Wilson tuned the communicator to the factory. "Tube department foreman," he said, but didn't cut in the viewplate. "Al Wilson, from the Center," he went on. "Sure, Mom, I'm fine. I've borrowed one of your girls. Don't let it get talked about. Will have her back soon." "Your mother?" Sue asked. "Yep! A fine girl. She works fifteen hours a day and still finds time to keep records for the Council." "I thought Mrs. Wilson's boy had gone out. When I was eleven I heard her say he'd already entered the Center. That's six years ago." Wilson's features clouded. "They won't let me go. Made me an instructor. If the chain breaks--But that isn't a subject to discuss with a girl. Look below. That lake! Know what made it?" "A strike. My mother said it came before I was born. She said we'd been lucky; that the planet has been struck thousands of times; that the moon and Mars have taken an awful beating." "We set up decoys," Wilson explained. "They draw the strikes when a break-through comes. But sometimes a factory gets knocked out." "I know." Sue nodded. "We know what to do. We've drilled over and over. And most of the factory is under ground." "Part of it, the brick part, was once a school. I went to school there eight terms before I entered the Center." "And I went three terms. That's when they converted it and we had to study in the dorm. Kids study in the nurseries now." "How long have you been working in the factory?" "Since I was nine. Only had to work four hours a day then. Now children begin work at eight." "How many hours does your mother work?" "Fifteen." "And when you're eighteen years old you'll go on a fifteen-hour shift?" "Of course. But I'll have three days vacation when I get married." "Did you know the Center is taking boys thirteen now and next year will begin calling them at the age of twelve?" "All the girls know about it. The boys are glad to get out of the factories. They talk about nothing else. And they say the age to go out is going to be lowered to eighteen and maybe seventeen." "Yes. We're learning better and faster ways to make men out of kids. And the numbers in the crews are being cut down. The ships are better. One man now can perform all the operations three did a few years ago." "The training? Is it very hard?" "No. It's just necessary. We know we have to learn and develop in order to survive. It's just like growing up." * * * * * Sue hesitated. "Is it true--" She paused again, cheeks coloring. "It is true that you can read a girl's thoughts?" Wilson grinned. "Don't worry about it. Those things have been exaggerated. We get flashes under certain conditions. If your emotions were in perfect accord with your thoughts, as ours are supposed to be, we'd know what you're thinking. It's our one superiority over the--" He halted, clamped his lips tight. Sue knew he had been about to say, "Zeehites."