saw the desk suspended from the ceiling by luminous,
silver chains.

A man with a massive, white-maned head and a pink, smiling face rose
from behind the desk. His suit was like that of a general.

"Well, Twenty-three." The Superfather stared down at the dossier on his
desk. "Two mistakes in three months. Too bad. Just when you were on your
way to the head of the machine room."

"I don't know what's the matter with me," said Twenty-three.

"I'm afraid we'll have to drop you back to a less responsible position."

"Of course."

The Superfather looked up quickly. "You accept this? No depression? No
threat of suicide?... You _are_ in bad shape." He handed a packet of
cards to Twenty-three. "Put these in your dream machine tonight. Go to
your new job tomorrow."

Twenty-three stood motionless, staring over the other man's shoulder.

The Superfather sat down. "Tell me about the dreams you have when you
don't use the machine."

Twenty-three made a quick decision. He couldn't tell him he didn't use
the standard dream cards anymore. And he certainly couldn't tell about
the _other_ dream cards he'd been getting from the little man he'd met
on the street. He'd simply answer the factual truth to the question that
had been asked.

"Well," he said, as though he were confessing a crime. "I dream I'm
walking in the city. It's dark. I feel like I've got to find something.
I don't know what. But the feeling's very strong. All of a sudden I
notice the city's empty. There're just buildings and streets and a faint
glow of light. And it comes to me that everybody's dead and buried. Then
I know what I'm looking for. I've got to find something alive or I'll
die too. So I start running around, in and out buildings, up and down
streets. But there's nothing. I'm breathing so hard I think my heart's
going to burst. Finally I fall down. I feel myself beginning to die. I
try to get up but I can't! I try to yell! I've got no voice! I'm so
afraid, I can't stand it! Then I wake up."

The Superfather frowned. "Incredible. Several other cases like yours
have turned up in the last month. We're working on them. But yours is
the worst yet. You had such high capabilities. Your tests showed, when
you first began to work, ten years ago, that you were capable of going
to the head of your production line. But you're not doing it. Also your
normal dreams should correspond to the ones on the cards. And they
don't.... Are you using the standard cards ev