of them is
sixteen, and it is true that not one of them has any reverence for
college degrees, because the entrance requirements demand the scholastic
level of bachelor in the arts, the sciences, in language and literature.
The mark of their progress is not stated in grades, but rather in the
number of supplementary degrees for which they qualify. The honors of
their graduation are noted by the number of doctorates they acquire.
Their goal is the title of Scholar, without which they may not attend
college for their ultimate education.

But they do not have the "look of eagles" nor do they act as if they felt
some divine purpose fill their lives. They do not lead the pack in an
easy lope, for who holds rank when admirals meet? They are not dedicated
nor single-minded; if their jokes and pranks start on a higher or lower
plane, it is just because they have better minds than their forebears at
the same time.

On the fringe of this group, an olive-skinned Brazilian co-ed asks:
"Where's Martha?"

John Philips looks up from a diagram of fieldmatrics he's been using to
lay out a football play. "She's lending moral support to Holden. He's
sweating out his scholar's impromptu this afternoon."

"Why should he be stewing?"

John Philips smiles knowingly. "Tony Dirk put the triple-whammy on him.
Gimmicked up the random-choice selector in the Regent's office. Herr von
James is discoursing on the subjects of Medicine, Astronomy, and
Psychology--that is if Dirk knows his stuff."

Tony Dirk looks down from his study of a fluffy cloud. "Anybody care to
hazard some loose change on my ability?"

"But why?"

"Oh," replies Philips, "we figure that the first graduating class could
use a professional _Astrologer_! We'll be the first in history to have
one--if M'sieu Holden can tie Medicine, Astronomy, and Psychology into
something cogent in his impromptu."

It is a strange tongue they are using, probably the first birth-pains of
a truly universal language. By some tacit agreement, personal questions
are voiced in French, the reply in Spanish. Impersonal questions are
Italian and the response in Portuguese. Anything of a scientific nature
must be in German; law, language, or literature in English; art in
Japanese; music in Greek; medicine in Latin; agriculture in Czech.
Anything laudatory in Mandarin, derogatory in Sanskrit--and _ad libitum_
at any point for any subject.

Anita Lowes has been trying to attract the attention of Joh