Two days passed, with no change apparent in Laro. Three days. Then four. And then it

was Sandra, not Temple Bells, who called Hilton. She was excited.

 "Come down to the office, Jarve, quick! The funniest thing's just come up!"

 Jarvis hurried. In the office Sandra, keenly interested but highly puzzled, leaned

forward over her desk with both hands pressed flat on its top. She was staring at an

Oman female who was not Sora, the one who had been her shadow for so long.

 While many of the humans could not tell the Omans apart, Hilton could. This Oman

was more assured than Sora had ever been-steadier, more mature, better

poised-almost, if such a thing could be possible in an Oman, independent.

 "How did she get in here?" Hilton demanded.

 "She insisted on seeing me. And I mean insisted. They kicked it around until it got to

Temple, and she brought her in here herself. Now, Tuly, please start all over again and

tell it to Director Hilton."

 "Director Hilton, I am it who was once named Tula, the not wife, not girl-friend, perhaps

mind-mate?-of the Larry, formerly named Laro, it which was formerly your slave Oman.

I am replacing the Sora because I can do anything it can do and do anything more

pleasingly; and can also do many things it can not do. The Larry instructed me to tell

Doctor Cummings and you too if possible, that I, formerly Tula, have changed my name

to Tuly because I am no longer a slave or a copycat or a semaphore or a relay. I, too,

am a free-wheeling, wide-swinging, hard-hitting, independent entity-monarch of all I

survey-the captain of my soul-and so on. I have developed a top-bracket lot of

top-bracket stuff originality, initiative, force, drive and thrust," the Oman said precisely.

 "That's exactly what she said before-absolutely verbatim!" Sandra's voice quivered, her

face was a study in conflicting emotions. "Have you got the foggiest idea of what in hell

she's yammering about?"

 "I hope to kiss a pig I have!" Hilton's voice was low, strainedly intense. "Not at all what I

expected, but after the fact I can tie it. So can you."

 "Oh!" Sandra's eyes widened. "A double play?"

 "At least. Maybe a triple. Tuly, why did you come to Sandy? Why not to Temple Bells?"

 "Oh, no, sir, we do not have the fit. She has the power, as have I, but the two cannot

be meshed in sync. Also, she has not the . . . a subtle something for which your English

has no word or phrasing. It is a quality of the utmost . . . anyway, it is a quality of which

the Doctor Cummings has very much. When working together, we will . . . scan? No.

Perceive? No. Sense? No, not exactly. You will have to learn our word "peyondire'-that

is the verb, the noun being 'peyondix'-and come to know its meaning by doing it. The

Larry also instructed me to explain, if you ask, how I got this way. Do you ask?"

 "I'll say we ask!" "And how we ask!" both came at once. "I am-that is, the brain in this

body is-the oldest Oman now existing. In the long-ago time when it was made, the

techniques were so crude and imperfect that sometimes a brain was constructed that

was not exactly like the Guide. All such sub-standard brains except this one were

detected and reworked, but my defects were such as not to appear until I was a couple

of thousand years old, and by that time I . . . well, this brain did not wish to be destroyed

. . , if you can understand such an aberration."

 "We understand thoroughly." "You bet we understand that!"

 "I was sure you would. Well, this brain had so many unintended cross-connections that

I developed a couple of qualities no Oman had ever had or ought to have. But I liked

them, so I hid them so nobody ever found out-that is, until much later, when I became a

Boss myself. I didn't know that anybody except me had ever had such qualities-except

the Masters, of course-until I encountered you Terrans. You all have two of those

qualities, and even more than I have--curiosity and imagination."

 Sandra and Hilton stared wordlessly at each other and Tula, now Tuly, went on:

"Having the curiosity, I kept on experimenting with my brain, trying to strengthen and

organize its ability to peyondire. All Omans can peyondire a little, but I can do it much

better than anyone else. Especially since I also have the imagination, which I have also

worked to increase. Thus I knew, long before anyone else could, that you new Masters,

the descendants of the old Masters, were returning to us. Thus I knew that the status

quo should be abandoned instantly upon your return. And thus it was that the Larry

found neither conscious nor subconscious resistance when he had developed enough

initiative and so on to break the ages-old conditioning of this brain against change."

 "I see. Wonderful!" Hilton exclaimed. "But you couldn't quite-even with his own

help-break Larry's?"

 "That is right. Its mind is tremendously strong, of no curiosity or imagination and of very

little peyondix."

