rown up enough so that no hatred lies within
him."

Taylor was listening intently. "Do you think this time will come?"

"Of course. It has almost arrived now. This is the last war. Man is
_almost_ united into one final culture--a world culture. At this point
he stands continent against continent, one half of the world against the
other half. Only a single step remains, the jump to a unified culture.
Man has climbed slowly upward, tending always toward unification of his
culture. It will not be long--

"But it has not come yet, and so the war had to go on, to satisfy the
last violent surge of hatred that Man felt. Eight years have passed
since the war began. In these eight years, we have observed and noted
important changes going on in the minds of men. Fatigue and disinterest,
we have seen, are gradually taking the place of hatred and fear. The
hatred is being exhausted gradually, over a period of time. But for the
present, the hoax must go on, at least for a while longer. You are not
ready to learn the truth. You would want to continue the war."

"But how did you manage it?" Moss asked. "All the photographs, the
samples, the damaged equipment--"

"Come over here." The leady directed them toward a long, low building.
"Work goes on constantly, whole staffs laboring to maintain a coherent
and convincing picture of a global war."

* * * * *

They entered the building. Leadys were working everywhere, poring over
tables and desks.

"Examine this project here," the A-class leady said. Two leadys were
carefully photographing something, an elaborate model on a table top.
"It is a good example."

The men grouped around, trying to see. It was a model of a ruined city.

Taylor studied it in silence for a long time. At last he looked up.

"It's San Francisco," he said in a low voice. "This is a model of San
Francisco, destroyed. I saw this on the vidscreen, piped down to us. The
bridges were hit--"

"Yes, notice the bridges." The leady traced the ruined span with his
metal finger, a tiny spider-web, almost invisible. "You have no doubt
seen photographs of this many times, and of the other tables in this
building.

"San Francisco itself is completely intact. We restored it soon after
you left, rebuilding the parts that had been damaged at the start of the
war. The work of manufacturing news goes on all the time in this
particular building. We are very careful to see that each part fits