"Then bring him with you. What I keep telling you we came for—"
"Not as human-animal versus animal-animal," she said. "I love him. I can't harm him."
"In the ship, Gelerie! For your old Daddy. Inside, girl. In—"
Gelerie was now close enough to permit her father's mind to transit. From inside he spoke aloud, "Well, thank Homekind for that! Now get in and we'll be off."
"What about one of the others?" she said, now pointing at the three men who lay unconscious at her feet.
"That would be fine," Threlkeld replied. "Just toss Twitty in the drink and bring Cadogan. He looks like good stock."
Twitty was suddenly stricken with fright. If he never believed before, he believed now. "No. Cadogan has a wife and children. Don't take him—take me, I'm unmarried."
"Well," Threlkeld said, "now it's all solved. Get on board, Gelerie."
"No, father. If I do that, I still become less than Twitty. Homekind does not respect love affairs between separate types."
"Nor does it allow its missionaries to remain in the arena after the battle is won. Gelerie, face it if you stay here you'll revert to type the instant I leave."