Bodger fell back into his chair like a crumpling jointed doll, his face shocked and incredulous. "I don't believe it," he said stiffly, pressing his hands upon the chair arms to halt their trembling. "Lloyd, it's not true!" The bedroom door opened, then, and Andra came out. When Bodger saw her, something inside him cracked, and he suddenly dropped his face into his hands and just groaned. Lloyd was at his side in an instant. "Dad," he said, gripping the other man's shoulders, "Dad, I _had_ to tell you. I've been entangling myself in so many lies since last night--It was the only thing left to do!" Bodger looked up, wide-eyed with dismay, and shrugged Lloyd's hands away. "Let me think!" he said, hoarsely. "I have to think! Stanton mustn't find this out. I've already covered up for your idiotic Vote, and for your taking Grace--all right, Andra--up to our Unit last night. There has to be a way to prevent your horrible errors being found out. I'll cover, somehow, Lloyd. If I can find a way, I'll cover up, and--" "_Dad--!_" Something in the young man's tone made Bodger stop his frantic raving. He looked into his son's eyes, and saw the question even before Lloyd asked it. "Why _should_ you cover up?" Bodger grabbed at his shattered self-control, and sat up, stiffly. "I--I don't follow you, son." "I said," Lloyd repeated sadly, "why _should_ you cover up for me? I'll only be hospitalized for Readjustment, won't I?... _Won't I!?_" "Lloyd," Bodger said sickly, getting up and clutching his son's hands, "you're over-wrought, right now, you've been under a strain...." "All the more reason for my hospitalization, then," Lloyd said, with all the relentless cruelty he could muster in the face of his father's ghastly fright. "_No!_" Bodger yelled. "You can't go! You don't understand, Lloyd! I can't explain here." "There's no need to," Lloyd said, suddenly softening and taking his father by the hands to halt their frenetic quavering. "Your attitude has told me all I want to know. Andra was speaking the truth. There _are_ no hospitals, no treatment, no Readjustment. Only death." "Lloyd--!" Bodger said. "If you only knew _why_--" "We'd _all_ like to know why," said Andra, solicitously. "Mr. Bodger, it's no use struggling any more. You have to tell the truth, now, or have your son--and Grace and myself--be destroyed." "All right," Bodger said. "I will. I'll tell you the whys and wherefores of the Hive. Then maybe you'll--" "I'm afraid such an extemporaneous educational program is quite impossible," came a voice from the doorway. * * * * * Fredric Stanton, just removing his Voteplate from the slot in Grace's door, had his other hand extended toward them. And clutched firmly in his steady grasp was the stubby metal muzzle of a Snapper.