up to the position of
Superfather and on up to Superfather-plus and on up to the place of
Father of The City. But the cards had been sabotaged, so that from them
into his mind had come the dreams of the trees and the oceans and the
green earth spreading off to the horizon and the expanse of blue sky.

And then the words had directed him to the little man who had given him
the cards on the street corner. They had known him, the words had said,
through what was called telepathetic screening, for ones suitable to
leave the city. He was one of those chosen, because he, like a few
others, had been unable to adjust completely to the demands of the city.
He was one of those in whom a rebellious nature had been passed down
from generation to generation, by attitudes and acts of his ancestors,
by a word spoken here and one there, by an intangible reaching out
toward the sky and the green growing things and the need to understand
who and what he was. But in him now this feeling was weak and close to
death and would die in him if it were not brought out into life of the
Earth.

Now the memories receded; he lay motionless, listening to his breathing
and his heartbeat, feeling his body press against the softness that held
him.

* * * * *

Suddenly a shaft of light fell on him through the transparent square.
Opening his eyes, he saw his wife's face staring down at him.

She moved her hand. The lid of the tube raised. He lay watching her,
feeling naked and, for a moment, helpless.

"I talked for a long while with your Superfather," she said. "I feel
better. He told me you'd promised to take the prescribed dreams
tonight."

Twenty-three turned his face away from her.

She began to undress.

"I'm going out for a walk." He stepped from the machine.

She watched him dress, her look a mixture of curiosity and fright.

When he left it was as though he were leaving an empty room and she
watched him as though he were not quite human.

The glow of the city was all around him as he walked toward the corner
where the little man stood. The telepathic advertisers reached out from
the places of entertainment, pulling at him. The voices enveloped him
for a moment so that he almost turned back to them. But then he saw, in
his mind, his arms working over the machines, saw them make a wrong
motion that smashed a gear, saw the flashing red light and the heavy,
expressionless face of the Superfather. He was