"I'm familiar with the process," snapped Marcus, wincing as his son chewed the gray, watery substance. "What I asked was the origin, the ultimate origin. From what animals were the first cells taken?" "I don't know. No other protein source is so free from contamination." "Will the manager know?" "Perhaps." "Tell him I would like to see him." "I'll pass the request along. But it won't do any good. The manager can't come. It's a robot attached to the building." "Then I'll go to it," said Marcus, rising. "Keep the food warm. How do I get there?" "The manager shouldn't be disturbed," said the robot as it placed thermoshields over the food. "It's the small room to the rear, at the right of the kitchen." Marcus found the place without difficulty. The manager lighted up as he came in. The opposite wall blinked and a chair swung out for him. "Complaint?" said the manager hollowly. The manager was hollow. "Not exactly," said Marcus, repeating his request. The manager meditated briefly. "Are you an Outer?" "I am." "I thought so. Only Outers ask that question. I'll have to find out some day." "Make it today," said Marcus. "An excellent thought," said the manager. "I'll do it. But this is a chain restaurant and so you'll have to wait. If you don't mind the delay, I'll plug in one of our remote information banks." Marcus did mind delay, but it was worse not knowing. He waited. * * * * * "I have it," said the robot after an interval. "There is great difficulty feeding a city this large. In fact, there is with all of Earth--it's greatly overpopulated." "So I understand," mumbled Marcus. "The trouble began forty-five or fifty years ago with the water supply," said the robot. "It was sanitary, but there was too great or not great enough concentration of minerals in it. Information isn't specific on this point. The robots in control of the tanks found that beef, pork, lamb and chicken in all their variety would not grow fast enough. Many tanks wouldn't grow at all. "The robots communicated this fact to higher authorities and were told to find out how to correct the situation. They investigated and determined that either the entire water-system would have to be overhauled, or a new and hardier protein would have to be developed. Naturally, it would require incalculable labor to install a new water-system. They didn't recommend it." "Naturally," said Marcus. "The situation was critical. The city had to be fed. The tank robots were told to find the new protein. Resources were thrown open to them that weren't hither-to available. In a short time, they solved the problem. About half of the tanks that were not growing properly were cleaned out and the new protein placed in them. The old animal name system was outmoded so the new lot number system was devised and applied to every tank regardless of its ultimate origin."