JUBAL HAD A MISERABLE TRIP. The taxi was automatic and it did justwhat he expected of machinery, developed trouble in the air and homed formaintenance instead of carrying out its orders. Jubal wound up in New York,farther from where he wanted to be than when he started. There he foundthat he could make better time by commercial schedule than he could by anycharter available. So he arrived hours later than he expected to, having spentthe time cooped up with strangers (which he detested) and watching a stereotank (which he detested only slightly less).

　　But it did inform him somewhat. He saw an insert of Supreme Bishop Shortproclaiming a holy war against the Antichrist, i.e.. Mike, and he saw too manyshots of what was obviously an utterly ruined building-he failed to see howany of them had escaped alive. Augustus Greaves, in his most solemnlippmann tones, viewed with alarm everything about it but pointed out that, inevery spite-fence quarrel, one neighbor supplies the original incitement-andmade it plain that, in his weasel-worded opinion, the so-called Man from Marswas at fault.

　　At last Jubal stood on a municipal landing flat sweltering in winter clothesunsuited to the blazing sun overhead, noted that palm trees still looked like apoor grade of feather duster, regarded bleakly the ocean beyond them,thinking that it was a dirty unstable mass of water, certainly contaminatedwith grape fruit shells and human excrement even though he couldn’t seesuch at this distance-and wondered what to do next.

　　A man wearing a uniform cap approached him. .Taxi, sir?“.Uh, yes, I think so.“ At worst he could go to a hotel, call in the press, andgive out an interview that would publicize his whereabouts- there wasoccasionally some advantage to being newsworthy.

　　.Over this way, sir.“ The cabby led him out of the crowd and to a batteredYellow Cab. As he put his bag in after Jubal, the pilot said quietly, .I offer youWater.“.Eh? Never thirst.“.Thou art God.“ The hack driver sealed the door and got into his owncompartment.

　　They wound up on a private landing flat on one wing of a big beach hotel-afour-car space, the hotel’s own landing flat being on another wing. The pilotset the cab to home-in alone, took Jubal’s bag and escorted him inside. .Youcouldn’t have come in too easily via the lobby,“ he said conversationally, .asthe foyer on this floor is filled with some very badtempered cobras. So if youdecide you want to go down to the street, be sure to ask somebody first. Me,or anybody-I’m Tim.“.I’m Jubal Harshaw.“.I know, brother Jubal. In this way. Mind your step.“ They entered the hotelsuite of the large, extreme luxury sort, and Jubal was led on into a bedroomwith bath; Tim said, .This is yours,“ put Jubal’s bag down and left. On theside table Jubal found water, glasses, ice cubes, and a bottle of brandy,opened but untouched. He was unsurprised to find that it was his preferredbrand. He mixed himself a quick one, sipped it and sighed, then took off hisheavy winter jacket.

　　A woman came in bearing a tray of sandwiches. She was wearing a plaindress which Jubal took to be the uniform of a hotel chambermaid since it wasquite unlike the shorts, scarves, pediskirts, halters, sarongs and other brightcoloredways to display rather than conceal that characterized most femalesin this resort. But she smiled at him, said, .Drink deep and never thirst, ourbrother,“ put the tray down, went into his bath and started a tub for him, thenchecked around by eye in bath and in bedroom. .Is there anything you need,Jubal?“.Me? Oh, no, everything is just fine. I’ll make a quick cleanup and-is BenCaxton around?“.Yes. But he said you would want a bath and get comfortable first. If you wantanything, just say so. Ask anyone. Or ask for me. I’m Patty.“.Oh! The Life of Archangel Foster.“She dimpled and suddenly was not plain but pretty, and much younger thanthe thirtyish Jubal had guessed her to be. .Yes.“.I’d like very much to see it some time. I’m interested in religious art.“.Now? No, I grok you want your bath. Unless you’d like help with yourbath?“Jubal recalled that his Japanese friend of the many tattoos had been a bathgirl in her teens and would have made-had, many times-the same offer. ButPatty was not Japanese and he simply wanted to wash away the sweat andstink and get into clothes suited to the climate. .No, thank you, Patty. But I dowant to see them, at your convenience.“.Any time. There’s no hurry.“ She left, unhurried but moving silently andvery quickly.

