h a minimum of cultural roots might develop differently. If it
failed to absorb our outlook, if it could start out on another foot,
it might not arrive at the same point to which we have come: a dead
end, with nothing but greater and greater wars in sight, until nothing
is left but ruin and destruction everywhere.

"Of course, there would have to be a Watcher to guide the experiment,
at first. A crisis would undoubtedly come very quickly, probably in
the second generation. Cain would arise almost at once.

"You see, Kramer, I estimate that if I remain at rest most of the
time, on some small planet or moon, I may be able to keep functioning
for almost a hundred years. That would be time enough, sufficient to
see the direction of the new colony. After that--Well, after that it
would be up to the colony itself.

"Which is just as well, of course. Man must take control eventually,
on his own. One hundred years, and after that they will have control
of their own destiny. Perhaps I am wrong, perhaps war is more than a
habit. Perhaps it is a law of the universe, that things can only
survive as groups by group violence.

"But I'm going ahead and taking the chance that it is only a habit,
that I'm right, that war is something we're so accustomed to that we
don't realize it is a very unnatural thing. Now as to the place! I'm
still a little vague about that. We must find the place, still.

"That's what we're doing now. You and I are going to inspect a few
systems off the beaten path, planets where the trading prospects are
low enough to keep Terran ships away. I know of one planet that might
be a good place. It was reported by the Fairchild Expedition in their
original manual. We may look into that, for a start."

The ship was silent.

* * * * *

Kramer sat for a time, staring down at the metal floor under him. The
floor throbbed dully with the motion of the turbines. At last he
looked up.

"You might be right. Maybe our outlook is only a habit." Kramer got to
his feet. "But I wonder if something has occurred to you?"

"What is that?"

"If it's such a deeply ingrained habit, going back thousands of years,
how are you going to get your colonists to make the break, leave Terra
and Terran customs? How about _this_ generation, the first ones, the
people who found the colony? I think you're right that the next
generation would be free of all this, if there were an--" He grinned.
"--An Old Ma