hy?_ We were _meant_ to, that's why. Because we've already _done_ it,
or someone has. But _we're_ still here, left behind. We've got to catch
up!"

"How silly." She returned to her chemicals.

Sethos felt a burning rage seize him. This woman he had loved--she was
only a shell, a stick of wood, with no ideas of her own--no curiosity.
Nothing! And she didn't have the faintest notion what he was talking
about. She didn't _care_!

Furious, he grasped a heavy bronze ash tray and hurled it, hard as he
could, into the mass of shining crystal that filled the room. With an
explosive rainbow of color and a reverberating crash, it collapsed under
the heavy blow into a million tiny fragments.

He stood, glaring at the scattered shards, waiting for Ela to leap at
him, screaming and clawing him for the ruin he had made of her
masterpiece.

But she only smiled weakly, and shrugged.

"Dear, that was very irrational. I think you had better request therapy
one of these days. Now I shall have to start all over again. But don't
fret, sweet. I had a much better idea anyway. I can get sensational
results using fluorides."

She wouldn't fight him--she couldn't think of such an act, raised in a
world where coercion and violence did not exist. She didn't care about
_anything_!

Calm now, he knew what to do. Striding swiftly from the house, he went
straight to the vehicle space. He got into an autocar and slammed the
door.

"Direction, please."

"Contact Dispatching. Ask for permission to go directly to first level
primary. Tell them it's Sethos."

Pause. "Permission granted."

* * * * *

"Come in, Sethos. What can I do for you?"

Sethos looked around the room anxiously.

"I want to make a request, Mr. First, if it isn't too late."

"Too late?"

"I would like to see Hol before he leaves. Is he still here?"

"Perhaps I can arrange it. His time is budgeted, you understand."

"I _must_ see him."

Mr. First was silent for a moment, and Sethos realized he was contacting
someone. Then, he announced, "Yes, he's willing to see you. Go through
this door. His compartment is the second down the corridor."

Sethos thanked him and hurried out. Finding the door, he hesitated an
instant, then went in.

"Good morning," said Hol.

There was a second man standing beside him, dressed in the same manner
and of the same stature as Hol.

"I had to see you," Sethos began hastily, not expecting to encounte