him in
action. He was prosecuting a man charged with conducting experiments
similar to the historic and outlawed Rhine experiments of Earth.

"_Gentlemen, we sit here in a public building and conduct certain
necessary human affairs in a dignified and orderly manner. We follow a
way of life we brought with us from distant Earth. Apparently, we are as
safe here as we would be on Earth._

_"I say 'apparently.' Sometimes we forget the thin barriers here that
protect us against disaster, against extermination. A rent in this
city's dome, a failure in our oxygen machinery, a clogging of our
pumping system by the ever-present sand, and most of us would die before
help could reach us from our nearest neighbors._

_"We live here under certain restrictions that many of us do not like.
Certainly, no one likes to be unable to step out under the open sky
without wearing a bulky marsuit and an oxygen tank. Certainly, no one
likes to be rationed on water and meat throughout the foreseeable
future._

_"But what we have to remember is that absolute discipline has always
been a requirement for those courageous souls in the vanguard of human
progress._

_"Witchcraft--the practice of extrasensory perception, if you prefer the
term--is forbidden on Mars because to practice it one must differ from
his fellow men when the inexorable dangers of our frontier demand that
we work together. To practice it, one must devote time and mental effort
to untried things when our thin margin of safety makes concentrated and
combined effort necessary for survival. That is why witchcraft is
forbidden on Mars._

_"Let those who yet cling to the wistful liberalism of Earth label us
conformists if they will. I say to you that until Mars is won for
humanity, we cannot afford the luxury of nonconformity._

_"Gentlemen, I give you the prosecution's case."_

Maya stared out the window. This whole side of Ultra Vires was dark,
except for a rectangle of light cast from a window a little distance
away--the window of Goat Hennessey's study. In this rectangle, the red
sand of the desert lay clear and stark.

Near the end of the rectangle lay an indistinct, crumpled, oblong
figure. Puzzled, Maya studied it. It looked like a body to her.

* * * * *

In the study, Nuwell gazed at the skinny doctor with angry brown eyes.

"The bulletins sent to you, as well as other researchers, gave specific
instructions that research was to be