It’s your first trip on the Concorde, the supersonic jet airliner that crosses the Atlantic in three hours and forty-five minutes. Right now you're at 57,000 feet, in mid-flight from New York to Paris. You look up from the magazine you've been reading as a voice comes over the loudspeaker.

“This is Captain Ravel speaking. We're about halfway across the Atlantic now, at latitude 54, longitude 40. We've just come onto a new course that will bring us over the coast of France in about ninety minutes. Those of you on the left side of the plane may be able to see the southern tip of Greenland ...” You glance out of the window, hoping to see Greenland. Instead, you see a gleaming white cylinder, several times larger than the Concorde, but without wings, engines, or ports. The object, glistening in the early morning sunlight, is coming straight at you!

“Look!”

The white-haired man sitting next to you leans toward the window to get a better view. “At what?”

“Don't you see it? It's coming right at us!”

He opens his mouth to answer, but says nothing, because you are no longer there...

You are sitting on a thick, rubbery mat in a circular room. The room is bathed in a pale, white light, vet you see no windows or doors or lamps. You remember now—sitting in the Concorde... the huge white object coming at you ... the plane shuddering, and ... where are you?

The pale light tums violet, and, mixing with oranges and reds, it brightens, as if the sun were about to rise. A voice is speaking —except it is not speaking. You are hearing thoughts entering directly into your brain!

WE ARE THE U-TY MASTERS.

YOU ARE ON THE GALACTIC SHIP RAKMA, ORBITING THE PLANET EARTH.YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO BE A SPECIMEN IN THE GALACTIC ZOO ON THE IMPERIAL PLANET OF RA.

IF YOU REFUSE TO COOPERATE, YOU WILL BE SENT TO SOMO.

YOU MAY MAKE ONE  STATEMENT.

~ If you demand to be returned to Earth,

< GO TO CHAPTER 2 >

~ If you want to know more about the U - TY,

< GO TO CHAPTER 3 >