own them for years. Rhoda clung to his arm, and the languorous glances
from under her long lashes set the blood racing madly in his veins.

* * * * *

In the levels of the mechanicals they romped boisterously. To them the
strange robots--creatures of steel and glass and copper--were objects of
ridicule. Poor, senseless mechanisms that performed the tasks that made
the wearers of the purple independent of labor. Here they saw the
preparation of their synthetic food, untouched by human hands. In one
chamber a group of mechanicals, soulless and brainless, engaged in the
delicate chemical compounding of raw materials that went into the making
of their clothing. Here was a nursery, where tiny tots born to the
purple were reared to adolescence by unfeeling but efficient mechanical
nurses. The mothers of the purple could not be bothered with their
offspring until they had reached the age of reason. The whirring
machinery of a huge power plant provided much amusement for the feminine
members of the party. It was all so massive; throbbing with energy. But
dirty! Ugh! Lucky the attendants could be mechanicals.

"We have visited the lower levels," whispered Rhoda in his ear, "but not
often. It isn't pleasant. Ignorant fools in the gray denim--too many of
them. I don't know why we permit their existence. Fools who will not
learn. Education made us as we are, and they won't take it. Sullen
looks and evil leers are all that they have for us. Hope nobody suggests
going down there now."

"Me, too," said Peter. He had forgotten that once he was Karl Krassin, a
wearer of the despised gray.

Someone in the party was becoming restless. They must move on.

"Where to?" asked Peter.

"Sans Dolor, sweet boy. A pleasure city within a hundred kilometers of
Dorn. You'll love it, Peter."

A pleasure city! Fondest dream of the wearers of the gray! In the dim
past, when he was Karl, he had dreamed it often. Now he was to visit
one!

* * * * *

They were atop the city now and the crystal palace of the Zar shimmered
in the sunlight off there across the flat upper surface of Dorn. But it
seemed so far away that Peter did not give it a second thought. He was
living in the present.

A swift aero took them into the skies and they roared out above the
wilderness that was everywhere between the great cities of earth. Funny
nobody thought of leaving the cities and exploring the jungle