Reuben abruptly found himself being fingerprinted and deprived of some hair. "The f.p.s check, sir," one Maintainer said. "He's Reuben." "Hair's natural, sir," said another. The general began a rear-guard action: "My information about his hair seems to have been inaccurate. But the fingerprint means only that Ellay spies substituted his prints for Reuben's prints in the files--" "Enough, sir," said the old man with the stars. "Dismissed. All of you. Rudolph, I am surprised. All of you, go." * * * * * Reuben found himself in a vast apartment with May, who was bubbling and chuckling uncontrollably until he popped three of the green capsules into his mouth hurriedly. "This means the eclipse for years of my good friend Rudolph," he crowed. "His game was to have your double sabotage the attack warheads and so make it appear that my organization is rotten with spies. The double must have been under post-hypnotic, primed to admit everything. Rudolph was so sure of himself that he made his accusations before the attack, the fool!" He fumbled out the green capsules again. "Sir," said Reuben, alarmed. "Only temporary," May muttered, and swallowed a fourth. "But you're right. You leave them alone. There are big things to be done in your time, not in mine. I told you I needed a young man who could claw his way to the top. Rudolph's a fool. He doesn't need the capsules because he doesn't ask questions. Funny, I thought a coup like the double affair would hit me hard, but I don't feel a thing. It's not like the old days. I used to plan and plan, and when the trap went _snap_ it was better than this stuff. But now I don't feel a thing." He leaned forward from his chair; the pupils of his eyes were black bullets. "Do you want to _work_?" he demanded. "Do you want your world stood on its head and your brains to crack and do the only worthwhile job there is to do? Answer me!" "Sir, I am a loyal May's man. I want to obey your orders and use my ability to the full." "Good enough," said the general. "You've got brains, you've got push. I'll do the spade work. I won't last long enough to push it through. You'll have to follow. Ever been outside of Denv?" Reuben stiffened. "I'm not accusing you of being a spy. It's really all right to go outside of Denv. I've been outside. There isn't much to see at first--a lot of ground pocked and torn up by shorts and overs from Ellay and us. Farther out, especially east, it's different. Grass, trees, flowers. Places where you could grow food. "When I went outside, it troubled me. It made me ask questions. I wanted to know how we started. Yes--started. _It wasn't always like this._ Somebody built Denv. Am I getting the idea across to you? _It wasn't always like this!_ "Somebody set up the reactors to breed uranium and make plutonium. Somebody tooled us up for the missiles. Somebody wired the boards to control them. Somebody started the hydroponics tanks.