So much passed through Glawen's mind in no more than two seconds. What had she asked? Did he find Lilo sexually stimulating?

Glawen said: "I will be absolutely candid. Men are stimulated in a different manner from women, as you must know."

"I have never troubled to explore the subject."

"Well, it is true. In the case of Lilo, the gray gown simply swallows her figure, which needs all the help it can get.

Her hairless scalp is far from appealing, and I've seen corpses with a healthier skin color. On the positive side, she has good features and beautiful eyes. She is graceful and there is a certain wistful charm to her manner. As I think back, I can't believe that I alarmed her; she seemed to come to life under the attention."

"These feelings perhaps disturbed her, causing both guilt and confusion, which she attributed to you and, as I see now, perhaps exaggerated. It seems, then, that you find her gauche?"

"Gauche, prim, resolute: whatever. If she were to grow hair, dress nicely and get some color in her skin, she would seem passably attractive."

"Interesting! As of now: you find her unappealing?"

Glawen wondered how best to phrase his remarks.

"Spacemen encounter all kinds of women. I have heard them say that at night all cats are gray."

Zaa nodded thoughtfully.

"Lilo of course is totally innocent. Her life to date has been formally Monomantic and unified, and for certain reasons we are interested in her instinctive response to the proximity of a personable young man such as yourself."

"So this is why Lilo became my instructor."

"In part."

"Surely I am not the first man of her acquaintance?"

Zaa gave a sad laugh.

"I see that I must explain. The Monomantics espouse Unity as their goal. The Polymantics accepted Duality, but they were dominated by masculines. The Monomantic rebellion was led by heroic females, who insisted upon sexual equality, and thought to create a race in which sexuality was not a coercive "force. In the biological workshops at Strock, many roads were tried, but the efforts always fell short. The Zubenites of Lutwiler Country were at first considered a glorious success, because they proved at least partially infra-fertile. To this degree Duality has been conquered; we have perfected Monomantics in many phases. The doctrine asserts that 'man' and 'woman' are archaic and essentially incidental words. Mutis is a man;

Funo is a woman. They may not even be aware of their differences, which are not functional. Mutis is impotent;

Funo produces no eggs. So it is among the Zubenites. Their survival as a people is barely tentative."

Glawen kept a closed mouth upon his opinions.

"Still, our efforts have been at least theoretically successful. Duality has been discredited and sent reeling;

it can no longer be considered an inspirational philosophy.

Do you agree to this?"

"I have never taken a position, one way or the other."

"Unity is now the rule. Men and women are equal in all respects. Women have been freed from the ancient curse of childbearing. In their turn, men no longer suffer the glandular pressures which distracted their energies and sometimes prompted them to illogical gallantries. What do you say to that?"

"It's an interesting point of view." Glawen cautiously went on to say: "I have no difficulties with my glands, and I certainly would not care to attempt Unity."

Zaa smiled.

"I may inform you that a new theory has won strong supporters, among them myself. The Zubenites are not altogether satisfactory; they will not copulate, for one reason or another, and the population will not sustain itself. Younglings are brought in from Strock or the folk would not survive."

"Lilo does not seem the typical Zubenite woman--nor, for that matter, do you."

"Lilo has an interesting history. To facilitate our work at Strock, we brought in a brilliant young geneticist from Alphanor, not altogether by his own volition. Out of boredom he began to perform secret experiments. It seems that in the case of Lilo he used a sample egg of high quality and his own sperm. He bred her in a special culture dish, the zygote was nurtured in a tub to itself, without sequestrators or hormone suppressants, and fed special nutrients. In his regular work, because of his resentment and general cheerlessness, he defaulted upon his duty and produced a thousand one-eyed creatures with one leg, blue spots and enormous genital organs, which he conceived to be a ludicrous joke. In another vat he wasted three dozen prime eggs by impregnating them with the sperm of a raccoon which chanced to be on hand. The joke escaped detection until the infants began to grow tails, and then of course the truth was made known and the geneticist was discharged with prejudice."

"Lilo almost shared the fate of the teratoids, but someone noticed that she was developing along more conventional lines, and so she survived. But how her rather striking excellence was achieved we never learned, since the geneticist was no longer alive."

"That is an interesting tale," said Glawen.

"As of now, Lilo is similar to a female of the old Duality.

Not wishing to embarrass her, we have not shared this information with her. It seems that she has received the news by another means."

"All this aside," said Glawen, "my first concern is for myself. How much longer do you intend to keep me confined in this hole?"

"I see that I must be totally candid," said Zaa.

"In our efforts to expunge Duality, we have over achieved this you know. We can produce Zubenites at will, but they have many negative characteristics and changes are necessary. Must we amend Monomantics and risk a new sexuality? The theory which I mentioned suggests that this may be necessary, through the inherent nature of protoplasm. From Strock comes nothing but dismal news. The processes are failing. Zygotes die faster than they can be produced; the younglings are sickly and abnormal.

"To survive, it appears that we must return to primitive techniques. Ah, but now? The men are like Mutis, incapable of the task, while the women are like Funo; they would go into convulsions at the idea.

"Now, then! This is not true in every case. A few women ovulate, and are still receptive. It is the men who are helpless. They are a poor lot, dull and limpish."

Glawen said nervously: "They might surprise you! Dress the ladies in pretty costumes; let them grow their hair and play in the sun so that they take on some color. Instead of philosophy, they should learn to dance and sing and set out fine banquets with good wine! The men would soon come around."

Zaa made a sound of disgust.

"We have heard that story before. A certain man claimed full knowledge in the field of human emotions. He stated that our problems were mental, no more; that we should undergo a series of what he called sexual therapy sessions. We tested his theories at great inconvenience and even greater expense! We discovered only that this man's avarice far exceeded his performance."

Glawen pretended only idle interest.

"It seems that you are referring to the Thurben Island affair."

"Obviously. Isn't one such event enough?"

"This avaricious savant accomplished nothing for you? What were his credentials?"

"The results were at best ambiguous. He urged us to continue the program, and our Ordene Sibil remained to observe and to learn, but her news is unclear."

"And the savant: what is his name?"

"I hardly remember; I made none of the arrangements.

Floreste: