e
raises them?"

"Amazing!" Sethos drank deeply of the fiery liquor. Now the drifting
plumes of smoke from the chalices performed fantasies with his vision,
and his body felt light again, as it had so often in the evenings of the
past few years.

"Of course I was flattered, having a visit from the _most_ prime
mechanoid. He could have called me, but they are somewhat conscious of
being mechanical as it is, and try to be cordial as possible."

Sethos leaned forward eagerly. "Did he say anything about--their
activities?"

"Well, that's not too interesting to me, because it's always just one
change after another outside. He did say there is a new earth-bridge
between the continents. Doesn't it seem incredible that they should want
to go to all that trouble? But then, that's a mechanoid for you. Always
making things bigger. That's why I enjoy seeing Mr. First take up
flowers. Maybe he sees things our way himself."

"I don't suppose you've ever been out there, have you?"

"Out there? You mean, where the mechanoids live? Why, now that you
mention it, I believe I was, once. But a long time ago--I must have been
still living with my elders. It's not very enjoyable. Too big to call
home, after all." With a short laugh, Paton emptied his glass again.

Sethos frowned. The idea that the world was so large fascinated him. As
his contemporaries and their ancestors for unknown generations, Sethos
had passed from dreamy childhood directly into the dream of adult life.
He could barely recall the days of education, when drugged smoke and
liquor were withheld, and life consisted of a different fairy world. How
he had loved the gay mechanoid nurses, with their tinkling arms and
bright colors! But of their world, the vast reaches of the planet
outside the tiny circle of men, he knew very little. One fact was plain
to him: it was unthinkably huge.

Sudden music poured from the house, gay and fast.

"Ha! The dancers!" exclaimed Paton, seeing the rows of gyrating figures
beyond a pink translucent wall. "You must excuse me. I promised Matya I
would watch her dance tonight."

Paton hurried away, leaving Sethos to wander along the dimly lighted
terrace. The party had lightened his senses as expected, yet his
thoughts were heavy. He remembered the library, and the strange legends
in the books. Legends of ancient cities of men, over all the earth, and
of the prehistoric machines used by men to travel great distances. And
always in the