"How did I get here?" asked a little man with bifocals and a vest that had pins and threaded needles stuck in it. "I can't take time for pleasure trips. Mrs. Jacobs is coming in for her fitting tomorrow and she'll positively murder me if her dress ain't ready." "She can't," Clocker said. "Not any more." "You mean we're dead?" someone else asked, awed. It was a softly pudgy woman with excessively blonde hair, a greasily red-lipped smile and a flowered housecoat. She looked around with great approval. "Hey, this ain't bad! Like I always said, either I'm no worse than anybody else or they're no better'n me. How about that, dearie?" "Don't ask me," Clocker evaded. "I think somebody's going to get an earful, but you ain't dead. That much I can tell you." The woman looked disappointed. Some people in the crowd were complaining that they had families to take care of while others were worried about leaving their businesses. They all grew silent, however, when a man climbed up on a sort of marble rostrum in front of them. He was very tall and dignified and wore formal clothes and had a white beard parted in the center. "Please feel at ease," he said in a big, deep, soothing voice, like a radio announcer for a symphony broadcast. "You are not in any danger. No harm will come to you." "You _sure_ we ain't dead, sweetie?" the woman in the flowered housecoat asked Clocker. "Isn't that--" "No," said Clocker. "He'd have a halo, wouldn't he?" "Yeah, I guess so," she agreed doubtfully. The white-bearded man went on, "If you will listen carefully to this orientation lecture, you will know where you are and why. May I introduce Gerald W. Harding? Dr. Harding is in charge of this reception center. Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Harding." * * * * * A number of people applauded out of habit ... probably lecture fans or semi-pro TV studio audiences. The rest, including Clocker, waited as an aging man in a white lab smock, heavy-rimmed eyeglasses and smooth pink cheeks, looking like a benevolent doctor in a mouthwash ad, stood up and faced the crowd. He put his hands behind his back, rocked on his toes a few times, and smiled benevolently. "Thank you, Mr. Calhoun," he said to the bearded man who was seating himself on a marble bench. "Friends--and I trust you will soon regard us _as_ your friends--I know you are puzzled at all this." He waved a white hand at the buildings around them. "Let me explain. You have been chosen--yes, carefully screened and selected--to help us in undoubtedly the greatest cause of all history. I can see that you are asking yourselves _why_ you were selected and what this cause is. I shall describe it briefly. You'll learn more about it as we work together in this vast and noble experiment."