ed to land without a sound
and edged toward his stool. Through the dilating iris of the door strode
Phineas T. Gryce, flanked by Rose Thinker and Tin Philosopher.

The man approached the conference table in the center of the room with
measured pace and gravely expressionless face. The rose-tinted machine
on his left did a couple of impulsive pirouettes on the way and
twittered a greeting to Meg and Roger. The other machine quietly took
the third of the high seats and lifted a claw at Meg, who now occupied a
stool twice the height of Roger's.

"Miss Winterly, please--our theme."

The Blonde Icicle's face thawed into a little-girl smile as she chanted
bubblingly:

"_Made up of tiny wheaten motes
And reinforced with sturdy oats,
It rises through the air and floats--
The bread on which all Terra dotes!_"

* * * * *

"Thank you, Miss Winterly," said Tin Philosopher. "Though a purely
figurative statement, that bit about rising through the air always gets
me--here." He rapped his midsection, which gave off a high musical
_clang_.

"Ladies--" he inclined his photocells toward Rose Thinker and Meg--"and
gentlemen. This is a historic occasion in Old Puffy's long history, the
inauguration of the helium-filled loaf ('So Light It Almost Floats
Away!') in which that inert and heaven-aspiring gas replaces
old-fashioned carbon dioxide. Later, there will be kudos for Rose
Thinker, whose bright relays genius-sparked the idea, and also for Roger
Snedden, who took care of the details.

"By the by, Racehorse, that was a brilliant piece of work getting the
helium out of the government--they've been pretty stuffy lately about
their monopoly. But first I want to throw wide the casement in your
minds that opens on the Long View of Things."

Rose Thinker spun twice on her chair and opened her photocells wide. Tin
Philosopher coughed to limber up the diaphragm of his speaker and
continued:

"Ever since the first cave wife boasted to her next-den neighbor about
the superior paleness and fluffiness of her tortillas, mankind has
sought lighter, whiter bread. Indeed, thinkers wiser than myself have
equated the whole upward course of culture with this poignant quest.
Yeast was a wonderful discovery--for its primitive day. Sifting the bran
and wheat germ from the flour was an even more important advance. Early
bleaching and preserving chemicals played their humble parts.

"For a while, barb