s as usual.

Temple scarcely blushed at all, she was so engrossed in trying to find
out whether or not anyone was noticing any change. No one seemed to
notice anything out of the ordinary. So, finally, she asked.

"Don't _any_ of you, really, see anything different?"

The six others all howled at that, and Sandra, between giggles and
snorts, said: "No, precious, it doesn't show a bit. Did you really think
it would?"

Temple blushed furiously and Hilton came instantly to his bride's
rescue. "Chip-chop the comedy, gang. She and I aren't human any more.
We're a good jump toward being Omans. I couldn't make her believe it
doesn't show."

That stopped the levity, cold, but none of the six could really believe
it. However, after Hilton had coiled a twenty-penny spike into a perfect
helix between his fingers, and especially after he and Temple had each
chewed up and swallowed a piece of uranexite, there were no grounds left
for doubt.

"That settles it ... it _tears_ it," Karns said then. "Start all over
again, Jarve. We'll listen, this time."

Hilton told the long story again, and added: "I had to re-work a couple
of cells of Temple's brain, but now she can read and understand the
records as well as I can. So I thought I'd take her place on Team One
and let her boss the job on all the other teams. Okay?"

"So you don't want to let the rest of us in on it." Karns's level stare
was a far cry from the way he had looked at his chief a moment before.
"If there's any one thing in the universe I never had _you_ figured for,
it's a dog in the manger."

"Huh? You mean you actually _want_ to be a ... a ... hell, we don't even
know _what_ we are!"

"I do want it, Jarvis. We all do." This was, of all people, Teddy! "No
one in all history has had more than about fifty years of really
productive thinking. And just the idea of having enough time ..."

"Hold it, Teddy. Use your brain. The Masters couldn't take it--they
committed suicide. How do you figure we can do any better?"

"Because we'll _use_ our brains!" she snapped. "They didn't. The Omans
will serve us; and that's _all_ they'll do."

"And do you think you'll be able to raise your children and
grandchildren and so on to do the same? To have guts enough to resist
the pull of such an ungodly habit-forming drug as this Oman service is?"

* * * * *

"I'm sure of it." She nodded positively. "And we'll run all applicants
through a fine eno