"Police--no! Police uniforms, but counter-revolutionaries, I assure you. Thanks to psych-tech Ab'nath, we got to you in time. Probably, the revolution would have failed either way, but more pointless carnage would have resulted." "Damn you!" Ker-jon said bitterly. "You stand there yapping about what might or might not have happened. Forty days of planning went into that revolution, and all the dreams and hopes of so many mutants--" The albino blinked. "Ah yes, forty days. Do you know how old I am, Ker-jon? I'm eighty-seven. I was one of the earlier mutants, and I've stood this thing a long time. I didn't want any scatterbrained scheme to knock the legs out from under a plan which is calculated to do more than you dream. How old are you, Ker-jon?" "Twenty-four." "Just a baby, and--" "Go to hell," said Ker-jon, rising. "I'm going to find Cluny-ann. Maybe we can salvage something. Maybe--" "Sit down, will you?" The two uniformed men came in, swaggering. One motioned Ker-jon back into a chair with his needle-gun, and Ker-jon sat down. The other said: "I'm sorry we had to hit you. But you fought, and you didn't give us any choice." Wearily, Ker-jon turned to the old man. "Just where do you fit in? Are you working for the Mutant-maker?" "I said we are counter-revolutionaries. We stood opposed to your plans, because you favored the wrong fight, at the wrong time, with the wrong people. Simple?" He chuckled again, a very irritating sound. "No, I suppose not. Perhaps psych-tech Ab'nath can help explain. Will someone call him?" * * * * * The little balding man with the watery eyes entered the room. "I'm here," he said. "Ah, I see you have Ker-jon," he smiled, handed a sheet of paper to the prisoner. "Here, you might be interested in this." Ker-jon scanned it rapidly. Yesterday, yes, he'd have been interested. But not today--too much had happened since then. _Subjects: Bio-technician first class Ker-jon, hydroponics division._ _Dream: (An objective description of the recurrent dream.)_ _Conclusions: a) Both Ker-jon and his betrothed, Cluny-ann, appear as mutants in the dream-sequence. Four votes for an unstable, neurotic personality; eleven for obvious feelings of sympathy with the mutants; one abstention. Alternative two is thus a logical certainty._ _b) The bell-jar machinery is a meaningless bit of gadgetry which defies analysis. Sixteen votes for symbolic representation of the Mutant-making machinery, esoteric and unknown to all technicians save the bio-techs, mutant-making division. Conclusion a logical certainty._ _c) Ker-jon destroys the bell-jar with brute force. Five votes for an un-neurotic personality's desired destruction of a major social institution. Eleven for uneasiness and a rigid anxiety concerning the revolution, for subconscious doubts on Ker-jon's part that a frontal assault against the Mutant-maker will solve the Ark's problem. Alternative two a logical certainty._