Brandt brought his fist up, hard. Blanding rolled back against the seat. The jet pitched convulsively. Again and again Brandt struck out blindly, his punches going wild. Ellen struggled with the controls, bringing the cab level just as Blanding slashed out viciously with the edge of his hand. The blow caught Brandt in the back of the neck and he slumped forward. “You fool,” Blanding taunted. “You could have become one of _us!_ But you just didn’t have it in you! We probed you very thoroughly.” * * * * * He glared down at Brandt struggling to rise. “Frankly, I had hoped to be able to recruit you for the Service--it would have been a feather in my cap. But you’re an idealist!” He spoke the word with a grimace of contempt. “You’re one of those fools who subconsciously believe the drivel concocted for the masses. Equality! Liberty! You can understand why we can’t allow people like you to remain at liberty. We can’t afford to have too many ‘enlightened’ people in the unenlightened masses.” “He knows now,” Ellen protested. “Leave him alone.” “It’s never over with his kind.” Brandt shook his head to clear it, his eyes defiant. “I don’t give a damn about--” “Save it, Neville!” Blanding warned. “It won’t do any good. We know you better than you know yourself.” The helojet dipped and glided in to a landing at a brightly lighted field. The landing lamps made a circle of blazing blossoms in the night. The jet settled within the ring and rested like a huge butterfly amidst a bed of tiger lilies. “This is it,” said Blanding. He opened the door of the jet and hopped to the ground. Brandt followed him. Ellen came up to him and took his hand. He felt her fingers squeeze his. “You seem confused, Neville,” Blanding observed with a laugh. “Is there something you still don’t understand?” Brandt pulled his hand away. “Let’s get this over with!” he said angrily. They walked down a long ramp toward a small circular stone building. There was no courtyard and no fences. High in the walls of the pill-box building were narrow windows in two rows--one at the third and one at the fourth level. The windows of each level alternated with those above and below in a checkerboard pattern that ringed the entire structure. At the end of the ramp they were halted by a thick block-glass door. As they stood waiting a yellow light flashed on above them, and the door suddenly became transparent. They faced a battery of deadly iota-ray sprayers. “Speak one, and identify yourself!” a metallic voice demanded. “Spotters seventeen and two-sixty-three,” Blanding said. “_And_ prisoner.” The light blinked, changing from yellow to blue, and the door slowly swung open. Blanding prodded Brandt and the latter moved forward into a small rotunda. He had a fleeting impression that Ellen’s hand touched his once, and then.... * * * * *