, and they
lie like a great fan before us, with their furrows gathered in some hand
beyond the sky, spreading forth from that hand, opening wide apart as
they come toward us, like black pleats that sparkle with thin, green
spangles. Women work in the fields, and their white tunics in the wind
are like the wings of sea-gulls beating over the black soil.

And there it was that we saw Liberty 5-3000 walking along the furrows.
Their body was straight and thin as a blade of iron. Their eyes were
dark and hard and glowing, with no fear in them, no kindness and no
guilt. Their hair was golden as the sun; their hair flew in the wind,
shining and wild, as if it defied men to restrain it. They threw seeds
from their hand as if they deigned to fling a scornful gift, and the
earth was a beggar under their feet.

We stood still; for the first time we knew fear, and then pain. And
we stood still that we might not spill this pain more precious than
pleasure.

Then we heard a voice from the others call their name: "Liberty 5-3000,"
and they turned and walked back. Thus we learned their name, and we
stood watching them go, till their white tunic was lost in the blue
mist.

And the following day, as we came to the northern road, we kept our eyes
upon Liberty 5-3000 in the field. And each day thereafter we knew the
illness of waiting for our hour on the northern road. And there we
looked at Liberty 5-3000 each day. We know not whether they looked at us
also, but we think they did.

Then one day they came close to the hedge, and suddenly they turned to
us. They turned in a whirl and the movement of their body stopped, as if
slashed off, as suddenly as it had started. They stood still as a stone,
and they looked straight upon us, straight in our eyes. There was no
smile on their face, and no welcome. But their face was taut, and their
eyes were dark. Then they turned as swiftly, and they walked away from
us.

But the following day, when we came to the road, they smiled. They
smiled to us and for us. And we smiled in answer. Their head fell back,
and their arms fell, as if their arms and their thin white neck were
stricken suddenly with a great lassitude. They were not looking upon us,
but upon the sky. Then they glanced at us over their shoulder, and we
felt as if a hand had touched our body, slipping softly from our lips to
our feet.

Every morning thereafter, we greeted each other with our eyes. We dared
not speak. It is a trans