of hell. Joanna had made their house look like a transported corner
of Earth.

I never knew quite what to think of the Magnusson household. It seemed
to me almost madness to live under a red sun, yet come inside to yellow
light, to live on a world with the wild beauty of Wolf and yet live as
they might have lived on their home planet. Or maybe I was the one who
was out of step. I had done the reprehensible thing they called "going
native." Possibly I had done just that, and in absorbing myself into the
new world, had lost the ability to fit into the old.

Joanna, a chubby comfortable woman in her forties, opened the door and
gave me her hand. "Come in, Race. Juli's expecting you."

"It's good of you." I broke off, unable to express my gratitude. Juli
and I had come from Earth--our father had been an officer on the old
starship _Landfall_ when Juli was only a child. He had died in a wreck
off Procyon, and Mack Magnusson had found me a place in Intelligence
because I spoke four of the Wolf languages and haunted the Kharsa with
Rakhal whenever I could get away.

They had also taken Juli into their own home, like a younger sister.
They hadn't said much--because they had liked Rakhal--when the breakup
came. But that terrible night when Rakhal and I nearly killed each
other, and Rakhal came with his face bleeding and took Juli away with
him, had hurt them hard. Yet it had made them all the kinder to me.

Joanna said forthrightly, "Nonsense, Race! What else could we do?" She
drew me along the hall. "You can talk in here."

I delayed a minute before going through the door she indicated. "How is
Juli?"

"Better, I think. I put her to bed in Meta's room, and she slept most of
the day. She'll be all right. I'll leave you to talk." Joanna opened the
door, and went away.

Juli was awake and dressed, and already some of the terrible frozen
horror was gone from her face. She was still tense and devil-ridden, but
not hysterical now.

The room, one of the children's bedrooms, wasn't a big one. Even at the
top of the Secret Service, a cop doesn't live too well. Not on Terra's
Civil Service pay scale. Not, with five youngsters. It looked as if all
five of the kids had taken it to pieces, one at a time.

I sat down on a too-low chair and said, "Juli, we haven't much time,
I've got to be out of the city before dark. I want to know about Rakhal,
what he does, what he's like now. Remember, I haven't seen him for
years. Tell me eve