when he finished the conclave sat in horrified silence. his words, with all their horror, had the ring of truth and there were no cries of 'heresy'. there was only stunned disbelief and the beginnings of nausea.

it is the mark of honor that a leader shall carry on when others fear to move. i cleared my throat.

"shall not these organs which you mention have atrophied by now? with no use throughout all these generations, will they not have evolved into nothingness?"

"i do not think so," rocsates replied after a while. "what to us is an eon, to evolution is but an instant. and then the swelling of the breasts, i believe, proves that there is still reproductive activity in some, at least, of the she's."

we sat shaking our heads, bowed under terrible reality.

"then we must experiment," i said. "but whom could we ask to submit to such horror?"

"i have already taken the liberty of asking for volunteers," rocsates replied. "the she, of course, must be one with the swelling of the breasts. melia has volunteered, on condition that xeon be released from dungeon. are there any objections?"