And she was a woman; she had maternal instincts; she reassured him. "It would have happened anyway," she said soothingly, "but it would have dragged on for years, cost the taxpayers billions." "And now," he whispered, still unable to believe that the thing had really happened, "will you ... dispose of everyone on Damorlant?" She smiled and threw herself into a chair, her body limp and tired and contented-looking. "Come, Clarey, we're not that ruthless. Some kind of quarantine will probably be worked out. We just made the whole thing sound more drastic to appeal to your patriotism." The general beamed. "So everything has worked out all right, after all? I knew it would. I always had the utmost confidence in you, Clarey." She was busily planning. "We'll arrange some kind of heroic accident.... I have it! You died saving your aunt from the flames." "What flames?" "The flames of the fire that burned down her house. She died of the local equivalent of shock. Embelsira will be rich, so she'll want to believe the story. She'll be able to find herself another husband; she'll have children. She'll be better off, Clarey." He looked at her, his misery welling out of his eyes. "Oh, I don't mean it that way, man! All I meant was that you're a human being; she's not. I'm not saying one is better than the other. I'm saying they're different." "But I felt less different with her, with the Damorlanti, than with anyone on Earth," he said. She walked across to the window and looked out at the Damorlanti rioting ineptly below. "Most of us are happier in our dream world," she said at last, "but society couldn't function if we were allowed to stay there." "Damorlan wasn't a dream world." "But it will be," she said. * * * * * And so Clarey went back to Earth on the staff ship. Once its luxury would have given him pleasure; now the cabin with its taps that gave out plain water, salt water, mineral water, and assorted cordials held no charm; neither did the self-contained tri-di projector-receiver. The only reason he stayed there most of the time was to avoid the others. However, he couldn't avoid turning up in the dining salon for meals. The greater his sorrow, the greater his appetite. One day after lunch, Han stopped him forcibly, grasping his arm. "I've got to talk to you. Afterward you can go off and sulk if you want to. But we're going to make planetfall in a few days. It's necessary to discuss your future now." "I have no future," he said. "Come this way, Clarey. That's an order!"