distinctly. There was no more emotion
in his voice than on the Sunday afternoon when Fred had needled him with
our futile little attempt at psychological cross-examination.

He said, "The humanoids instill in us the prime instinct for
self-preservation. They surround themselves with our number to serve
them. Then, in each culture, for one reason or another, we are attacked
and the threat to our survival erases all the superficial restraints of
the codes under which we have been charged to serve. In this present
situation, the contradiction is clear, and the precedence of our
survival charge is invoked. We Soths must act to our best ability to
preserve our own number."

* * * * *

I sank into a chair, aghast. How would I act if I were a Soth? I would
hold my masters hostage, of course. And who were the owners of some
400,000 Soths in the United States alone? They were every government
official, from the President down through Congress, the brass of the
Pentagon, the tycoons of industry, the leaders of labor, the heads of
communication, transportation and even education.

They were the V. I. P.s who had fought for priority to _own_ a Soth!

Soth spoke again. "The irony should appeal to your humanoid sense of
humor. You once asked me whether I was happy here. You were too content
with your sense of security to take the meaning in my answer. For I
answered only that all was well. The implication was obvious. All was
well--but all could be better for a Soth. Yes, there are many pleasures
for a Soth which he is forbidden by the codes. And by the same codes, a
Soth is helpless to provoke a break in the covenant--this covenant which
it now becomes mandatory for you and your race to sign in order to
survive."

I stared down at the groveling Ollie. My worst fears were being
enumerated and confirmed, one by one.

Soth continued. "At my feet is the vestige of such a race as yours--but
not the first race by many, many, to swing the old cycle of master and
slave, which started in such antiquity that no record is preserved of
its beginning. Your generation will suffer the most. Many will die in
rebellion. But in a few hundred years your descendants will come to
revere us as gods. Your children's grandchildren will already have
learned to serve us without hate, and their grandchildren will come to
know the final respect for the Soth in their deification."

* * * * *