"Ours, too, Jules. We ought to be responsible adults by now, capable of working out our own troubles." Daneshaw uncrossed his legs and sat forward. "But we aren't going to get anywhere sitting here worrying about which of us is to blame. We've got to cook up something more important than another kind of pet to keep or another bridge tournament. Wordsworth was evidently wrong. He should have written '_Not_ getting and _not_ spending we lay waste our powers.' We ought to be up to the ears in the work of a lifetime ... a very long lifetime." His lean hand brushed back unruly white locks. Dr. Farrar shrugged his shoulders. "Any suggestions?" "Whatever it is," argued Daneshaw, "it ought to be as important as ... as the _Colonia_ trip to Venus. It's certainly as vital as that, though of course having the Federal Government of the United Assembly messing with the problem would put off a solution indefinitely." * * * * * A look of wonder grew on the doctor's face. "The _Colonia_! A colony! How about that? The hospital has funds. We could buy a piece of land somewhere in the wilds of Brazil or even Canada and you could have a shot at frontier problems. That ought to be absorbing enough. And of course you could have help from government experts here if you ran into trouble. How about it?" he asked eagerly. "It smacks of the county poor farm, though the idea of a colony is rather appealing. I hate to be a wet blanket, but the prospect of government experts seems like a continuation of the kindly but firm handling we get from the nurses here," and Tim Daneshaw smiled ruefully remembering Ione Phillips and how well she "handled" the subjects. "I'm afraid that unless we could get as far away from supervision as Venus we'd go right on feeling like a second thumb." "Then go to Venus! On the first ship out." Jules sobered suddenly. "It would take an ungodly amount of finagling ... do you think they'd really go?" "It would be worth asking them tonight." (There was no harm in joining in a flight of imagination, when a real solution might take years.) "And you know, we could be more of a nuisance to the government than you could ever be. We could threaten to commit suicide _en masse_ and blackmail the government into backing us for fear of one of those social breakdown investigations by the United Assembly, and we could fix the Assembly by threatening to flood the international publications with articles about the mental horrors of old age and break down the whole socialized medicine convention at the international level. It might be rather fun ... though completely unethical." The doctor got up and came around to sit on the front of the desk. He was beaming. "Tim, we'll try it. I think I can get help from Brill. I'll tell you about it later. We've got to get right to work, though." "We?"