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off the thought. I have to be careful. But she wondered if she would have hurried away if the men had been white. Her cheeks burned.
    She was more lost than before. She stopped in front of a dome and tried to figure out where she was. She should have come to the highway by now.
    She peered inside the dome tentatively, then stepped back. It was guarded by two Aadae. Inside, she could see aliens sleeping on the floor in the large central room. She had not seen the inside of one of their dwellings before, afraid of approaching one. The guards looked at her inquisitively. She backed away farther, trying to smile harmlessly, then continued on the path.
    She collided with someone. She opened her mouth to apologize, then threw her hands in front of her face and managed to suppress a scream. A bald, wizened figure stood there, clad only in a dirty robe. It was no more than five feet tall and its greenish-yellow skin was stretched tightly over bones. It stared at her blankly and she recognized the violet eyes of the Aadae. Its robe hung open, revealing a penis no thicker than a finger. The blue stone on its forehead seemed to wink at her.
    One of the males. She felt nauseated. The figure tried to reach for her, his lips drawing back across his teeth in an imitation of a smile. She moved back, trying to ward him off with her arms.
    Then another Aada was beside him, holding his arm. She recognized Neir-let. The Aada was whispering to the male in her own language. The male, still grinning, sat down.
    “He frightens you?” Neir-let asked. Suzanne sighed with relief. “He is harmless.”
    “I didn’t know … I haven’t seen a male Aada before.”
    Neir-let looked puzzled for a second, then nodded. “Male. We have few, enough for children. We always have few. This one is old and no longer wise.” The male was drooling and picking at his toenails. “Soon his mind will join the others above. In his travels, he may see our home again.” Neir-let sat down with the male, her arm across his shoulders.
    “Do you miss your home?” Suzanne said impulsively. She was suddenly curious about the Aadae, who as far as she knew rarely talked to anyone. Neir-let seemed to sigh.
    “To you, Suzanne, I will talk,” said the alien. She was shocked, not realizing that Neir-let knew her name. “You have a gift, I know. You have brushed those above once in the dawn. Do you remember? You fled from us.”
    Suzanne struggled with her memories, then recalled the morning she had seen the Aadae seated on the highway, staring into the sun. She nodded silently.
    “Yes, I miss my home. I will not see it again as I am. But I could not stay there knowing that other minds would die. Your world is much like ours, but the small differences bring me sadness. Yet I could live here with my daughters and be pleased.” Neir-let paused. Suzanne sat down near her, for once unafraid. “But we must leave here and the home of my daughters must be the ship.”
    Leave here. If we wait long enough … “Why are you here?” she asked.
    “So that you will not die.”
    “You’ve killed so many of us, though. Why?”
    Tears glistened in the alien’s eyes. “If we had not, others would have joined them. Then all of you would die. It is a painful thing, Suzanne.” Neir-let patted the male alien on the head and trilled to him. He nestled against her. Suzanne was at peace, strangely, not wanting to leave Neir-let’s side. The fog had lifted slightly. I should get back to the dome , she thought, unwilling to move.
    From the corner of her eye, she saw a shape leave the doorway of the dome where the Aadae slept. She turned to face it. Joel. The shape disappeared in the fog and she could not be sure.
    Neir-let was still singing to the male Aada. Suzanne rose and began to thread her way through the maze of paths. She could see more clearly now and soon managed to find her own dome.
    She hurried inside and up the stairway. In her room, Joel lay on his mat, seemingly asleep. Yet