　　Jubal soaped and dunked himself and refrained from lounging as the warmwater invited his tired muscles to do; he wanted to see Ben and find out thescore. Shortly he was checking through what Larry had packed for him andgrunted with annoyance to find no summerweight slacks. He settled forsandals, shorts, and a bright sport shirt, which made him look like a paintsplashedemu and accented his hairy, thinning legs. But Jubal had ceasedworrying about his appearance several decades earlier; it was comfortableand it would do, at least until he needed to go out on the Street . . . or intocourt. Did the bar association here have reciprocity with Pennsylvania? Hecouldn’t recall. Well, it was always possible to act with another attorney-ofrecord.

　　He found his way into a large living room, most comfortable but having thatimpersonal quality of all hotel accommodations. Several people weregathered near the largest stereovision tank Jubal had ever seen outside atheater. One of them glanced up, said, .Hi, Jubal,“ and came toward him.

　　.Hi, Ben. What’s the situation? Is Mike still in jail?“ .Oh, no. He got out shortlyafter I talked to you.“.He’s been arraigned then. Is the preliminary hearing set?“Ben smiled. .That’s not quite the way it is, Jubal. Mike is technically a fugitivefrom justice. He wasn’t released on bail. He escaped.“Jubal looked disgusted. .What a silly thing to do. Now the case will be eighttimes as difficult.“.Jubal, I told you not to worry. All the rest of us are presumed dead-and Mikeis simply missing. We’re through with this city, so it doesn’t matter in theleast. We’ll go someplace else.“.They’ll extradite him.“.Never fear. They won’t.“.Well ... where is he? I want to talk to him.“.Oh, he’s right here, a couple of rooms down from you. But he’s withdrawn inmeditation. He left word to tell you, when you arrived, to take no action-none.

　　You can talk to him right now if you insist; Jill will call him out of it. But I don’trecommend it. There’s no hurry.“Jubal thought about it, admitted that he was damnably eager to hear fromMike himself just what the score was-and chew him out for having gotten intosuch a mess-but admitted, too, that disturbing Mike while he was in a trancewas almost certainly much worse than disturbing Jubal himself when he wasdictating a story-the boy always came out of his self-hypnosis when he had.grokked the fullness,“ whatever that was-and if he hadn’t, then he alwaysneeded to go back into it. As pointless as disturbing a hibernating bear.

　　.All right, I’ll wait. But I want to talk to him when he wakes up.“.You will. Now relax and be happy. Let the trip get out of your system.“ Benurged him toward the group around the stereo tank.

　　Anne looked up. .Hello, Boss.“ She moved over and made room. .Sitdown.“Jubal joined her. .May I ask what the devil you are doing here?“.The same thing you’re doing-nothing. Watching stereo. Jubal, please don’tget heavy-handed because we didn’t do what you told us. We belong here asmuch as you do. You shouldn’t have told us not to come. . . but you were tooupset for us to argue with you. So relax and watch what they’re saying aboutus. The sheriff has just announced that he’s going to run all us whores out oftown.“ She smiled. .I’ve never been run out of town before. It should beinteresting. Does a whore get ridden on a rail? Or will I have to walk?“.I don’t think there’s protocol in the matter. You all came?“.Yes, but don’t fret. Jed McClintock is sleeping in the house. Larry and Imade a standing arrangement with the McClintock boys for one of them to doso, more than a year ago-just in case. They know how the furnace works andwhere the switches are and things; it’s all right.“.Hmm! I’m beginning to think I’m just a boarder there.“.Were you ever anything else, Boss? You expect us to run it withoutbothering you. We do. But it’s a shame you didn’t relax and let us all traveltogether. We got here more than two hours ago-you must have had sometrouble.“.I did, A terrible trip. Anne, once I get home I don’t intend ever to set foot offthe place again in my life . . - and I’m going to yank out the telephone andtake a sledgehammer to the babble box.“.Yes, Boss.“.This time I mean it.“ He glanced at the giant babble box in front of him. .Dothose commercials go on forever? Where’s my goddaughter? Don’t tell meyou left her to the mercies of McClintock’s idiot sons!“.Oh, of course not. She’s here. She even has her own nursemaid, thankGod.“.I want to see her.“.Patty will show her to you. I’m bored with her-she was a perfect little beastall the way down. Patty dear! Jubal wants to see Abby.“The tattooed woman checked one of her unhurried dashes through the roomsofar as Jubal could see, she was the only one of the several present whowas doing any work, and she seemed to be everywhere at once. .Certainly,Jubal. I’m not busy. Down this way.

