"Ingrained? Look, Tinker Elliott, up to the period of duplication, three hundred years ago, twins and multiple-births used to dress and act as near alike as possible." "Hm-m-m. That was before a duplicate could be made. Double birth was something exceptional, and unique. The distaste against duplicates bred the hatred between twins, I know." "We might be able to change human nature then." "Not in our lifetime." "I guess not. What was the big kicker, Cal?" "About duplication? Well, there was a war in Europe and both warring countries put armies of duplicates into the field. The weapons, of course, were manufactured right along with the troops. There were armies of about nineteen million men on each side, composed of about a thousand different originals. They took the best airmen, the best gunners, the best rangers, the best officers, the best navigators, and the best of every branch of fighting and ran them into vast armies. It was stalemate until the rest of the world stepped in and put a stop to it. Then there were thirty-eight million men, all duplicates, running around. The mess that ensued when several thousand men tried to live in one old familiar haunt ... it was seventy years before things ran down." "That would send public opinion reeling back," smiled Tinker. "But do you mind if we change the subject? I think that I've gotten last night's experience out of my system. What was all this wild story you were telling me?" "Let's stroll towards food," he said. "I'll tell you then." Cal dropped some coins on the bar to take care of the check and they went into the dining room. The waiter led them to their table and handed them menus. "This isn't needed," he told the waiter. "I want roast knolla." "Please accept the apology of the management," said the waiter sorrowfully. "Today we have no knolla." "None?" asked Cal in surprise. "That's strange. Every restaurant has knolla." "Not this one," smiled the waiter. "An accident, sir. The alloy disk containing the recording of the roast knolla dinner slipped from the chef's hands less than an hour ago and fell to the floor. It was thought to be undamaged, close inspection showed it all right. But it was tried, and the knolla came out with the most peculiar flavor. The master files haven't replaced it yet. It will be four hours before they get to our request for transmission of the disk. The engineer there laughed and said something about molecule-displacement when I mentioned the peculiar flavor. It was _most_ peculiar. Not distressing, mind, but most alien. We're keeping the damaged disk. It may be a real unique." "Good eating?" "I'll reserve opinion on that until we find out how we like it ourselves," smiled the waiter. "I'd recommend something else, sir." * * * * *