to be about seventeen, but the
thought that they're older than the hills of Rome and powered by
everlasting atomic engines--" He broke off suddenly and blushed. "Excuse
me, please, girls. I _know_ better than to talk about people that way,
right in front of them; I really do."

"Do you really think we're _people_?" Innocent and Dark Lady squealed,
as one.

That set Hilton back onto his heels. "I don't know.... I've wondered.
Are you?"

Both girls, silent, looked at Larry.

"We don't know, either," Larry said. "At first, of course, there were
crude, non-thinking machines. But when the Guide attained its present
status, the Masters themselves could not agree. They divided about half
and half on the point. They never did settle it any closer than that."

"I certainly won't try to, then. But for my money, you are people,"
Hilton said, and Karns agreed.

That, of course, touched off a near-riot of joy; after which the two men
made an inch-by-inch study of their tremendous living-room. Then, long
after bedtime, Larry and Dark Lady escorted Hilton to his bedroom.

"Do you mind, sir, if we sleep on the floor at the sides of your bed?"
Larry asked. "Or must we go out into the hall?"

"Sleep? I didn't know you _could_ sleep."

"It is not essential. However, when round-the-clock work is not
necessary, and we have opportunity to sleep near a human being, we
derive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from it. You see, sir,
we also serve during sleep."

"Okay, I'll try anything once. Sleep wherever you please."

Hilton began to peel, but before he had his shirt off both Larry and
Dark Lady were stretched out flat, sound asleep, one almost under each
edge of his bed. He slid in between the sheets--it was the most
comfortable bed he had ever slept in--and went to sleep as though
sandbagged.

He had time to wonder foggily whether the Omans were in fact helping him
go to sleep--and then he _was_ asleep.

* * * * *

A month passed. Eight couples had married, the Navy chaplain
officiating--in the _Perseus_, of course, since the warship was, always
and everywhere, an integral part of Terra.

Sandra had dropped in one evening to see Hilton about a bit of business.
She was now sitting, long dancer's legs out-stretched toward the fire,
with a cigarette in her left hand and a tall, cold drink on a coaster at
her right.

"This is a wonderful room, Jarvis. It'd be perfect if it weren't qui