　　.I’ve got the kids in my room,“ she explained, while Jubal strove to keep upwith her, .so that Honey Bun can watch them.“Jubal was mildly startled to see, a moment later, what Patricia meant by that.

　　The boa was arranged on one of twin double beds in squared-off loops thatformed a nest-a twin nest, as one bight of the snake had been pulled acrossto bisect the square, making two crib-sized pockets, each padded with ababy blanket and each containing a baby.

　　The ophidian nursemaid raised her head inquiringly as they came in. Pattystroked it and said, .It’s all right, dear. Father Jubal wants to see them. Pether a little, and let her grok you, so that she will know you next time.“First Jubal coochey-cooed at his favorite girl friend when she gurgled at himand kicked, then petted the snake. He decided that it was the handsomestspecimen of Bojdae he had ever seen, as well as the biggest- longer, heestimated, than any other boa constrictor in captivity. Its cross bars weresharply marked and the brighter colors of the tail quite showy. He enviedPatty her blue-ribbon pet and regretted that he would not have more time inwhich to get friendly with it.

　　The snake rubbed her head against his hand like a cat. Patty picked up Abbyand said, .Just as I thought. Honey Bun, why didn’t you tell me?“- thenexplained, as she started to change diapers,“She tells me at once if one ofthem gets tangled up, or needs help, or anything, since she can’t do much forthem herself-no hands-except nudge them back if they try to crawl out andmight fall. But she just can’t seem to grok that a wet baby ought to bechanged-Honey Bun doesn’t see anything wrong about that. And neitherdoes Abby.“.I know. We call her .Old Faithful.’ Who’s the other cutie pie?“.Huh? That’s Fatima Michele, I thought you knew.“.Are they here? I thought they were in Beirut!“.Why, I believe they did come from some one of those foreign parts. I don’tknow just where. Maybe Maryam told me but it wouldn’t mean anything tome; I’ve never been anywhere. Not that it matters; I grok all places are alikejustpeople. There, do you want to hold Abigail Zenobia while I checkFatima?“Jubal did so and assured her that she was the most beautiful girl in the world,then shortly thereafter assured Fatima of the same thing. He was completelysincere each time and the girls believed him-Jubal had said the same thingon countless occasions starting in the Harding administration, had alwaysmeant it and had always been believed. It was a Higher Truth, not bound bymundane logic.

　　Regretfully he left them, after again petting Honey Bun and telling her thesame thing, and just as sincerely.

　　They left and at once ran into Fatima’s mother. .Boss honey!“ She kissed himand patted his tummy. .I see they’ve kept you fed.“.Some. I’ve just been in smooching with your daughter, She’s an angeldoll, Miriam.“.Pretty good baby, huh? We’re going to sell her down to Rio-get a fancyprice for her.“.I thought the market was better in Yemen?“.Stinky says not. Got to sell her to make room.“ She put his hand on herbelly. .Feel the bulge? Stinky and I are making a boy now-got no time fordaughters.“.Maryam,“ Patricia said chidingly, .that’s no way to talk, even in fun.“.Sorry, Patty. I won’t talk that way about your baby- Aunt Patty is a lady, andgroks that I’m not.“.I grok that you aren’t, too, you little hellion, But if Fatima is for sale, I’ll giveyou twice your best commercial offer.“.You’ll have to take it up with Aunt Patty; I’m merely allowed to see heroccasionally.“.And you don’t bulge, so you may want to keep her yourself. Let me see youreyes. Mmm ... could be.“.Is. And Mike has grokked it most carefully and tells Stinky he’s made aboy.“.How can Mike grok that? Impossible. I’m not even sure you’re pregnant-.

