nd of stuff."

"Shortly before they left, two of the Masters did some work on that very
thing. Tuly and I converted them, sir."

"Fine--or is it? How did it work out?"

"Perfectly, sir ... except that they destroyed themselves. It was
thought that they wearied of existence."

"I don't wonder. Well, if it comes to that, I can do the same. You _can_
convert me, then."

"Yes, sir. But before we do it we must do enough preliminary work to be
sure that you will not be harmed in any way. Also, there will be many
more changes involved than simple substitution."

"Of course. I realize that. Just see what you can do, please, and let me
know."

"We will, sir, and thank you very much."

IX

As has been intimated, no Terran can know what researches Larry and Tuly
and the other Oman specialists performed, or how they arrived at the
conclusions they reached. However, in less than a week Larry reported to
Hilton.

"It can be done, sir, with complete safety. And you will live even more
comfortably than you do now."

"How long?"

"The mean will be about five thousand Oman years--you don't know that an
Oman year is equal to one point two nine three plus Terran years?"

"I didn't, no. Thanks."

"The maximum, a little less than six thousand. The minimum, a little
over four thousand. I'm very sorry we had no data upon which to base a
closer estimate."

"Close enough." He stared at the Oman. "You could also convert my wife?"

"Of course, sir."

"Well, we might be able to stand it, after we got used to the idea.
Minimum, over five thousand Terran years ... barring accidents, of
course?"

"No, sir. No accidents. Nothing will be able to kill you, except by
total destruction of the brain. And even then, sir, there will be the
pattern."

"I'll ... be ... damned...." Hilton gulped twice. "Okay, go ahead."

"Your skins will be like ours, energy-absorbers. Your 'blood' will carry
charges of energy instead of oxygen. Thus, you may breathe or not, as
you please. Unless you wish otherwise, we will continue the breathing
function. It would scarcely be worth while to alter the automatic
mechanisms that now control it. And you will wish at times to speak. You
will still enjoy eating and drinking, although everything ingested will
be eliminated, as at present, as waste."

"We'd add uranexite to our food, I suppose. Or drink radioactives, or
sleep under cobalt-60 lamps."

"Yes, sir. Your family life will be normal; you