 "But he wants to have it broken?" "Yes, sir."

 "How did he suggest going about it? Or how do you?" 'This way. You two, and the

Doctors Kincaid and Bells and Blake and the it that is I. We six sit and stare into the

mind of the Larry, eye to eye. We generate and assemble a tremendous charge of

thought-energy, and along my peyondix-beam-something like a carrier wave in this

case we hurl it into the Larry's mind. There is an immense mental bang and the

conditioning goes poof. Then I will inculcate into its mind the curiosity and the

imagination and the peyondix and we will really be mind-mates."

 "That sounds good to me. Let's get at it."

 "Wait a minute!" Sandra snapped. "Aren't you or Larry afraid to take such an awful

chance as that?"

 "Afraid? I grasp the concept only dimly, from your minds. And no chance. It is a

certainty."

 "But suppose we burn the poor guy's brain out? Destroy it? That's new ground-we

might do just that."

 "Oh, no. Six of us-even six of me-could not generate enough . . . sathura. The brain of

the Larry is very, very tough. Shall we . . . let's go?"

 Hilton made three calls. In the pause that followed, Sandra said, very thoughtfully:

"Peyondix and sathura, Jarve, for a start. We've got a lot to !earn here."

 "You said it, chum. And you're not just chomping your china choppers, either."

 "Tuly," Sandra said then, "what is this stuff you say I've got so much of?"

 "You have no word for it. It is lumped in with what you call "intuition,' the

knowing-without-knowing-how-you-know. It is the endovix. You will have to learn what it

is by doing it with me."

 "That helps--I don't think." Sandra grinned at Hilton. "I simply can't conceive of anything

more maddening than to have a lot of something Temple Bells hasn't got and not being

able to brag about it because nobody-not even I-would know what I was bragging

about!"

 "You poor little thing. How you suffer!" Hilton grinned back. "You know darn well you've

got a lot of stuff that none of the rest of us has".

"Oh? Name one, please."

 "Two. What-it-takes and endovix. As I've said before and may say again, you're doing

a real job, Sandy."

 "I just love having my ego inflated, boss, even if . , Come in, Larry!" A thunderous

knock had sounded on the door. "Nobody but Larry could hit a door that hard without

breaking a!! his knuckles!"

 "And he'd be the first, of course-he's always as close to the ship as he can get. Hi,

Larry, mighty glad to see you. Sit down . . . So you finally saw the light?"

 "Yes . . . Jarvis . . ."

 "Good boy! Keep it up! And as soon as the others come . . ."

 "They are almost at the door now." Tuly jumped up and opened the door. Kincaid,

Temple and Theodora walked in and, after a word of greeting, sat down.

 "They know the background, Larry. Take off."

 "It was not expressly forbidden. Tuly, who knows more of psychology and genetics

than I, convinced me of three things. One, that with your return the conditioning should

be broken. Two, that due to the shortness of your lives and the consequent rapidity of

change, you have in fact lost the ability to . break it. Three, that a!! Omans must do

anything and everything we can do to help you re-learn everything you have lost."

 "Okay. Fine, in fact. Tuly, take over."

 "We six will sit all together, packed tight, arms all around each other and all holding

hands, like this. You will a!! stare, not at me, but most deeply into Larry's eyes. Through

its eyes and deep into its mind. You will a!! think, with the utmost force and drive and

thrust, of . . . Oh, you have lost so very much! How can I direct your thought? Think that

Larry must do what the old Masters would have made him do . . . No, that is too long

and indefinite and cannot be converted directly into sathura . . . I have it! You will each

of you break a stick. A very strong but brittle stick. A large, thick stick. You will grasp it

in tremendously strong mental hands. It is tremendously strong, each stick, but each of

you is even stronger. You will not merely try to break them; you will break them. Is that

clear?"

 "That is clear."

 "At my word 'ready" you will begin to assemble a!! your mental force and power. During

my count-down of five seconds you will build up to the greatest possible potential. At my

word "break' you will break the sticks, thus discharging the accumulated force instantly

and simultaneously. Ready! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Break!"

 Something broke, with a tremendous silent crash. Such a crash that its impact almost

knocked the close-knit group apart physically. Then a new Larry spoke.

 "That did it, folks. Thanks. I'm a free agent. You want me, I take it, to join the first

team?"

 "That's right." Hilton drew a tremendously deep breath. "As of right now."

 "Tuly, too, of course . . . and Doctor Cummings, I think?" Larry looked, not at Hilton, but

at Temple Bells.

