t
in your future-history fantasy, and then, after the event, you
convinced yourself that you'd known all about it, including the
impromptu christening of the rocket, all along."

A hot retort rose to his lips; he swallowed it hastily. Instead, he
nodded amicably.

"That's a point worth thinking of. But right now, what I want to know
is, will you represent me in case Whitburn does take this to court and
does try to void my contract?"

"Oh, yes; as you said, I have an obligation to defend the contracts I
draw up. But you'll have to avoid giving him any further reason for
trying to void it. Don't make any more of these slips. Watch what you
say, in class or out of it. And above all, don't talk about this to
anybody. Don't tell anybody that you can foresee the future, or even
talk about future probabilities. Your business is with the past;
stick to it."

* * * * *

The afternoon passed quietly enough. Word of his defiance of Whitburn
had gotten around among the faculty--Whitburn might have his secretary
scared witless in his office, but not gossipless outside it--though it
hadn't seemed to have leaked down to the students yet. Handley, the
Latin professor, managed to waylay him in a hallway, a hallway Handley
didn't normally use.

"The tenure-contract system under which we hold our positions here is
one of our most valuable safeguards," he said, after exchanging
greetings. "It was only won after a struggle, in a time of public
animosity toward all intellectuals, and even now, our professional
position would be most insecure without it."

"Yes. I found that out today, if I hadn't known it when I took part in
the struggle you speak of."

"It should not be jeopardized," Handley declared.

"You think I'm jeopardizing it?"

Handley frowned. He didn't like being pushed out of the safety of
generalization into specific cases.

"Well, now that you make that point, yes. I do. If Doctor Whitburn
tries to make an issue of ... of what happened yesterday ... and if
the court decides against you, you can see the position all of us will
be in."

"What do you think I should have done? Given him my resignation when
he demanded it? We have our tenure-contracts, and the system was
instituted to prevent just the sort of arbitrary action Whitburn tried
to take with me today. If he wants to go to court, he'll find that
out."

"And if he wins, he'll establish a precedent that will threaten the
se