independent unity of
each member of the group. Put a thousand drops of water in a glass and
you don't have a thousand drops of water but a teaspoon or so of water.
It would be impossible to take a drop of water out and definitely say
that it was one of the drops you had put in. And if you changed all the
water back into drops you might have more or less than the thousand you
put in.

"But water is a fluid. A human being is not. In some inexplicable way,
however, I was becoming more and more like the drop of water after it is
dropped into a large volume of water. I was 'spreading', while all the
time seeming to be just my normal self.

"I think I was beginning dimly to see the new metaphysical basics that
were to make the whole thing sensible and manipulable. At least, I had
already realized that it was different than would be, for example, the
difference in operational principle of a gas engine and an electric
transformer.

"If you've ever studied any abstract mathematical system you'll be able
to understand how the changing of one basic axiom can alter the whole
structure almost beyond recognition. Suppose that change in a basic
axiom were not a clean change, but that for a time both the axiom and
its alternative were to be used interchangeably and unpredictably. You
would have results that were double-valued. You would have contradictory
results following from whatever you began with until the old axiom got
weeded out entirely.

"Perhaps you can see that well enough to understand everything. I hope
so, Martha. If you can I can skip the landing. We DID land. We crashed,
and we landed safely. We also did something else. I think that when
they check the records they'll find that the _Endore_ also came back to
Earth and reported that it hadn't actually landed on Metapor. It did all
those things--returned over a year ago, landed safely, and was crushed
in landing. If you could see HOW it could do all those things--it's like
the page in a book; you pass it if you look for it, and find it if you
don't look for it.

"It's happening here on Earth right now and will keep on happening until
the old basics that contradict the new ones are no longer operating. You
see, Martha, we knew that would happen. That's why we came back. The new
system is so much more perfect than the old. SHE taught it to us when we
landed. Ford Gratrick and his fellow objectors were killed in the ship
that crashed. They also were on the ship that c