curiosity and awe. "That was exactly like the birth of a thought,"
he said to himself, "but who was the thinker? Some great Living Mind
is at work in this spot. He has intelligence, for all his shapes are
different, and he has character, for all belong to the same general
type.... If I'm not wrong, and if it's the force called Shaping or
Crystalman, I've seen enough to make me want to find out something
more about him.... It would be ridiculous to go on to other riddles
before I have solved these."

A voice called out to him from behind, and, turning around, he saw a
human figure hastening toward him from some distance down the ravine.
It looked more like a man than a woman. He was rather tall, but
nimble, and was clothed in a dark, frocklike garment that reached
from the neck to below the knees. Around his head was rolled a
turban. Maskull waited for him, and when he was nearer went a little
way to meet him.

Then he experienced another surprise, for this person, although
clearly a human being, was neither man nor woman, nor anything
between the two, but was unmistakably of a third positive sex, which
was remarkable to behold and difficult to understand. In order to
translate into words the sexual impression produced in Maskull's mind
by the stranger's physical aspect, it is necessary to coin a new
pronoun, for none in earthly use would be applicable. Instead of
"he," "she," or "it," therefore "ae" will be used.

He found himself incapable of grasping at first why the bodily
peculiarities of this being should strike him as springing from sex,
and not from race, and yet there was no doubt about the fact itself.
Body, face, and eyes were absolutely neither male nor female, but