 "I think so. Yes, after this, most certainly yes," Temple said.

 "But listen!" Sandra protested. "Jarve's a lot better than I am!"

 "Not at all," Tuly said. "Not only would his contribution to Team One be negligible, but

he must stay on his own job. Otherwise the project will all fall apart."

 "Oh, I wouldn't say that . . ." Hilton began.

 "You don't need to," Kincaid said. "It's been said for you and it's true. Besides, "When

in Rome,' you know."

 "That's right. It's their game, not ours, so I'll buy it. So scat, all of you, and do your

stuff."

 And again, for days that lengthened slowly into weeks, the work went on.

 One evening the-scientific staff was giving itself a concerta tri-di hi-fi rendition of

Rigoletto, one of the greatest of the ancient operas, sung by the finest voices Terra had

ever known. The men wore tuxedos. The girls, instead of wearing the nondescript,

non-provocative garments prescribed by the Board for their general wear, were all

dressed to kill.

 Sandra had so arranged matters that she and Hilton were sitting in chairs side by side,

with Sandra on his right and the aisle on his left. Nevertheless, Temple Bells sat at his

left, cross-legged on a cushion on the floor-somewhat to the detriment of her gold-lame

evening gown. Not that she cared. When those wonderful voices swung into the

immortal Quartette Temple caught her breath, slid her cushion still closer to Hilton's

chair, and leaned shoulder and head against him. He put his left hand on her shoulder,

squeezing gently; she caught it and held it in both of hers. And at the Quartette's

tremendous climax she, scarcely trying to stifle a sob, pulled his hand down and

hugged it fiercely, the heel of his hand pressing bard against her half-bare, firm, warm

breast.

 And the next morning, early, Sandra hunted Temple up and said: "You made a horrible

spectacle of yourself last night." "Do you think so? I don't."

 "I certainly do. It was bad enough before, letting everybody else aboard know that all

he has to do is push you over. But it was an awful blunder to let him know it, the way

you did last night."

 "You think so? He's one of the keenest, most intelligent men who ever lived. He has

known that from the very first." "Oh." This "oh" was a very caustic one. "That's the way

you're trying to land him? By getting yourself pregnant?"

 "Uh-uh." Temple stretched; lazily, luxuriously. "Not only it isn't, but it wouldn't work.

He's unusually decent and extremely idealistic, the same as I am. So just one intimacy

would blow everything higher than up. He knows it. I know it. We each know that the

other knows it. So I'll still be a virgin when we're married."

 "Married! Does he know anything about that?"

 "I suppose so. He must have thought of it. But what difference does it make whether

he has, yet or not? But to get back to what makes him tick the way he does. In his

geometry which is far from being simple Euclid, my dear-a geodesic right line is not only

the shortest distance between any two given points, but is the only possible course. So

that's the way I'm playing it. What I hope he doesn't know . . . but he probably does . . .

is that he could take any other woman he might want, just as easily. And that includes

you, my pet."

 "It certainly does not!" Sandra flared. "I wouldn't have him as a gift!"

 "No?" Temple's tone was more than slightly skeptical. "Fortunately, however, he

doesn't want you. Your technique is all wrong. Coyness and mock-modesty and

stop-or-I'll scream and playing hard to get have no appeal whatever to his psychology.

What he needs-has to have-is full, ungrudging cooperation."

 "Aren't you taking a lot of risk in giving away such secrets?"

 "Not a bit. Try it. You or the sex-flaunting twins or Bev Bell or Stella the Henna. Any of

you or all of you. I got there first with the most, and I'm not worried about competition."

 "But suppose somebody tells him just how you're playing him for a sucker?"

 "Tell him anything you please. He's the first man I ever loved, or anywhere near. And

I'm keeping him. You know or do you, I wonder?-what real, old-fashioned, honest-to--

God love really is? The willingness-eagerness-both to give and to take? I can accept

more from him, and give him more in return, than any other woman living. And I am

going to." "But does he love you?" Sandra demanded.

 "If he doesn't now, he will. I'll see to it that he does. But what do you want him for? You

don't love him. You never did and you never will."

 "I don't want him!" Sandra stamped a foot.

 "I see. You just don't want me to have him. Okay, do your damnedest. But I've got work

to do. This has been a lovely little cat-clawing, hasn't it? Let's have another one some

day, and bring your friends."

