.
They're taking me on as infantryman."

"Infantryman?" Freddy winced, and closed his eyes. "Listen, boy,
where'd you get the idea that--" He started over again. "But all your
life I've given you the inside on the Category Military, Sam. All your
life. No trank in our home. No watching the Telly day in and out.
You've gone to _school_. More than I ever did. You were going to be a
Temple priest--"

Sam sat down too, vaguely surprised at this father's reaction. "Aw,
Papa, everybody's a fracas buff now. Everybody. You can't get away
from it. I ... well, I want to be like Major Mauser. Get so all the
fans know me, want my autograph, all that. And all the excitement of
being in a fracas, getting in the dill, and all. I just want to be
like the other fellas, Papa."

Freddy could only stare at him.

Sam tried to explain. "Shucks, it was really you that made me want to
become a mercenary. You're the best Telly reporter of them all. When
_you_ cover a fracas, Papa, you really do it. You can see
_everything_." He shook his head in admiration. "Gosh, you really feel
the emotion. It's the most exciting thing in the world."

"Yeah, son," Freddy Soligen said emptily. "I suppose it is."

XIII

Joe was able to get around on auto-crutches by the time she finally
arrived--a stereotype visitor. Done up brightly, a box of candy in one
hand, flowers in the other. He could see her coming across the lawn,
from the visitor's offices. He wished that he had worn his other suit.
His clothing was on the skimpy side when uniforms were subtracted.

She came up to him. "Well, Joe."

He looked at the flowers and attempted a grin. "Lilies would have been
more appropriate, considering the shape I'm in."

Nadine said, "I've just been talking to the staff doctors. You're not
in as bad shape as all that. Some bone mending, is all."

The grin turned wry. "I wasn't just thinking of the physical shape."
He settled to the stone bench which stood to one side of the walk he
had been exercising upon before her arrival. For a moment, she
remained standing.

He looked up at her. "Well," he said. "I didn't break your condition,"
he said. "Am I still receivable?"

She frowned.

Joe said, bitterly, "You told me that you were going to take the
fracas in and if my actions resulted in any casualties, you never
wanted to see me again."

She took the place beside him. "I did watch. For a time, the rest of
the battle going on below was ignored and you