Below him were other streams, but these were swift-flowing, violent, sparkling like prismed sunlight as they cascaded over the rocks. Their wildness called to him, soothed him as the starship soothed him, as the gardens and the neat domed houses never could. He knew why his kind had fled to the hills, for whatever little time they had. He knew too that he would come again. Searching. Looking for his own kind. That was what he was doing. That was what he had always intended to do, ever since he had heard of the others like himself, the men who had come here before him. He realized his motive suddenly, and realized too the futility of it. But futile or not, he would come again. For he was of the old race. He shared their hungering. * * * * * Walden was reading in his study when the council members arrived. They came without advance warning and filed in ceremoniously, responding rather coolly to his greeting. "We're here about the boy," Abbot began abruptly. "He's at the museum now, isn't he?" Walden nodded. "He's been spending most of his time there lately." "Do you think it's wise, letting him wander around alone?" Trouble. Always trouble. Just because there was one young boy, Eric, asking only to be let alone. And the old council members wouldn't rest until they had managed to find an excuse to put him in an institution somewhere, where his actions could be watched, where there wouldn't be any more uncertainty. "Eric's all right." "Is he? Prior tells me he leaves the museum every day. He doesn't come here. He doesn't visit his family." The thin man, Drew, broke in. "He goes to the hills. Just like the others did. Did you know that, Walden?" Walden's mouth tightened. It wouldn't do to let them read his hostility to their prying. It would be even worse to let them know that they worried him. "Besides," Drew added, "he's old enough to be thinking about women now. There's always a chance he'll--" "Are you crazy?" Walden shouted the words aloud. "Eric's not an animal." "Isn't he?" Abbot answered quietly. "Weren't all the old race just animals?" Walden turned away from them, closing his mind to their thoughts. He mustn't show anger. If he did, they'd probably decide he was too emotional, not to be trusted. They'd take Eric away, to some institution. Cage him.... "What do you want to do with the boy?" Walden forced his thoughts to come quietly. "Do you want to put him in a zoo with the other animals?" The sarcasm hurt them. They wanted to be fair. Abbot especially prided himself on his fairness. "Of course not." They hesitated. They weren't going to do anything. Not this time. They stood around and made a little polite conversation, about other things, and then Abbot turned toward the door. "We just wanted to be sure you knew what was going on." Abbot paused. "You'll keep an eye on the boy, won't you?" "Am I his keeper?" Walden asked softly.