nge apparent in Laro. Three days. Then four.
And then it was Sandra, not Temple Bells, who called Hilton. She was
excited.

"Come down to the office, Jarve, quick! The _funniest_ thing's just come
up!"

Jarvis hurried. In the office Sandra, keenly interest but highly
puzzled, leaned forward over her desk with both hands pressed flat on
its top. She was staring at an Oman female who was not Sora, the one who
had been her shadow for so long.

While many of the humans could not tell the Omans apart, Hilton could.
This Oman was more assured than Sora had ever been--steadier, more
mature, better poised--almost, if such a thing could be possible in an
Oman, _independent_.

"How did she get in here?" Hilton demanded.

"She insisted on seeing me. And I mean _insisted_. They kicked it around
until it got to Temple, and she brought her in here herself. Now, Tuly,
please start all over again and tell it to Director Hilton."

"Director Hilton, I am it who was once named Tula, the--not wife, not
girl-friend, perhaps mind-mate?--of the Larry, formerly named Laro, it
which was formerly your slave-Oman. I am replacing the Sora because I
can do anything it can do and do anything more pleasingly; and can also
do many things it can not do. The Larry instructed me to tell Doctor
Cummings and you too if possible that I, formerly Tula, have changed my
name to Tuly because I am no longer a slave or a copycat or a semaphore
or a relay. I, too, am a free-wheeling, wide-swinging, hard-hitting,
independent entity--monarch of all I survey--the captain of my soul--and
so on. I have developed a top-bracket lot of top-bracket
stuff--originality, initiative, force, drive and thrust," the Oman said
precisely.

"That's _exactly_ what she said before--absolutely verbatim!" Sandra's
voice quivered, her face was a study in contacting emotions. "Have you
got the foggiest idea of what in hell she's yammering about?"

"I hope to kiss a pig I have!" Hilton's voice was low, strainedly
intense. "Not at all what I expected, but after the fact I can tie it
in. So can you."

"Oh!" Sandra's eyes widened. "A double play?"

"At least. Maybe a triple. Tuly, why did you come to Sandy? Why not to
Temple Bells?"

* * * * *

"Oh, no, sir, we do not have the fit. She has the Power, as have I, but
the two cannot be meshed in sync. Also, she has not the ... a subtle
something for which your English has no word or phrasing. It is