ry, neither original world could have a real past, and the fusion
was something that had been--no period of change. It's pretty
complicated."

"It sounds worse than that," Dave grumbled. "But while that might
explain the mystery of magic working here, it doesn't explain your sky."

Bork scratched his head. "No, not too well," he admitted. "I've always
had some doubts about whether or not all the worlds have a shell around
them. I don't know. But our world does, and the shell is cracking. The
Satheri don't like it; they want to stop it. We want it to happen. For
the two lines that met and fused into one have an analogue. Doesn't the
story of that fusion suggest something to you, Dave Hanson? Don't you
see it, the male principle of rule and the female principle of whim;
they join, and the egg is fertile! Two universes join, and the result is
a nucleus world surrounded by a shell, like an egg. We're a universe
egg. And when an egg hatches, you don't try to put it back together!"

He didn't look like a fanatic, Dave told himself. Crazy or not, he took
this business of the hatching egg seriously. But you could never be sure
about anyone who joined a cult. "What is your egg going to hatch into?"
he asked.

The big man shrugged. "Does an egg know it is going to become a hen--or
maybe a fish? We can't possibly tell, of course."

Dave considered it. "Don't you even have a guess?"

Bork answered shortly, "No." He looked worried, Dave thought, and
guessed that even the fanatics were not quite sure they _wanted_ to be
hatched. Bork shrugged again.

"An egg has got to hatch," he said. "That's all there is to it. We
prophesied this, oh, two hundred years ago. The Satheri laughed. Now
they've stopped laughing, but they want to stop it. What happens to a
chick when it is stopped from hatching? Does it go on being a chick, or
does it die? It dies, of course. And we don't want to die. No, Dave
Hanson, we don't know what happens next--but we do know that we must go
through with it. I have nothing against you personally--but I can't let
you stop us. That's why we tried to kill you. If I could, I'd kill you
now, with the snetha-knife so they couldn't revive you."

Dave said reasonably, "You can't expect me to like it, you know. The
Satheri, at least, saved my life--" He stopped in confusion. Bork was
staring at him in hilarious incredulousness that broke into roars of
laughter.

"You mean ... Dave Hanson, do you believe everything