d, "is what I call _healthy_ thinking."

For a while he did stand around the Central Plaza along with thousands
of other idlers, watching the robot dump trucks assemble the piles of
discarded equipment. The crowd cheered loudly as an enormous crane was
knocked over on its side.

"There's fifty millions worth out there!" a bystander exulted. "It's
going to be the biggest Preliminary I've ever seen."

"It certainly will be!" he said, catching a little of the other man's
enthusiasm despite his previous doubts.

Preliminary Rites were part of the emotion-stoking that preceded the
Highest Holy Day. Each Rite was greater and more destructive than
those that had gone before. As tokens of happy loyalty, viewers threw
hats and watches and stickpins onto the pile just prior to the entry
of the slaggers. What better way could be found for each man to
manifest his common humanity?

After a while doubt started assailing him again, and Hart found
himself returning almost against his will to the Library Building.
Burnett greeted him cordially. "To-day's visit is completely legal,"
he said. "Anyone doing olden time research is automatically authorized
if he has been here before."

"I hope my thought can be as legal," Hart blurted out. "Well--that was
just a joke."

"Oh, I can recognize a joke when I hear one, my friend."

Hart went to his booth, feeling the man's eyes measuring him more
intently than ever. It was almost a welcome relief to start reading
the reference scanner once more.

But not for long. As the wider pattern unfolded, his anxiety state
intensified.

It was becoming perfectly obvious that many, many replacements used to
be made long before they were needed. And it was still true. _I should
not be thinking such thoughts_, he told himself, _I should be outside
in the Plaza, being normal and human_.

But he could see how it had come about, step by step. First there had
been pressure from the ruling echelons, many of whose members only
maintained their status through excessive production. Then, much more
important, there had been the willful blindness of the masses who
wanted to keep their cozy, familiar treadmills going.

He slammed down the _off_ button and went out to the librarian's desk.
"Do people want to work all the time," he said, "for the sake of work
alone?"

He immediately regretted the question. But Burnett did not seem to
mind. "You've only stated the positive reason, Mr. Hart. The negative
o