Gavir sat down on the divan, exhausted, his song finished. He didn't hear the moderator winding up the dreamcast. Then the producer of the program was upon him. He began shouting even before Gavir removed his headset. "What kind of a fool are you? Before you started that song, you dreamed things about the Martian Development Corporation that were libelous! I got the whole thing--the Barrier, the guards, the labor pools and mines, the father crucified. It was awful! MDC is one of our biggest sponsors." Malcomb said, "You can't expect an untrained young Martian to control his very thoughts. And may I point out that your tone is hostile?" At this a sudden change came over the producer. The standard Earth expression--invincible benignity--took control of his face. "I apologize for having spoken sharply, but dreamcasting is a nerve-wracking business. If it weren't for Ethical Conditioning, I don't know how I'd control my aggressive impulses. The Suppression of Aggression is the Foundation of Civilization, eh?" Malcomb smiled. "Ethical Conditioning Keeps Society from Fissioning." He shook hands with the producer. "Come around tomorrow at 1300 and collect your fee," said the producer. "Good night, gentlemen." As they left the Global Dreamcasting System building, Gavir said to Malcomb, "Can we go to a bookstore tonight?" "Tomorrow. I'm taking you to your hotel and then I'm going back to my apartment. We both need sleep. And don't forget, you've been warned not to go prowling around the city by yourself...." As soon as Gavir was sure that Malcomb was out of the hotel and well on his way home, he left his room and went out into the city. In a pitifully few days he would be back in the Preserve, back with the fear of MDC, with hunger and the hopeless desire to find and kill the man who had ordered his father's death. Now he had an opportunity to learn more about the universe of the Earthmen. Despite Malcomb's orders, he was going to find a seller of books. During a reading class at the mission school, Father James had said, "In books there is power. All that you call magic in our Earth civilization is explained in books." Gavir wanted to learn. It was his only hope to find an alternative to the short, fear-ridden, impoverished life he foresaw for himself. A river of force carried him, along with thousands of Earthmen--godlike beings in their perfect health and their impregnable benignity--through the streets of the city. Platforms of force raised and lowered him through the city's multiple levels.... And, as has always happened to outlanders in cities, he became lost. * * * * * He was in a quarter where furtive red and violet lights danced in the shadows of hunched buildings. A half-dozen Earthmen approached him, stopped and stared. Gavir stared back.