fficer and
astrogator, everybody. Except Carl Leibert.

"Then I'm not going either," Klem Zareff decided. "Somebody's got to
stay here and keep an eye on that snake."

"No, nor me," Tom Brangwyn said. "And if he starts praying again, I'm
going to go and pray along with him."

Conn stayed, too, and so did Jerry Rivas and Anse Dawes. They watched
the newscast of the lift-out, a week later. It was peaceful and
harmonious; everybody, regardless of their attitudes on Merlin, seemed
agreed that this was the beginning of a new prosperity for the planet.
There were speeches. The bands played "Genji Gartner's Body," and the
"Spaceman's Hymn."

And, at the last, when the officers and crew were going aboard, Conn
saw his sister Flora clinging to Wade Lucas's arm. She was one of the
small party who went aboard for a final farewell. When she came off,
along with Sylvie, she was wiping her eyes, and Sylvie was comforting
her. Seeing that made Conn feel better even than watching the ship
itself lift away from Storisende.

XIX

When Sylvie returned from Storisende, she had Flora with her. Conn's
sister greeted him embarrassedly; Sylvie led both of them out of the
crowd and over to the edge of the excavation.

"Go ahead, Flora," she urged. "Make up with Conn. It won't be any
harder than making up with Wade was."

"How did that happen, by the way?" Conn asked.

"Your girlfriend," Flora said. "She came to the house and practically
forced me into a car and flew me into Storisende, and then made me
keep quiet and listen while Wade told me the truth."

"I wasn't completely sure what the truth was myself till Wade opened
up," Sylvie admitted. "I had a pretty good idea, though."

"I always hated that Merlin thing," Flora burst out. "All those old
men in Fawzi's office, dreaming about the wonderful things Merlin was
going to do, with everything crumbling around them and everybody
getting poorer every year, and doing nothing, nothing! And when you
were coming home, I was expecting you to tell them there was no Merlin
and to go to work and do something for themselves. But you didn't, and
I couldn't see what you were trying to do. And then when Wade joined
you and Father, I thought he was either helping you put over some kind
of a swindle or else he'd started believing in Merlin himself. I
should have seen what you were trying to do from the beginning. At
least, from when you talked them into cleaning the town up and fixing