The job was simple enough: the metal, once heated, had to be poured out into the ladle, which acted as a carrier to take the stuff on to its next station. The only critical point was the color of the heated liquid, and the eyes of Alberts and humans saw the same spectrum, with perhaps a little more discrimination in the eyes of the Alberts. This Albert had to be taught to let the process go unless the color was wrong, when a series of buttons would stop everything and send a quality alarm into men's quarters. A machine could have done the job very easily, but machines were expensive. An Albert could be taught in a week. And this one seemed to learn more quickly than most. It grasped the idea of button-pushing before the end of the day, and Albin made a mental note to see if he could speed matters up, maybe by letting the Albert have a crack at actually doing the job on its own by day four or five instead of day six. "You learn fast," he said, when work was finally over. He felt both tired and tense, but the thought of relaxation ahead kept him nearly genial. "I want to learn," the Albert said. "Good boy," Albin said absently. "What's your name?" "Cadnan." 7 But Cadnan, he knew, was only a small name: it was not a great name. He knew now that he had a great name, and it made him proud because he was no longer only small Cadnan: he was a slave. It was good, he knew, to be a slave. A slave worked and got food and shelter from the masters, and the masters told him what he could know without even the need of asking a question. The elders were only elders, but the masters were masters, and Cadnan was a slave. It made him feel great and wise when he thought of it. That night he could hardly wait to tell his news to Marvor--but Marvor acted as if he knew it already and was even made angry by the idea. "What is a slave?" he asked, in a flat, bad tone. Cadnan told him of the work, the food, the shelter.... "And what is a master?" Marvor asked. "A master is a master," Cadnan said. "A master is the one who knows." "A master tells you what to do," Marvor said. "I am training and there is more training to come and then work. This is because of the masters." "It is good," Cadnan said. "It is important." Marvor shook his head, looking very much like a master himself. "What is important?" he said. Cadnan thought for a minute. "Important is what a master needs for life," he said at last. "The masters need a slave for life, because a slave must push the buttons. Without this work the masters do not live." "Then why do the masters not push the buttons?" Marvor said. "It is good they do not," Cadnan said stubbornly. "A slave is a big thing, and Cadnan is only a little thing. It is better to be big than little." "It is better to be master than slave," Marvor said sullenly.