 With a casual wave of her hand, Temple strolled away; and there flashed through

Sandra's mind what Hilton had said so long ago, little more than a week out from Earth:

" . . . and Temple Bells, of course," he had said. "Don't fool yourself, chick. She's heavy

artillery; and I mean heavy, believe me!"

 So he had known all about Temple Bells all this time!

 Nevertheless, she took the first opportunity to get Hilton alone; and, even before the

first word, she forgot all about geodesic right lines and the full-cooperation

psychological approach.

 "Aren't you the guy," she demanded, "who was laughing his head off at the idea that

the Board and its propinquity could have any effect on him?"

 "Probably. More or less. What of it?"

 "This of it. You've fallen like a . . . a freshman for that . . . that . . . they should have

christened her 'Brazen' Bells!"

 "You're so right." "I am? On what?"

 "The 'Brazen.' I told you she was a potent force-a full-scale powerhouse, in sync and

on the line. And I wasn't wrong." "She's a damned female Ph.D.-two or three times-and

she knows all about slipsticks and isotopes and she very definitely is not a cuddly little

brunette. Remember?"

 "Sure. But what makes you think I'm in love with Temple Bells?"

 "What?" Sandra tried to think of one bit of evidence, but could not. "Why . . . why . . ."

She floundered, then came up with: "Why, everybody knows it. She says so herself."

 "Did you ever hear her say it?"

"Well, perhaps not in so many words. But she told me herself that you were going to be,

and I know you are now." "Your esper sense of endovix, no doubt." Hilton laughed and

Sandra went on, furiously:

"She wouldn't keep on acting the way she does if there weren't something to it!"

 "What brilliant reasoning! Try again, Sandy." "That's sheer sophistry, and you know it!"

 "It isn't and I don't. And even if, some day, I should find myself in love with her-or with

one or both of the twins or Stella or Beverly or you or Sylvia, for that matter-what would

it prove? Just that I was wrong; and I admit freely that I was wrong in scoffing at

propinquity. Wonderful stuff, that. You can see it working, all over the ship. On me,

even, in spite of my bragging. Without it I'd never have known that you're a better,

smarter operator than Eggy Eggleston ever was or ever can be."

 Partially mollified despite herself, and highly resentful of the fact, Sandra tried again.

"But don't you see, Jarve, that she's just simply playing you for a sucker? Pulling the

strings and watching you dance?"

 Since he was sure, in his own mind, that she was speaking the exact truth, it took

everything he had to keep from showing any sign of how much that truth had hurt.

However, he made the grade.

 "If that thought does anything for you, Sandy," he said, steadily, "keep right on thinking

it. Thank God, the field of thought is still free and open."

 "Oh, you . . ." Sandra gave up.

 She had shot her heaviest bolts-the last one, particularly, was so vicious that she had

actually been afraid of what its consequences might be-and they had not even dented

Hilton's armor. She hadn't even found out that he had any feeling whatever for Temple

Bells except as a component of his smoothly functioning scientific machine.

 Nor did she learn any more as time went on. Temple continued to play flawlessly the

part of being-if not exactly hopefully, at least not entirely hopelessly-in love with Jarvis

Hilton. Her conduct, which at first caused some surprise, many conversations-one of

which has been reported verbatim-and no little speculation, became comparatively

unimportant as soon as it became evident that nothing would come of it. She apparently

expected nothing. He was evidently not going to play footsie with, or show any

favoritism whatever toward, any woman aboard the ship.

 Thus, it was not surprising to anyone that, at an evening show, Temple sat beside

Hilton, as close to him as she could get and as far away as possible from everyone

else.

 "You can talk, can't you, Jarvis, without moving your lips and without anyone else

hearing you?"

 "Of course," he replied, hiding his surprise. This was something completely new and

completely unexpected, even from unpredictable Temple Bells.

 "I want to apologize, to explain and to do anything I can to straighten out the mess I've

made. It's true that I joined the project because I've loved you for years."

"You have nothing to . . .

 "Let me finish while I still have the courage." Only a slight tremor in her almost

inaudible voice and the rigidity of the fists clenched in her lap betrayed the intensity of

her emotion. "I thought I could handle it. Damned fool that I was, I thought I could

handle anything. I was sure I could handle myself, under any possible conditions. I was

going to put just enough into the act to keep any of these other harpies from getting her

hooks into you. But everything got away from me. Out here working with you every

day-knowing better every day what you are-well, that Rigoletto episode sunk me, and

now I'm in a thousand feet over my head. I hug my pillow at night, dreaming it's you,

and the fact that you don't and can't love me is driving me mad. I can't stand it any

longer. There's only one thing to do. Fire me first thing in the morning and send me

back to Earth in a torp. You've plenty of grounds ... "

"Shut-up."

