"Greetings, stranger," said the voice, and I could see the girl's lips move, framing those lovely, alien syllables. "From where do you come?"

"I come from Chicago, Illinois," I said, more to test the device than to convey information which I guessed would be meaningless to her.

She frowned. "Soft sounds and very pleasant, but I do not know that place. Where in Vashu is that?"

"Vashu? Is this city in a land called Vashu?"

"No—Vashu is the whole planet. This city is called Varnal, capital of the nation of the Karnala, my people."

"Do you have astronomy?" I asked. "Do you study the stars?"

"We do. Why do you ask?"

"Which planet is this in relation to the sun?"

"It is the fourth from the sun."

"Mars! It is Mars!" I cried.

"I do not follow you."

"I am sorry. Somehow I have arrived here from the third planet, which we call Earth. That is where Chicago is!"

"But there are no men on Negalu, the third planet. Only steamy jungles and monstrous beasts!"

"How do you know so much about the planet?"

"Our ethercraft have visited it and brought back pictures."

"You have space-ships—but ..." I was at a loss. This was too incredible for me to accept all at once. I questioned her more closely and soon learned that the Earth her people knew was not the Earth I bad left. It seemed to be an Earth that had existed millions of years ago, during the Age of Reptiles. Somehow both space and time had been crossed. That matter transmitter had more to it than we'd guessed!

Another thing puzzled me. The people did not appear to have a great deal of technology visible in the city—yet they had space-ships.

"How could this be?" I asked her.

"We did not build the ethercraft. They were a gift from the Sheev—as were these mind-crowns. We have a science of our own but it cannot compare to the great wisdom and knowledge of the Sheev."

"Who are the Sheev?"

"They are very great and few of them still live. They are remote and of an older race than any on Vashu. Our philosophers speculate on their origin, but we know little about them."

I let that go for the time being and decided it was about the moment to introduce myself.

"I am called Michael Kane," I said.

"I am Shizala, Bradhinaka of the Kanala, and ruler in the absence of the Bradhi."

I learned that the Bradhi was about the equivalent of our 'kang', although the title did not suggest that the man who held it possessed absolute power.

Perhaps Guide would be a better one—or Protector? Bradhinaka meant, roughly, Princess—daughter of the King.

"And where is the Bradhi?" I asked.

I saw her face become sad and she glanced at the ground.