She turned from the man and looked at the wall. * * * * * It was several hours before Franz and the others returned. Kathryn was in her bunk, her eyes shut, an instrument clamped to her temples. Franz breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind them. "Whew, that's not good for the nerves! Every time we turned a corner we ran into that officer we met yesterday. I think he's watching us." "Sten," Johnathon said excitedly, "you should have gone with us. Most of the people wouldn't even listen, but there was a girl who was interested. I've never seen anything like her, Sten. She's so soft and small and...." Karl interrupted enthusiastically. "And she has a friend that's coming with her! Her name's Stella--I touched her and she's smoother than anything I ever felt. I ... I think she may go with us." Sten and Franz stood soberly watching the child-like joy of the two men, a new joy, something unquenchable that burned deep within them. "These people are mindless fools," Franz snorted. "Most of them didn't even remember me. The Leader's forgetting treatments are pretty strong stuff, I guess. 'The Past is Forgotten, the Future is the Glory of The Leader', that's the motto." "No wonder the poor souls seem mindless," said Sten soberly. "But what about the girls they're so happy about?" he motioned to the table where Karl and Johnathon were glibly comparing notes on the girls they had met. "They didn't remember me either, but they seemed to be able to think independently. They also thought of some others who might be interested. What will we do if we get too many?" "We'll take anyone who wants to go. At least, as many as we can. The important thing is that we get enough to start again outside." He pointed to the nook where Kathryn was still curled in the foetal position. "What's Kathryn doing, Franz? She's been like that for an hour." Franz's eyes held a look of pity. "It is the one recreation that The Leader allows them. It's hard to explain exactly what it is, but you are carried away by it. It's something like a drug, yet it's mechanical. Something like music or sweet voices washes over you and you dream. For a time, you actually live." Sten shuddered. "The only reality is dreams then, eh? Tell me, are these people actually capable of love?" "It's completely foreign to them, but they _are_ human beings, and I suppose love is innate in us all. I found it here once, you know." Sten looked away as Franz stared hard at the floor. The tension was broken by a knock at the door, and three women followed by a single man entered. When they had exchanged greetings and been seated, Sten stood up in the middle of the room. Kathryn, who had wakened from her dreaming, sat watching wide-eyed.