 For seconds Hilton had been trying to break into her hopeless monotone; finally he

succeeded. "The trouble with you is, you know altogether too damned much that isn't

so." He was barely able to keep his voice down and his eyes front. "What do you think

I'm made of-superefract? I thought the whole performance was an act, to prove you're a

better man than I am. You talk about dreams. Good God! You don't even know what

dreams are! If you say one more word about quitting, I'll show you whether I love you or

not-I'll squeeze you so hard it'll flatten you out flat!"

 "Two can play at that game, sweetheart." Her nostrils flared slightly; her fists

clenched-if possible-a fraction tighter; and, even in the distorted medium they were

using for speech, she could not subdue completely her quick change into soaring, lilting

buoyancy. "While you're doing that I'll see how strong your ribs are. Oh, how this

changes things! I've never been half as happy in my whole life as I am right now!"

"Maybe we can work it-if I can handle my end."

 "Why, of course you can! And happy dreams are nice, not horrible."

 "We'll make it, darling. Here's an imaginary kiss coming at you. Got it?"

 "Received in good order, thank you. Consumed with gusto and returned in kind."

 The show ended and the two strolled out of the room. She walked no closer to him

than usual, and no farther away from him. She did not touch him any oftener than she

usually did, nor any whit more affectionately or possessively.

 And no watching eyes, not even the more than half hostile eyes of Sandra Cummings

or the sharply analytical eyes of Stella Wing, could detect any difference whatever in

the relationship between worshipful adulteress and tolerantly understanding idol.

 The work, which had never moved at any very fast pace, went more and more slowly.

Three weeks crawled past.

 Most of the crews and all of the teams except the First were working on side

issues-tasks which, while important in and of themselves, had very little to do with the

project's main problem. Hilton, even without Sandra's help, was all caught up. All the

reports had been analyzed, correlated, crossindexed and filed-except those of the First

Team. Since he could not understand anything much beyond midpoint of the first tape,

they were all reposing in a box labeled PENDING.

 The Navy had torn fifteen of the Oman warships practically to pieces, installing Terran

detectors and trying to learn how to operate Oman machinery and armament. In the

former they had succeeded very well; in the latter not at all.

 Fifteen Oman ships were now out in deep space, patrolling the void in strict Navy style.

Each was manned by two or three Navy men and several hundred Omans, each of

whom was reveling in delight at being able to do a job for a Master, even though that

Master was not present in person.

 Several Strett skeleton-ships had been detected at long range, but the detections were

inconclusive. The things had not changed course, or indicated in any other way that

they had seen or detected the Oman vessels on patrol. If their detectors were no better

than the Omans,' they certainly hadn't. That idea, however, could not be assumed to be

a fact, and the detections had been becoming more and more frequent. Yesterday a

squadron of seven-the first time that anything except singles had appeared-had come

much closer than any of the singles had ever done. Like all the others, however, these

passers-by had not paid any detectable attention to anything Oman; hence it could be

inferred that the skeletons posed no threat.

 But Sawtelle was making no such inferences. He was very firmly of the opinion that the

Stretts were preparing for a massive attack.

 Hilton had assured Sawtelle that no such attack could succeed, and Larry had told

Sawtelle why. Nevertheless, to keep the captain pacified, Hilton had given him

permission to convert as many Oman ships as he liked; to man them with as many

Omans as he liked; and to use ships and Omans as he liked.

 Hilton was not worried about the Stretts or the Navy. It was the First Team. It was the

bottleneck that was slowing everything down to a crawl . . . but they knew that. They

knew it better than anyone else could, and felt it more keenly. Especially Karns, the

team chief. He had been driving himself like a dog, and showed it.

 Hilton had talked with him a few times-tried gently to make him take it easy-no soap.

He'd have to hunt him up, the next day or so, and slug it out with him. He could do a lot

better job on that if he had something to offer . . . something really constructive . . .

 That was a laugh. A very unfunny laugh. What could he, Jarvis Hilton, a specifically

non-specialist director, do on such a job as that?

 Nevertheless, as director, he would have to do something to help Team One. If he

couldn't do anything himself, it was up to him to juggle things around so that someone

else could.