"You have, in a way, been kidnapped. And the Raimees have fled to your
planet--an unregistered planet."
"I'm afraid," Martha Graham said shakily.
"You have nothing to fear," said the man. "You are no longer on the
planet of your birth--nor even in the same galaxy." He glanced at Ted
Graham's wrist. "That device on your wrist--it tells your local time?"
"Yes."
"That will help in the search. And your sun--can you describe its atomic
cycle?"
Ted Graham groped in his mind for his science memories from school, from
the Sunday supplements. "I can recall that our galaxy is a spiral
like--"
"Most galaxies are spiral."
"Is this some kind of a practical joke?" asked Ted Graham.
The man smiled, a cold, superior smile. "It is no joke. Now I will make
you a proposition."