　　.Oh, she is, Jubal,“ Patricia confirmed.

　　Miriam looked at him serenely. .Still the skeptic, Boss. Mike grokked it whileStinky and I were still in Beirut, before we were sure we had caught. So Mikephoned us. And the next day Stinky told the university that we were taking asabbatical for field work-or his resignation, if they wished. So here we are.“.Doing what?“.Working. Working harder than you ever made me work, Boss-myhusband is a slave driver.“.Doing what?“.They’re writing a Martian dictionary,“ Patty told him.

　　.Martian to English? That must be difficult.“.Oh, no, no, no!“ Miriam looked almost shocked. .That wouldn’t be difficult,that would be impossible. A Martian dictionary in Martian. There’s never beenone before; the Martians don’t need such things. Uh, my part of it is justclerical; I type what they do. Mike and Stinky-mostly Stinky-worked out aphonetic script for Martian, eighty-one characters. So we had an I.B.M. typerworked over for those characters, using both upper and lower case-Bossdarling, I’m ruined as a secretary; I type touch system in Martian now. Willyou love me anyhow? When you shout .Front!’ and I’m not good foranything? I can still cook . . . and I’m told that I have other talents.“.I’ll learn to dictate in Martian.“.You will, before Mike and Stinky get through with you. I grok. Eh,Patty?“.You speak rightly, my brother.“They returned to the living room, Caxton joined them and suggested finding aquieter place, away from the giant babble box, led Jubal down a passage andinto another living room. .You seem to have most of this floor“.All of it,“ agreed Ben. .Four suites-the Secretarial; the Presidential, theRoyal, and Owner’s Cabin, opened into one and not accessible other than byour own landing fiat . except through a foyer that is not very healthy withOuthelp. You were warned about that?“.Yes.“.We don’t need so much room right now... but we may: people are~~ck~ng in.“.Ben, how can you hide from the cops as openiy as this? The hotel staffalone will give you away.“.Oh, there are ways- The staff doesn’t come up here. You see, Mike ownsthe hotel.“.So much the worse, I would think-.

　　.So much the better ... unless our doughty police chief has Mr. Douglas onhis payroll, which I doubt. Mike bought it through about four links ofdummies_and Douglas doesn’t snoop into why Mike wants things done.

　　Douglas doesn’t despise me quite as much since Os Kilgallen took over mycolumn, I think, but nevertheless he doesn’t want to surrender control to mehedoes what Mike wants. The hotel is a sound investment; it makesmoney_but the owner of record is one of our clandestine Ninth Circle. So theowner decides he wants this floor for the season and the manager can’t anddoesn’t and wouldn’t want to inquire into why, or how many guests of his ownthe owner has coming or going—he likes his job; Mike is paying him morethan he’s worth. It’s a pretty good hide-out, for the time being. .Till Mike grokswhere we will go next.“.Sounds like Mike had anticipated a need for a hide~out.“.Oh, I’m sure he did. Almost two weeks ago Mike cleared out the nestlings’

　　nest except for Maryam and her baby; Maryam is needed for the job she’son. Mike sent the parents with children to other cities-places he means toopen temples~ I think-and when the time came, there were just about adozen 0f us to move. No sweat.“.As it was, you barely got out with your lives, I take it.“ Jubal wondered howthey had even managed to grab clothes in view of how they probably werenot dressed. .You lost all the contents of the Nest? All your personalpossessions?“.Oh, no, not anything we really wanted. Stuff like Stinky’s language tapes anda trick typer that Maryam uses; even that horrible Madame Tussaud pictureof you. And Mike grabbed our clothes and some cash that was on hand.“Jubal objected, .You say Mike did this? But I thought Mike was in jail whenthe fire broke out.“.Uh, he was and he wasn’t. His body was in jail ... curled up in withdrawat Buthe was actually with us. You understand?“.Uh, I don’t grok.“.Rapport. He was inside Jill’s bead, mostly, but we were all pretty closely tiedin together. Jubal, I can’t explain it; you have tO do it. When the exploSiOnhit, he moved us over here. Then he went back and saved the minor stuffworth saving.“Jubal frowned. Caxton said impatiently,“Teleportation, of course. What’s sohard to grok about it, Jubal? You yourself told me to come down here andopen my eyes and know a miracle when I saw one. So I did and they were.

