obile, and worst of all, he knew that above
his head for six miles lay the great Grismet Ocean, with the blue mud
slowly settling down encasing the cement in a stony stratum that would
last till the planet broke apart.

The cab driver gasped: "What the hell." His throat was so dry he could
scarcely talk. He turned around to his fare, and the passenger, a young
man, was pale and trembling.

"You seeing things, too?" the driver asked.

"I sure am," the fare said unsteadily. "What a thing to do."

* * * * *

For fifteen minutes, over the northwest quadrant of Earth, the words and
the pictures went out, and thirteen billion people knew suddenly what
lay in the hearts and minds of nineteen robots.

* * * * *

A housewife in San Rafael was at the moment in a butcher shop buying
meat for her family. As the thoughts and images started pouring into her
mind, she remained stock-still, her package of meat forgotten on the
counter. The butcher, wiping his bloodied hands on his apron froze in
that position, an expression of horror and incredulity on his face.

When the thoughts stopped coming in, the butcher was the first to come
out of the trancelike state.

"Boy," he said, "that's sure some way of sending messages. Sure beats
the teledepths."

The housewife snatched her meat off the counter. "Is that all you think
of," she demanded angrily.

"That's a terrible thing that those barbarians on Grismet are doing to
those ... those people. Why didn't they tell us that they were human."
She stalked out of the shop, not certain what she would do, but
determined to do something.

* * * * *

In the ship Hall reluctantly broke off the connection and replaced the
trap door. Then he went back to his cell and locked himself in. He had
accomplished his mission; its results now lay in the opinions of men.

* * * * *

Jordan left the ship immediately on landing, and took a copter over to
the agency building. His conversation with his superior was something he
wanted to get over with as soon as possible.

The young woman at the secretary's desk looked at him coldly and led him
directly into the inner office. The chief was standing up in front of
the map of the galaxy, his hands in his pockets, his eyes an icy blue.

"I've been hearing about you," he said without a greeting.

Jordan sat down. He was tense