e found
anywhere else on Mert: appreciation, companionship, and even if life
in the sewers was filthy, it was also tolerable, and many even married
and had children--the luckiest of whom quickly disowned their parents
and were adopted by wealthy families.

But the thing which impressed Travis most of all was that none of
these people were bitter at their fate. Navel could not recall ever
hearing of any organized attempt at rebellion. Indeed, most of the
sewer people believed more strongly in the astrology of Mert than did
the business men on the outside. For each day every one of them could
look at the dirt of himself, at the disease of his surroundings, and
could see that the message of his horoscope was true: he was born to
no good end. And since it had been drummed into these people from
their earliest childhood that only the worst could be expected of
them, they gave in, quite humanly, to the predictions, and went
philosophically forth to live up to them. They watched the daily
horoscopes intently for the Bad Days, realizing that what was bad for
the normal people must be a field day for themselves, and they issued
out of the sewers periodically on binges of robbery, kidnapping, and
worse. In this way they lived up to the promise of their stars,
fulfilled themselves, and also managed to eat. And few if any ever
questioned the justice of their position.

Travis sat listening, stunned. For a long while the contract and how
to get out of here and all the rest of it was forgotten. He sat
watching the girl and her shy brother as they spoke self-consciously
to him, and began to understand what they must be feeling. Travis was
from outside the sewers, he had stayed at the grand hotel--his
horoscope, whether he believed it or not, must be very fine. And so
they did him unconscious homage, much in the manner of low caste
Hindus speaking to a Bramin. It was unnerving.

Gradually the boy Lappy began to speak also, and Travis realized with
surprise that the boy was in many ways remarkable. As Navel's
brother--Navel, Travis gathered with a twinge of deep regret, was the
big Tude's 'friend', and Tude was the leader of this particular
gang--young Lappy had a restful position. He was kept out of most of
the rough work end allowed to pursue what he shamelessly called his
'studies', and he guessed proudly that he must have stolen nearly
every book in the Consul's library. His particular hobbies, it turned
out, were math and physi