　　Only they aren’t miracles, any more than radio is a miracle. Do you grokradio? Or stereovsion? Or electronic computers?“.Me? No.“.Nor do I, I’ve never studied electronics. But I’m sure I could if I took the timeand the hard sweat to learn the language of e1ctronics. I don’t think it’smiraculous-just complex. Teleportation is quite simple, once you learn thelanguage-it’s the language that is so difficult.“.Ben, you can teleport things?“.Me? Oh, no, they don’t teach that in kindergarten. Oh, I’m a deacon bycourtesy, simply because I’m .First Called’ and Ninth Circle-but my actualprogress is about Fourth Circle, bucking for Fifth. Why, I’m just beginning toget control of my own body~Patty is the only one of us who uses teleportationherself with any regularity . . . and I’m not sure she ever does it withoutMike’s support. Oh, Mike says she’s quite capable of it, but Patty is such acuriously naive and humble person for the genius she is that she is quitedependent on Mike. Which she needn’t be. Jubal, I grok this: we don’tactuallY need Mike-Oh, I’m not running him down; don’t get me wrong. Butyou could have been the Man from Mars. Or even me.

　　It’s like the first man to discover fire. Fire was there all along-and after heshowed that it could be used, anybody could use it . . anybody with senseand savvy enough not to get burned with it. Follow me?“.I grok, somewhat at least.“.Mike is our Prometheus-but remember, Prometheus was not God. Mikekeeps emphasizing this. Thou art God, I am God, he is God that groks. Mikeis a man along with the rest of us . . . even though he knows more. A verysuperior man, admittedly-a lesser man, taught the things the Martians know,probably would have set himself up as a pipsqueak god. Mike is above thattemptation. Prometheus . . . but that’s all,“Jubal said slowly, .As I recall, Prometheus paid a high price for bringingfire to mankind.“.And don’t think that Mike doesn’t! He pays with twenty-four hours of workevery day, seven days a week, trying to teach a few of us how to play withmatches without getting burned. Jill and Patty lowered the boom on him,started making him take one night a week off, long before I joined up.“Caxton smiled. .But you can’t stop Mike. This burg is loaded with gamblingjoints, no doubt you know, and most of them crooked since it’s against thelaw here. Mike usually spends his night off bucking crooked games-andwinning. Picks up ten, twenty, thirty thousand dollars a night. They tried tomug him, they tried to kill him, they tried knock-out drops and muscle boysnothingworked; he simply ran up a reputation as the luckiest man in town . . .

　　which brought more people into the Temple; they wanted to see this manwho always won. So they tried to shut him out of the games-which was amistake. Their cold decks froze solid, their wheels wouldn’t spin, their dicewould roll nothing but box cars. At last they started putting up with him . . .

　　and requesting him politely to please move along after he had won a fewgrand. Mike would always do so, if asked politely.“Caxton added, .Of course that’s one more power bloc we’ve got against us.

　　Not just the Fosterites and some of the other churches-but the gamblingsyndicate and the city political machine. I rather suppose that job done on theTemple was by professionals brought in from out of town-I doubt if theFosterite goon squads touched it. Too professional.“While they talked, people came in, went out again, formed groupsthemselves or joined Jubal and Ben. Jubal found in them a most unusualfeeling, an unhurried relaxation that at the same time was a dynamic tension.

　　No one seemed excited, never in a hurry . . . yet everything they did seemedpurposeful, even gestures as apparently accidental and unpremeditated asencountering one another and marking it with a kiss or a greeting-orsometimes not. It felt to Jubal as if each move had been planned by a masterchoreographer . . . yet obviously was not.

