Visitor's
wheelchair buzzed swiftly into the distance toward the left.

Garth was startled into action by a high-pitched voice beside him that
said, "Well, get a move on! Do you think I want to wait for you all
day?"

* * * * *

While Garth hustled toward the wheelchair, he noticed that The Visitor
had stopped and was apparently chuckling to himself. He was hunched
over, his shoulders were shaking, and his toothless mouth was split in
what might have been intended for a grin.

"Fooled you that time, youngster," he laughed as Garth drew up beside
him. "Got speakers all over this ship. Now just duck through this door
here and tell me what you think of what you see."

A small door slid open and Garth followed the wheelchair through. At
first he thought he had stepped through a teleportation system. He
appeared to be out of doors, but not on Wrom. A cool breeze blew on
his face from the ocean, which stretched mistily to a far horizon. He
was standing on a sandy beach and waves rolled up to within a few
yards of his feet. The beach appeared to be about five hundred yards
long, carved out of a rocky seacoast; great rocks jutting into the
ocean terminated it to left and right.

"Well, boy?" asked The Visitor.

"It's amazing. Your voice even has that flat tone voices get in the
open. I suppose it's some sort of three-dimensional projection of a
scene back on Earth? It sure looks real. I wonder how big this room
really is and how far away the screen is." Garth stuck out his hand
and walked down toward the water. A large wave caught him, tripped him
and rolled him out to sea.

Sculling with his tail, he soon swam back to shallow water and climbed
back to the dry sand, puffing and coughing.

"You might have drowned me!" Garth shouted disrespectfully. "Are you
trying to kill me?"

The Visitor waved weakly until he recovered his breath. "That was
funnier than anything I've seen in years," he wheezed, "watching you
groping for a screen. That screen is a quarter of a mile away, and
it's all real water in between. It's our reservoir and our basic fuel
supply and a public beach for entertainment, all rolled into one."

"But I might have drowned! No one on Wrom except a few small fish
knows how to swim," protested Garth.

"No danger. Your ancestors came out of the water relatively recently,
even if the seas are gone now. You've got a well-developed swimming
reflex along with a flat tail and