From the drinking songs, the band struck up the National Anthem. The noise the cadets made in rising nearly drowned out the music. After the last strains had been permitted to fade away, the bandmaster raised his baton once more and the opening bars of _Hail to the Chief!_ filled the hall. The Sergeants-Major stepped out onto the stage, Reilly following, case clasped loosely between elbow and side. They passed in front of the half-dozen visitors and moved to either side of the podium, turning until they were facing each other, the regular service man on the right. They snapped into a salute, followed by the entire audience. Reilly lay his case on the podium, turned and bowed to the visitors, then faced the audience again and returned the salute. Immediately two thousand arms dropped to their owners' sides and the cadets resumed their seats. Reilly unzipped his case and drew out his notes. He arranged them carefully on the podium, although he knew that at no time during the next hour would he so much as glance at them again. The case stowed away under the podium, he took a deep breath and placed his hands flat on the podium's surface. Technicians in the control booth over the far end of the hall trained parabolic mikes on his lips, waiting for him to begin the lecture as he had begun hundreds of other preceding lectures, before audiences much like this. The faces might change; the uniforms were the same, and so were the underlying feelings of the wearers of the uniforms, year in and year out. "The greater good for the greater number!" The cadets let out a mutual sigh, none aware that breath had been held. "A motto, gentlemen: merely a motto. Like _Ad Astra per Aspera_, _E Pluribus Unum_ or _Through These Portals Pass the Most Wonderful Customers in the Galaxy_." An appreciative titter ran through the audience. "But what is a motto?" continued Reilly, warming to his subject, overly familiar though it was. "It's more than just a snappy way of stringing words together. It has a meaning. Often the meaning, such as in the commercial example I just gave, is on the frivolous side. But more often there is something intently serious behind a motto. _Ad Astra_--'To the Stars.' For centuries this has been almost a religion for men, as our ancestors broke the bonds of a single planet and spread out into the galaxy. Libraries have been written of the heartbreaks and joys, the sorrows and jubilations that have been found in the far reaches of space. "_E Pluribus Unum_--'United We Stand.' Even older and, if possible, dearer to the hearts of men. Our very government is based on the essential concept contained in these three words from the past. "'The greater good for the greater number'. If government runs on one motto, then civilization is based on this!" * * * * *