　　The quiet and the increasing tension-or rather .expectancy,“ he decided;these people were not tense in any morbid fashion-reminded Jubal ofsomething he had known in the past. Surgery? With a master at work, nonoise, no lost motions? A little.

　　Then he recalled it. Once, many years earlier when gigantic chemicallypowered rockets were used for the earliest probing of space from the thirdplanet, he had watched a count-down in a block house . . . and he recallednow the same low voices, the same relaxed, very diverse but coordinatedactions, the same rising exultant expectancy as the count grew ever smaller.

　　They were .waiting for fullness,“ that was certain. But for what? Why werethey so happy? Their Temple and all they had built had just been destroyed .

　　. . yet they seemed like kids on the night before Christmas.

　　Jubal had noted in passing, when he arrived, that the nudity Ben had been sodisturbed by on his abortive first visit to the Nest did not seem to be thepractice in this surrogate Nest, although private enough in location. ThenJubal realized later that he had failed to notice such cases when they didappear; he had himself become so much in the unique close-family mood ofthe place that being dressed or not had become an unnoticeable irrelevancy.

　　When he did notice, it was not skin but the thickest, most beautiful cascadeof black hair he had ever seen, gracing a young woman who came in, spoketo someone, threw Ben a kiss, glanced gravely at Jubal, and left. Jubalfollowed her with his eyes, appreciating that flowing mass of midnightplumage. Only after she left did he realize that she had not been dressedother than in her queenly crowning glory . . . and then realized, too, that shewas not the first of his brothers in that fashion.

　　Ben noticed his glance. .That’s Ruth,“ he said. .New high priestess. She andher husband have been away, clear on the other coast-their mission was toprepare a branch temple, I think. I’m glad they’re back. It’s beginning to lookas if the whole family will be home at once-like an oldfashioned Christmasdinner.“.Beautiful head of hair. I wish she had tarried.“.Then why didn’t you call her over?“.Eh?“.Ruth almost certainly found an excuse to come in here just to catch aglimpse of you-I suppose they must have just arrived. But haven’t younoticed that we have been left pretty much alone, except for a few who satdown with us, didn’t say much, then left?“.Well ... yes.“ Jubal had noticed and had been a touch disappointed, as hehad been braced, by all that he had heard, to ward off undue intimacy-andhad found that he had stepped on a top step that wasn’t there. He had beentreated with hospitality and politeness, but it was more like the politeness of acat than that of an over-friendly dog.

　　.They are all terribly interested in the fact that you are here and are veryanxious to see you . . . but they are a little bit afraid of you, too.“.Me?“.Oh, I told you this last summer. You’re a venerable tradition of the church,not quite real and a bit more than life size. Mike has told them that you arethe only human being he knows of who can .grok in fullness’ without needingto learn Martian first. Most of them suspect that you can read minds asperfectly as Mike does.“.Oh, what poppycock! I hope you disabused them?“.Who am I to destroy a myth? Perhaps you do read minds-I’m sure youwouldn’t tell me. They are just a touch afraid of you-YOU eat babies forbreakfast and when you roar the ground trembles. Any of them would bedelighted to have you call them over . . . but they won’t force themselves onyou. They know that even Mike stands at attention and says .sir’ when youspeak.“Jubal dismissed the whole idea with one short, explosive word.

　　.Certainly,“ Ben agreed. .Even Mike has his blind spots-I told you he wasonly human. But that’s how it is. You’re the patron saint of this church- andyou’re stuck with it.“.Well ... there’s somebody I know, iust came in. Jill! Jill! Turn around, dear!“The woman turned rather hesitantly. .I’m Dawn. But thank you.“ She cameover, however, and Jubal thought for an instant that she was going to kisshim . . . and decided not to duck it. But she either had not that intention, orchanged her mind. She dropped to one knee, took his hand and kissed it.

