ldhood in a trank-bemused, Telly-entertained household. The fact
that he'd broken away from that environment at all was to his credit, it
was considerably easier to conform. But then it is always easier to
conform, to run with the herd, as Joe well knew. His own break hadn't
been an easy one. "Relax," he said now.

Max said, "Well, this is my first day."

"I know. And you've been seeing Telly shows all your life showing how an
orderly conducts himself in the presence of his superior." Joe took
another pull and yawned. "Well, forget about it. With any man who goes
into a fracas with me, I like to be on close terms. When things pickle,
I want him to be on my side, not nursing some peeve brought on by his
officer trying to give him an inferiority complex."

The little man was eying him in surprise.

Joe finished his highball and came to his feet to get another one. He
said, "On two occasions I've had an orderly save my life. I'm not taking
any chances but that there might be a third opportunity."

"Well, yessir. Does the captain want me to get him--"

"I'll get it," Joe said.

When he'd returned to his chair, he said, "Why did you join up with
Baron Haer, Max?"

The other shrugged it off. "The usual. The excitement. The idea of all
those fans watching me on Telly. The share of common stock I'll get.
And, you never know, maybe a promotion in caste. I wouldn't mind making
Upper-Lower."

Joe said sourly, "One fracas and you'll be over that desire to have the
buffs watching you on Telly while they sit around in their front rooms
sucking on tranks. And you'll probably be over the desire for the
excitement, too. Of course, the share of stock is another thing."

"You aren't just countin' down, captain," Max said, an almost surly
overtone in his voice. "You don't know what it's like being born with no
more common stock shares than a Mid-Lower."

Joe held his peace, sipping at his drink, taking this one more slowly.
He let his eyebrows rise to encourage the other to go on.

Max said doggedly, "Sure, they call it People's Capitalism and everybody
gets issued enough shares to insure him a basic living all the way from
the cradle to the grave, like they say. But let me tell you, you're a
Middle and you don't realize how basic the basic living of a Lower can
be."

Joe yawned. If he hadn't been so tired, there would have been more
amusement in the situation.

Max was still dogged. "Unless you can add to those shares of