In a short while Hercon returned to the vicinity of the table. A moment later, Teibar said something, apparently to Taurog.

Taurog jerked the chain upward, twice, gently. It was little more than a sound of links, and only the slightest pressures, twice, on the attachment. It was a signal to me.

Taurog made a sound of approval as I rose immediately to all fours. He then led me back tot he table on which the attachA© case rested, where Teibar, whom I feared mostly, my chief captor, waited.

I saw a pile of my things there on the carpet, the dancer" s costume, my purse, my clothes, those I had worn to the library, and such, near the table. That had been I supposed a result of Hercon" s brief absence. He was now back. Taurog said something to Teibar.

"Taurog," said Teibar, looking down at me, "is pleased with you. He thinks you may have an instinctive understanding of chain signals."

I could not speak, the wet silk in my mouth. I could only look up at him. "It is possible," he said, "You are a woman."

I looked up at him, angrily.

He then removed a small object from his pocket. I think I had seen it before, near the front doors of the library, when I had seen him there, and had fled back, away from him. He pointed it at the pile of clothing, and diverse articles. A line of light, causing me to pull back, crying out, half blinded, burned forth from the object. When I could see, I saw that the rug was gone there, and that, about, there were only ashes.

"There is this other thing," said Hercon, lifting the tape recorder. Doubtless the tapes were near it.

"Leave it, and its musics," said Teibar. "Let those who come upon it ponder its meaning."

Hercon replaced the recorder on its table.

I was trembling. I had seen what had become of the clothing, and such, on the floor. I was not familiar with the technology these men had at their disposal. It seemed, however, powerful, and sophisticated. Oddly enough, it did not seem congenial to the type of world of which he had spoken. Could it be that on that world such devices were not permitted? I saw the small object pointed at me. I shook my head, wildly, whimpering, biting on the silk, tears in my eyes. I knew its burning line, that intense beam or blade, could divide me, fluids hissing, boiling, in an instant. "You understand what we could do, if we wished, don" t you?" he asked. I nodded vigorously, affirmatively, tears in my eyes. Then he returned it to his pocket. I collapsed to the rug, unable to bear my own weight. "Put her on the table," he said.

Taurog reached down and picked me up, lightly, and put me on my back, on the table, near the attachA© case. The men pushed chairs back, so that they might stand about the table.

I looked up at Teibar, terrified. He drew the silk from my mouth.

"Please," I wept.

"Were you given permission to speak?" he asked.

"No," I whispered.

"Perhaps I do not wish to hear you speak," he said. He was opening, and then smoothing out, and folding the bit of wet silk I had had thrust in my mouth. It was then in a soft, damp, layered, folded form some six or seven inches square. He put it beside me, beside my left hip.

"May I speak?" I asked. I then realized that no gag was needed to silence me. It could be done to me as simply and effectively by the will, or mere whim, of men such as there. By such men I could be silenced by a mere word, or a gesture or glance.

"Remove her bells," he said to Hercon. "Anklet her. The virgin anklet." "Please," I said.

"Very well," he said.

"What is this all about?" I begged. "What are you going to do with me, really?" I felt Hercon" s strong fingers working the thong on my left ankle. I heard the rustle of bells.

"Who are you?" I demanded.

"Teibar," he said.

I moved my head in frustration. The collar, so close, and heavy, and confining, was on my neck. I heard the movement of the chain, behind me, where it dangled over the edge of the table.

"But what are you?" I begged.

"Human," he said, "as are you, in your petty, nasty way."

"Why do you hate me?" I asked.

"Because of what you are, and what you would do to men," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"Destroy them," he said.

"I am not going to destroy men," I said.

"I know," he said, "now."

"I don" t understand!" I wept.

Then I felt the bells removed from my ankle. Hercon handed them to Teibar, who placed them, on their thong, on the soft, damp silk beside me.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "What are you, really!"

"I am a businessman," he said.

"What is your business?" I asked, plaintively.

"I am an exporter," he said.

I then felt a sturdy metal anklet closed about my left ankle, where the bells had been. It snapped shut. I had no doubt it locked. I gathered there might be different sorts of such anklets. This one, I had gathered, was a "virgin anklet."

"What do you export?" I asked.

"Women," he said.

I reared up on the table, but, by the hair, with a rattle of the chain on my collar, was pulled back onto it, on my back.

"Lie still," he said.

I saw Hercon lift up, and shake out, a large, folded leather sack. It was heavy, dark, long, and narrow. It had straps, and a lock, at one end.

"I have prepared the mask, and solution," he said to Hercon.

I strained to see the sack. Hercon was now folding it three times, and placing it on the table.

"You will be placed in that, head first, gagged, and bound, hand and foot," said Teibar, "but, even if you were not bound, it would be very difficult for you, because of the tightness and narrowness of the sack, to do more than wiggle a little."

I tried to rise up but a conical, stiff, rubberized mask was thrust over my nose and mouth, and, by means of it, I was pushed back on the table. Taurog held my wrists, pinning me back on the table" s surface. Hercon held my ankles. I struggled. My eyes must have been wild over the mask. Teibar poured some fluid from a small bottle into an opening, or through a porous mesh, at the apex of the mask. He held it firmly over my nose and mouth.

"Steady, steady, little slut," said Teibar, soothingly. "There is no use to struggle. Your struggles will avail you not in the least."

I tried to fight the mask but I could not. I was held. I was held, helplessly. My strength, that of a woman, was nothing to theirs, that of men. I wondered what might be the meaning of that, in a natural world.

"Breathe deeply," said Teibar.

I tried to move my head, but, because of the tightness of the mask, over my nose and mouth, and how he held it on me, pressing it down upon me, I could not. I tried to hold my breath. I felt a drop of liquid, and then a trickle of liquid, run on the bridge of my nose, and then its way down my right cheek.

"Breathe deeply," said Teibar, soothingly.

I fought to hold my breath.

Hercon said something.

"Come now," said Teibar, to me, "you are disappointing Hercon." I looked up at him, wildly.

"Breathe deeply," he said. "You do not wish to disappoint Hercon. Taurog too, was so proud of you. You would not wish to disappoint him, too, would you? Not after you did so well, in the matter of the chain. The time will come, I assure you, when you will be extremely concerned that you not disappoint men in any way, in the least."

I sudden coughed, half choking, in the mask. I gasped in air, plaintively, eagerly, desperately, in those tiny, hot confines. There was a closeness, an oppressiveness within them.

"Good," said Teibar. "Now, breathe slowly, regularly, deeply."

I looked up at him over the tight rubber rim of the mask.

"Surely you understand that resistance is useless," he said.

I sobbed. My eyes were bright with tears. I breathed in, deeply.

"Good," said Teibar. "Good."