Lowen thumped his back encouragingly. "He _was_ a very great man but, well, after three hundred years, he's entitled to the special pleasures of senility." "He seemed so lucid for a while," Fitzhugh said, "I mean when he saw the point of moving through the wellspring nodes to overcome materials fatigue." He shrugged. "No, you're right, Lowen. We'll have to go to the President without Huddleston's backing." "I was thinking about his prestige. But his support really wouldn't have proven anything." Lowen shook his head. "I had no idea he had gone downhill that much in the last twenty years." They joined in a sympathetic sigh for past greatness, then hurried on to the business of the future. * * * * * President Collins was pleased to see them. He was even happier when he was shown how the recent, highly-publicized discovery of the space nodes of continuous creation could be put to practical use. "There's a serious sociological problem that this can solve for us, gentlemen. You probably haven't given it much attention since your interests lie in other directions." "We leave that to our political leaders," Lowen nodded. "They're thoroughly competent to do so." "Thank you, Professor,--." "No, President Collins, you're right--I don't have time to bother with imprecise life studies." Lowen tried to keep contempt out of his grin. "A little entertainment, somewhat more theory and lots of practical technical applications--that's my personal prescription for staying fully alive." "Anyway your work fits the present social bill to a _T_," President Collins went on, choosing to disregard the unpleasant aspects of his visitor's one-sided nature for the pleasant fruits they had borne. "For close to two centuries now we have known we were trapped in the general area of the solar system and society has learned to live with the limitation. But lately an indefinable restlessness has been growing--nothing in the least serious but it's there and continuous entertainment, study and sports just aren't enough to eliminate it. This renewed outward movement can, though. I'm backing your request for a new Stellar Reaches Expedition to the limit of my strength." He rubbed his chin, smiling sadly. "You know who we ought to get in touch with? Old Huddleston. He deserves to know. Come to think of it, his opinion would still carry plenty of weight with many people." "We've told him," Lowen announced. "He was enormously impressed with the solution." "Good, good. Now, there's an ultimate Master, if I ever heard of one, knowledge in every area, the humanities, mathematics, logic, poetry, physics--. What did he think about fatigued metal revival at the wellsprings?" Lowen squinted. "Sad thing, Mister President, we couldn't get much of an opinion there. He's so worn-out." Lowen disregarded Fitzhugh's conscience-stricken look. "But he did grasp what we told him before he relapsed."