eat of her sandals on the pavement.

The lights of Matya's hillhouse gleamed before them, enticing all who
wandered through West Park this evening. The party had started, as
parties always did, at that unknown instant shortly before the first
guest's arrival. It was thriving now, for the colors behind the
contoured glass facade throbbed as though underwater, and people sat
along the terraced hillside, talking and inhaling the elegant smoke from
smoldering chalices that stood around the entrance.

They climbed the flagstone path toward the low, pale yellow building.
Luxuriant plants grew thick along the walls, creating a jungle that
extended even to the inner rooms of the house.

"Sethos, my friend!" said an unsteady voice.

The old man was seated in shadow by the house, a glass of sparkling
liquor on the arm of his chair. Against the green background of giant
plants, his frail, pink face resembled a huge bud that would open when
daylight came.

"How are you, Paton?" Sethos asked warmly. "I remember you from
somewhere in East. It must be years.... Weren't you gardening with Ana?
Of course--developing a perfect Lyocanthia. What a welcome sight you are
among these woodcutters!"

"You're a fellow greensman now, they say," beamed Paton happily, seizing
his glass and leaning forward. "Such an honor to us. You work with
succulents--right?"

Sethos smiled. He watched Ela disappear into the interior of the
sprawling hillhouse, heard her distant laugh become part of the
machinery of voices. People drifted to and fro across the broad lawns.

"Yes," answered Sethos, drawing up a chair. "Succulents are my latest
joy. One must specialize. I like to work with growing things, yet I'd
feel like a mechanoid if I got involved in crystal sculpture, like my
charming Ela there."

"Perhaps--but who else gets such _color_, starts so many new directions
as she? My flowers blush before her crystals." Paton's glass was empty,
and with an automatic gesture, Sethos refilled it from a tall flask
standing nearby, and poured one for himself.

"Speaking of mechanoids," Paton continued genially, "I had a most
stimulating conversation with Mr. First himself a few days ago. He came
to see me."

Sethos blinked. That was unusual--mechanoids seldom mingled with humans,
especially those of the primary levels.

"He's very intelligent about flowers," Paton went on, waving his glass
in animation. "We talked about common hedge roses. Did you know h