For many hours--which seemed like days--he waited up for Amos Westler, but his thoughts were all with Diane. If Starbuck so much as touched her.... CHAPTER VII "I found it, Johnny! It was so obvious, it seems incredible no one has tried to end the Robot's reign before. We can do it. One man could do it, alone. One man, with careful planning--" "Diane is here, Amos. I saw her tonight. We're going to try to break out tomorrow night, the three of us." "You see," Westler went on, "there are two items of importance to consider. The first is Central Intelligence, the mind, the _elan vital_, the sentience which motivates the Robots. Did you know, could you ever imagine, that there was but one Central Intelligence for the entire western hemisphere, Johnny? It seems incredible, but it is not. That was the Achilles Heel we sought, the seed of destruction which some pessimistic scientist had sown into the Robots in case man had created a Frankenstein." "Can you believe it? Tomorrow night, the three of us will be on our way out of here. I think we stand a good chance, Amos. If we--" "The second item--why, what in the world are you talking about? Escape? Now? Never! Within our grasp is the chance to free humanity from a thraldom which it does not yet fully recognize. Would you give up the chance to render the Robots harmless in exchange for your own personal safety?" "Not mine. Diane's. We love each other, Amos. I wouldn't expose her to any danger. We're leaving tomorrow and we want you to come with us." Westler paced back and forth, caged in spirit more than in body. "Look at you," he said bitterly. "You call yourself a man. But have you the right to a woman's love when you think only of tomorrow, of one day out of thousands, of one small life out of all that humanity has to offer? You want to hold the girl and kiss her and show her your virility, eh? While the rest of the race goes to pot." "That's enough, Amos!" Johnny cried. "My motives are my own. We leave here tomorrow." "You're weak, Johnny Hope. You're a coward." Johnny said, "Shut up, damn you." He couldn't deny all that Amos was saying, but his parents had perished at the hands of a man-made Plague, he had been driven from his home, rejected by the Shining Ones, even, until he proved himself in battle. What did he owe to humanity, to that big, sprawling concept which took in all kinds of men and their women, children, good people, bad ones, big and small, with every type of mind and every type of body...? "All right, marry the girl. Will you raise a family? You're Shining Ones, Johnny, both of you. The rest of humanity fears you, and rightfully. Your children will be stoned away if they venture near normal people. Perhaps life with the Robots would be best for them after all.