The air whirled about him; twin rotors, appearing from his clothing, churned and scraped the air, lowering him gently through the five hundred feet to the ground. Overhead, the helibus continued its prescribed journey, discharging passengers who resembled fluttering insects. He came to rest gently atop his roof, and the rotors ceased and folded invisibly beneath his coat. The moon had risen well into the twilight sky, that moon which only a few hundred years before had furnished lovers with inspiration. Now, looking at it, one thought inevitably of the Lunar Prison Colony that occupied its entire surface, of the persons who had been sentenced to spend years on its ugly barren wasteland. Inspiration came possibly, but it was of a different nature. He descended into the house, into the single room that was bedroom, living room, parlor. Helen, brunette and beautiful, attired in the semi-transparent slacks that were the decreed style, rose from the couch and gave him a wifely peck on the cheek. "Everything okay?" she asked, not appearing particularly interested. The standard question. "Simply great," he said. He settled into a hard plastic chair, uncomfortable but designed to improve posture. * * * * * The television set was blaring: "Nothing could be greater than to have a respirator made by Fra-a-a-a-nklin!" On the 40-inch screen a happy couple, Franklin respirators on their happy wrists, were bouncing happily across a miniature solar system, using planets for stepping stones. I must be an atavist, he thought. How can people actually put up with this stuff. He could not subdue the grimace that rose automatically, but he managed to turn it into a grin as he saw Helen looking at him curiously. "Something funny?" "Nothing in particular." He couldn't very well tell her he thought a government-sponsored commercial was amusing. That was the equivalent of treason, for which the Lunar Prison Colony had been constructed. Not that Helen wasn't understanding. Their marriage had been lacking in many things, true, but she was inclined to be fair and broadminded on most issues which were not controlled. But when it came to things like the State and its directives, most people got emotionally patriotic. It was something like trying to discuss religion a century earlier, except that in the present case arguments could be easily won by sending the "treasonous" person to the prison satellite. The law made plain what was right and what was not. "I was just thinking," he said, hoping to explain the grimace, "about a fellow at the office. He suggested that we should get a rebate on the airtax, because we don't utilize all the air we breathe in." "You reported him, of course." "Worse than that. We told him if he didn't like it he could stop breathing. Crime doesn't pay anymore." "I should hope not," she said, and she seemed perfectly serious.