　　.Father Jubal. We welcome you and drink deep of you.“Jubal snatched his hand away. .Oh, for heaven’s sake, child! Get up fromthere and sit with us. Share water.“.Yes, Father Jubal.“.Uh ... and call me Jubal-and pass the word around that I don’t appreciatebeing treated like a leper. I’m in the bosom of my family-I hope.“.You are ... Jubal.“.So I expect to be called Jubal and treated as a water brother-no more, noless. The first one who treats me with respect will be required to stay in afterschool. Grok?“.Yes, Jubal,“ she answered demurely. .I’ve told them. They will.“.Huh?“.Dawn means,“ explained Ben, .that she’s told Patty, probably~ since Mike iswithdrawn at the moment . . . and that Patty is telling everybody who canhear easily-with his inner ear-and they are passing the word to any who arestill a bit deaf, like myself.“.Yes,“ agreed Dawn, .except that I told Jill-Patty has gone outside forsomething Michael wants. Jubal, have you been watching any of what isshowing in the stereo tank? It’s very exciting.“.Eli? No.“.You mean the jail break, Dawn?“.Yes, Ben“.We hadn’t discussed that-and Jubal doesn’t like stereo. Jubal, Mike didn’tmerely crush out and come home when he felt like it; he gave them adilemma to sit on. Here he has just been arrested for everything but rapingthe Statue of Liberty, with Bigmouth Short denouncing him as the Antichriston the same day. So he gave .em miracles to chew on. He threw away everybar and door in the county jail as he left . . . did the same at the state prisonjust Out of town for good measure~and disarmed all the police forces, city,county, and state. Partly to keep .em busy and interested . . . and partlybecause Mike just purely despises locking a man up for any reason at all. Hegroks a great wrongness in it.“.That fits,“ Jubal agreed. .Mike is gentle, always. It would hurt him to haveanybody locked up. I agree.“Ben shook his head. .Mike isn’t gentle, Jubal. Killing a man wouldn’t worryhim. But he’s the ultimate anarrchist~locking a man up is a wrongness.

　　Freedom of self-and utter personal responsibility for self. Thou art God.“.Wherein lies the conflict, sir? Killing a man might be necessary. Butconfining him is an offense against his integrity-and your own.“Ben looked at him. .I grok Mike was right. You do grok in fullness- his way. Idon’t quite-I’m still learning.“ He added, .How are they taking it, Dawn?“She giggled slightly. .Like a stirred-UP hornets’ nest. The mayor has been on. . . and he’s frothing at the mouth. He’s demanded help from the state andfrom the Federation-and he’s getting it; we’ve seen lots of troop carrierslanding. But as they pour out, Mike is stripping them-not just their weapons.

　　even their shoes-and as soon as the troop carTer is empty, it goes, too.“Ben said, .I grok he’ll stay withdrawn until they get tired and give up.

　　Handling that many details he would almost have to stay in it and on eternaltime.“Dawn looked thoughtful. .No, I don’t think so, Ben. Of course I would have to,in order to handle even a tenth so much. But I grok Michael could do it ridinga bicycle while standing on his head.“.Mmm ... I wouldn’t know, I’m still making mud pies.“ Ben stood up.

　　.Sometimes you miracle workers give me a slight pain, honey child. I’m goingto go watch the tank for a while.“ He stopped to kiss her. .You entertain oldPappy Jubal; he likes little girls.“ Caxton left and a package of cigarettes hehad left on a coffee table got up, followed him, and placed themselves in oneof his pockets.

　　Jubal said, .Did you do that? Or Ben?“.Ben did. I don’t smoke, unless the man I’m with wants to smoke. But he’salways forgetting his cigarettes; they chase him all over the Nest.“.Hmmm ... pretty fair-sized mud pies he makes these days.“.Ben is advancing much more rapidly than he will ever admit. He’s a veryholy person-but he hates to admit it. He’s shy.“.Umph. Dawn, you are the Dawn Ardent I met at Foster Tabernacle abouttwo and half years ago, aren’t you?“.Oh, you remember!!“ She looked as if he had handed her a lollipop.

　　.Of course I remember. But I was slightly puzzled. You’ve changed some. Allfor the better. You seem much more beautiful.“.That’s because I am mor............