n some groups the changes might be
extensive enough to make them genetic strangers to the rest of humanity.

What would happen then? No one knew. Actually no one bothered to think
about it except for a few far-seeing men who worried as they saw.

Probably.

Might.

Possibly.

If.

Four words. But because of them the Betans were slowly withdrawing from
the rest of humanity. Already the radiations of Beta's variant-G sun had
produced changes in the population. Little things like tougher
epidermis and depilation of body hair--little things that held alarming
implications to Beta's scientists, and to Beta's people. Not too many
generations hence a Betan outside his home system would be a rarity,
and in a few millennia the Betan system itself would be a closed enclave
peopled by humans who had deviated too far from the basic stock to
mingle with it in safety.

Of course, the Brotherhood itself might be changed by that time, but
there was no assurance that this would happen. And mankind had a history
of dealing harshly with its mutants. So Beta would play it safe.

Kennon wondered if there were other worlds in the Brotherhood that had
come to the same conclusion. Possibly there were. And possibly there
were worlds where marked deviations had occurred. There wasn't a year
that passed that didn't bring some new human world into the Brotherhood,
and many of these had developed from that cultural explosion during the
First Millennium known as the Exodus, where small groups of colonists in
inadequate ships set out for unannounced goals to homestead new worlds
for man. Some of these survived, and many were being discovered even
at this late date. But so far none had any difficulty in proving their
human origin.

The Lani, conceivably, could have been descendants of one of these
groups, which probably explained the extreme care the Brotherhood
courts had taken with their case. But they had failed the test, and
were declared animals. Yet it was possible that they had mutated beyond
genetic compatibility. If they had, and if it were proved, here was a
test case that could rock the galaxy--that could shake the Brotherhood
to its very foundations--that could force a re-evaluation of the
criteria of humanity.

Kennon grinned. He was a fine employee. Here he was, less than a full
day on the job, dreaming how he could ruin his employer, shake the
foundation of human civilization, and force ten thousand billion humans
to chang