ly provided limited access to
a form of space that had been in existence all along.

"Though why," Judith concluded, "our back doors should have been
affected rather than our front doors, for example, is
inexplicable--unless it was because Francis built the machine in his
kitchen. In any event, when they did become nodal areas, they manifested
themselves on Sirius XXI, and the dogs in the immediate vicinity
associated them with the doorways of their departed masters and began
whining to be let in."

"Their departed masters?"

"The race that built this village. The race that built the factories and
developed the encompassing farms. A year ago, according to the records
they left behind them, they migrated to the Greater Magellanic Cloud."

Philip was indignant. "Why didn't they take their dogs with them?"

"They couldn't. After all, they had to leave their cars and their
furniture behind them too, not to mention almost unbelievable
stockpiles of every metal imaginable that will last us for centuries.
The logistics of space travel make taking even an extra handkerchief
along a calculated risk. Anyway, when their dogs 'found' us, they were
overjoyed, and as for us, we fell in love with them at first sight. Our
own dogs, though, didn't take to them at all, and every one of them ran
away."

"This can't be the only village," Philip said. "There must be others
somewhere."

"Undoubtedly there are. All we know is that the people who built this
one were the last to leave."

The park was behind them now, and they were walking down a pleasant
street. "And when you and your neighbors discovered the village, did you
decide to become expatriates right then and there?" Philip asked.

She nodded. "Do you blame us? You've seen for yourself what a lovely
place it is. But it's far more than that. In Valleyview, we had
unemployment. Here, there is work for everyone, and a corresponding
feeling of wantedness and togetherness. True, most of the work is
farmwork, but what of that? We have every conceivable kind of machine to
help us in our tasks. Indeed, I think that the only machine the Sirians
lacked was one that could manufacture food out of whole cloth. But
consider the most important advantage of all: when we go to bed at night
we can do so without being afraid that sometime during our sleep a
thermonuclear missile will descend out of the sky and devour us in one
huge incandescent bite. If we've made a culture hero out of our vi