st have it down here somewhere. Oh, yes.
Started it in April of 2057. Seventy-seven years."

They talked on, until it became too painful. Then Dan rose, and
thanked his host, and started back for the corridor and life again. He
had never even mentioned his excuse for coming, and nobody had missed
it.

Chauncey Devlin, a tiny, perfect wax-image of a man, so old, so wise,
so excited and full of enthusiasm and energy and carefulness,
working eagerly, happily--

Accomplishing nothing. Seventy-seven years. The picture of a man who
had been great, and who had slowly ground to a standstill.

And now Dan knew that he hadn't really been looking at Chauncey Devlin
at all. He had been looking at the whole human race.

VIII

February 15th, 2135.

The day of the Hearings, to consider the charges and petition formally
placed by The Honorable Daniel Fowler, Independent Senator from the
Great State of Illinois. The long oval hearing-room was filling early;
the gallery above was packed by 9:05 in the morning. Teevie-boys all
over the place. The Criterion Committee members, taking their places
in twos and threes--some old, some young, some rejuvenated, some not,
taking their places in the oval. Then the other Senators--not the
President, of course, but he'll be well represented by Senator
Rinehart himself, ah yes. Don't worry about the President.

* * * * *

Bad news in the papers. Trouble in New Chicago, where so much trouble
seems to start these days. Bomb thrown in the Medical Center out
there, a _bomb_ of all things! Shades of Lenin. Couple of people
killed, and one of the doctors nearly beaten to death on the street
before the police arrived to clear the mob away. Dan Fowler's name
popping up here and there, not pleasantly. Whispers and accusations,
_sotto voce_. And 'Moses' Tyndall's network hookup last night--of
course nobody with any sense listens to _him_, but did you hear that
hall go wild?

Rinehart--yes, that's him. Well, he's got a right to look worried. If
Dan can unseat him here and now, he's washed up. According to the
rules of the Government, you know, Fowler can legally petition for
Rinehart's chairmanship without risking it as a platform plank in the
next election, and get a hearing here, and then if the Senate votes
him in, he's got the election made. Dan's smart. They're scared to
throw old Rinehart out, of course--after all, he's let them keep their
thumbs on rejuvinati