"I'm adaptable," said Radek. He was a slim youngish man with dark hair and sharp features. "I'm not greatly gifted, but I found a niche for myself. Newsman. I do legwork for a major commentator. Between times, I'm writing a book--my own analysis of contemporary historical trends. It won't be anything startling, but it may help a few people think more clearly and adjust themselves." "And so you _like_ this rotten Solar Union?" Barwell's tone became aggressive. "Not everything about it no. So there is a wave of antiscientific reaction, all over Earth. Science is being made the scapegoat for all our troubles. But like it or not, you fellows will have to accept the fact that there are too many people and too few resources for us to survive without technology." "Some technology, sure," admitted Barwell. He took a ferocious swig from his glass. "Not this hell-born stuff we've been monkeying around with. I tell you, the chickens have finally come home to roost." Radek was intrigued by the archaic expression. Barwell was no moron: he'd been a correlative clerk at the Institute for several years, not a position for fools. He had read, actually read books, and thought about them. And today he had been fired. Radek chanced across him drinking out a vast resentment and attached himself like a reverse lamprey--buying most of the liquor. There might be a story in it, somewhere. There might be a lead to what the Institute was doing. Radek was not antiscientific, but neither did he make gods out of people with technical degrees. The Institute _must_ be up to something unpleasant ... otherwise, why all the mystery? If the facts weren't uncovered in time, if whatever they were brewing came to a head, it could touch off the final convulsion of lynch law. Barwell leaned forward, his finger wagged. "Three hundred years now. I think it's three hundred years since X-rays came in. Damn scientists, fooling around with X-rays, atomic energy, radioactives ... sure, safe levels, established tolerances, but what about the long-range effects? What about cumulative genetic effects? Those chickens are coming home at last." "No use blaming our ancestors," said Radek. "Be rather pointless to go dance on their graves, wouldn't it?" Barwell moved closer to Radek. His breath was powerful with whisky. "But are they in those graves?" he whispered. "Huh?" "Look. Been known for a long time, ever since first atomic energy work ... heavy but nonlethal doses of radiation shorten lifespan. You grow old faster if you get a strong dose. Why d'you think with all our medicines we're not two, three hundred years old? Background count's gone up, that's why! Radioactives in the air, in the sea, buried under the ground. Gamma rays, not _entirely_ absorbed by shielding. Sure, sure, they tell us the level is still harmless. But it's more than the level in nature by a good big factor--two or three."