* * * * * "That's not quite fair. I'm not sentimental about people, but it's inaccurate to say I don't know anything about them. _I'm_ a person. I think I'm--discerning and sensitive." "Sure," Sam said. "Let's drop the subject." "Why?" "Because you're talking nonsense. A person without faults is not a person. And if--it or he--she were, I don't think I'd care to know him or her or it." "Naturally. You're a sentimentalist. You've seen so much misery, so much human error, so much stupidity that you've built up your natural tolerance into a sloppy and unscientific sentimentality. It happens to sociologists all the time." "Joe, I'm not going to argue with you. Only one thing I ask. When you--break the news to Vera, break it gently. And get her back to the Center as quickly as you can. She's a choice, rare number." Joe said nothing to that. Sam looked miserable. They sat there, listening to the swishing, burring clicks of the airlocks, two friends--one who dealt with people and had grown soft, the other who dealt with machines and might not have grown at all. As the car rose for the Inglewood station, Sam looked over, but Joe's eyes were straight ahead. Sam got up and out of the seat. There was a whispering sigh of escaping air and the sunlight glare of the Inglewood station, synthetic redwood and chrome and marble. Sam was out of the cylindrical, stainless steel car and hurrying for the Westchester local when Joe came out onto the platform. Sam was annoyed, it was plain. Joe's glance went from his hurrying friend to the parking lot, and his coupe was there with Vera behind the wheel. It was only a three block walk, but she had to be there to meet him, every evening. That was her major fault, her romantic sentimentality. "Darling," she said, as he approached the coupe. "Sweetheart. Have a good day?" He kissed her casually. "Ordinary." She slid over and he climbed in behind the wheel. "Sat with Sam Tullgren on the train." "Sam's nice." He turned on the ignition and said, "Start." The motor obediently started and he swung out of the lot, onto Chestnut. "Sam's all right. Kind of sentimental." "That's what I mean." * * * * * Joe was silent. The coupe went past a row of solar homes and turned on Fulsom. Three houses from the corner, he turned into their driveway. "You're awfully quiet," Vera said. "I'm thinking." "About what?" Her voice was suddenly strained. "Sam didn't try to sell you--" "A new wife?" He looked at her. "What makes you think that?" "You're thinking about me, about trading me in. Joe, haven't I--darling, is there--?" She broke off, looking even more miserable than Sam had. "I don't intend to trade you in," he said quietly. She took a deep breath. He didn't look at her. "But you're going back to the Center." She stared at him, a film of moisture in her eyes. She didn't cry or ask questions or protest. Joe wished she would. This was worse.