were full on lens for at
least twenty minutes. I was never so frightened in my life."

Joe said, "The first step toward becoming a buff. First you're scared.
Vicariously. But it's fun to become scared, when nothing can really
happen to you. It becomes increasingly exciting to see others
threatened with death--and then actually to die before you. After a
while, you're hooked."

She looked carefully at the flowers. "That's not exactly what I meant.
I was frightened for you, Joe. Not thrilled."

He looked at her for a long moment. Finally he breathed deeply and
said, "Well, you'll never have to go through that again. I'm no longer
in the Category Military, I suppose you know."

"It was on the news, Joe." She laughed without amusement. "In fact, I
knew even before. Balt was tried, too."

"Balt? Your brother?"

She nodded. "You first used your glider in that fracas for father and
Vacuum Tube Transport. Now that the commission has ruled against
gliders, Balt, now head of the family, has been both fined and
expelled from Category Military for life. It hasn't exactly improved
his liking for you."

Joe hadn't heard of it, however, he had little sympathy for Balt Haer,
nor interest in him. He said, "Why did you take so long to come?"

"I was thinking, Joe."

"And then you finally came."

"Yes."

He looked away and into unseen distances. Finally he cleared his
throat and said, "Nadine, the first time I ever talked to you to any
extent, I mentioned that I wanted to achieve the top in this status
world of ours. I mentioned that I hadn't built this world, and
possibly didn't even approve of it, but since I'm in it and have no
other recourse, I must follow its rules."

She nodded. "I remember. And I said, why not try and change the
rules?"

Joe nodded. He moistened his lips carefully. "O.K. Now I'm willing to
listen. How do we go about changing the rules?"

[Illustration]

XIV

Dr. Nadine Haer, Category Medicine, Mid-Upper caste, was driving and
with considerable enjoyment resultant not only from her destination,
long desired, now to be realized, but also from the sheer exuberance
of handling the vehicle. Since pre-history, man's pleasure in the
physical control of a speedy vehicle has been superlative,
particularly when that vehicle is known by the driver to be unique in
its class. The Hittite charioteer, bowling across the landscape of
Anatolia, a Sterling Moss carefully tooling his automobile around the
m