Lois' father had been a stern Bible-reading Presbyterian; he had never approved of Harker. The radio preacher said: "... _Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth! And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave-clothes; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said unto them_--" "All right," Harker broke in suddenly. "You can change the station now." Chris said, "How come you wanted to hear that, Dad?" "It's a very famous passage." Harker smiled. "And I have a feeling we're all going to get to know it pretty well before summer comes." * * * * * After supper Sunday he packed for his trip to Washington; he took an extra change of clothes, because Thurman's secretary had warned him that the Senator was very busy and might not be able to see him until Tuesday. Harker reflected privately that that was fine treatment to accord a man who had once been virtually the titular head of the party, but complaining would have done him less than no good. He came downstairs again after packing, and spent the next several hours watching video with the family: a silly, mindless series of programs, ideally designed to give the mind a rest. At quarter-past-nine, in the middle of an alleged ballet sequence, the screen went blank. Harker frowned, annoyed; then an announcer's face appeared. "_We interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement from our newsroom._ "_Richard Bryant, hero of Earth's first successful voyage to another planet, died quietly in his sleep an hour ago, in his Manhattan apartment. He would have been seventy-four next month._ "_He was assured of immortality on the first of August, 1984, when he radioed from Mars the triumphant message_, 'Have landed _Mars One_ safely. Am on way back. Mars is pretty dreary.' _From that day on, Rick Bryant was a hero to billions._ "_We return you now to the regularly-scheduled program._" Cavorting dancers returned to the screen. In a soft, barely-audible voice, Harker cursed eloquently. "Gee, Dad! Rick Bryant died!" Chris exclaimed. Not long after he had taken the case, Harker had induced the old man to autograph a copy of his book _I Flew to Mars_ for Chris; since then, the boy had taken deep interest in Bryant's career. Harker nodded. To Lois he said, "They didn't even give him a chance. The hearing would have been last Thursday, but his son got it postponed." "Do you think this will affect the outcome, Jim?"