But he told me plenty at
breakfast. By Satan, what a flow of words that devil-driver can muster!
He and the Englishman don't mesh very well, do they?"

She stared at me. I had not answered her grin; my mind was too busy with
queer fancies. Halsey's words: "Things are not always what they seem--"
Were these passengers masqueraders? Put here by George Prince? And then
I thought of Miko the Martian, and the burn upon his arm.

"Come back, Gregg! Don't go wandering off like that!" She dropped her
voice to a whisper. "I'll be serious. I want to know what in the hell is
going on aboard this ship. I'm a woman, and I'm curious. You tell me."

* * * * *

"What do you mean?" I parried.

"I mean a lot of things.