«We use guns firing solid shot only when we go into the wilderness,» said Riyannah. «They are not so powerful as the Targan rifles.» She paused. «Richard-forgive me if this is a question you cannot answer. But-you seemed very familiar with guns like the Targans'. Do your people use the same sort of weapon?»

Blade nodded. «We have found them good enough, as long as we do not go far from the ammunition supply.»

«Ah, that explains it. We travel so far among the stars that we would have to take a whole factory with us if we or the Menel used weapons like yours.»

Blade nodded again. «Yes. We do not yet travel among the stars as much as you or the Menel.» That was perfectly true, as far as it went. «Now I have a question for you. You speak of going into the wilderness on Kanan. Yet you act like someone who has never been in wild country in her life. You're strong and brave and you learn quickly. But I had to teach you much you should already have known if you'd really spent much time in a true wilderness. What do you have on Kanan?»

Riyannah looked at the ground for a moment and Blade saw the slow darkening of her cheeks which was her blush. Then she said. «I suppose there is no reason not to tell you the truth. It will perhaps make you think badly of the Kananites, but there is no help for that.»

«If the Kananites can travel among the stars and are all as brave as you are, I will never think badly of them,» said Blade. «So what is the awful truth about Kanan?»

The Kananites made most of their discoveries about energy more than a thousand years before. Since that time they'd abolished war and poverty, controlled their population, and shaped their whole planet to suit their tastes.

The one billion Kananites lived in twenty gigantic cities of mile-high towers, enjoying every possible luxury. Around the cities were the spaceports and the factories which made everything the Kananites needed, including their food.