o I cannot be. I am not sure that I am fit to be what Larry
thinks of as a "human being." He says I must learn to be "my own
master." I am not at all sure I could do this, if it were necessary,
but fortunately, this is one of Larry's areas of semantic confusion.
The feminine of _master_ is _mistress_, which has various meanings.

Also, there is the distinct possibility, from what Larry says, that we
will not, _either_ of us, be allowed even as much liberty as we have
here.

There is also the matter of gratitude. _They_ brought me up, took care
of me, taught me, loved me, gave me a way of life, and a knowledge of
myself, infinitely richer than I could ever have had on Earth. Perhaps
they even saved my life, healing me when I was quite possibly beyond
the power of Earthly medical science to save. But against all this--

_They_ caused the damage to start with. It was _their_ force-field
that wrecked the car and killed my parents. _They_ have paid for it;
_they_ are paying for it yet. _They_ will continue to pay, for more
years than make sense in terms of a human lifetime. _They_ will
continue to wander from planet to planet and system to system, because
_they_ have broken _their_ own law, and now may never go home.

But _I_ can.

I am a woman, and Larry is a man. We will go home and have our baby.
And perhaps the baby will be the means of our freedom, some day. If we
cannot speak to save ourselves, he may some day be able to speak for
us.

I do not think the blocks they set in us will penetrate my womb as my
own thoughts, I hope, already have.

* * * * *

_Author's note: Before writing this story--as a story--I talked with
Johnny's parents. I approached them cautiously. His mother is a big
woman, and a brunette. His father is a friendly fat redhead. I already
knew that neither of them reads science-fiction. The word is not
likely to be mentioned in their household._

_They moved to town about three years ago. Nobody here knew them
before that, but there are rumors that Johnny is adopted. They did not
volunteer any confirmation of that information when I talked to them,
and they did not pick up on any of the leads I offered about his
recitation._

_Johnny himself is small and fair-haired. He takes after his paternal
grandmother, his mother says...._

* * * * *

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Exile from Space, by Judith Merril