surrounding hills and distant farmlands.
He hadn't bargained for anything like this. He had expected to find
himself in a society of cooperative and uniformly energetic human
beings. He knew now, without any further persuasion, that this had been
a vision strictly from an ivory tower.

He should have anticipated that in a group like this there would be a
sprinkling of small time thugs and dictators and generally shiftless
individuals who could not make a go of it in the society they had left.
At home you could live and work with such without ever being more than
vaguely aware of their eccentricities. Here, their deviation from
required cooperation was enough to disrupt the whole community.

He could understand the terror in Bonnie and Roddy. They had come only
because of him, with no understanding of the colony's purpose. The
present turmoil underlined their conviction that it had been pure folly
to come. Somehow he'd have to show them. He'd have to make them
understand there was a reason for being on Serrengia. But at the moment
he did not know how to do it.

* * * * *

The program called for a continuation well into the night with a long
scene at the cabin, but Ashby interrupted it as soon as they returned
from Maintown. He ordered a twenty four hour rest, because of Bonnie.
The extended period of sleep wouldn't harm Jorden.

Bonnie, however, was furious at the interruption as she came out of the
test pit.

"If you're going to let it go to the end, why don't you get on with it?"
she demanded. "The whole thing is so far off the track that you might as
well find out as soon as possible that you're not getting anywhere."

"I think we're beginning to find out a great deal. But I want you to
have a rest. The hours of this shift are much too long for you."

"You think you know what's going on inside Mark Jorden by watching the
dials and meters, but you don't, because it's not himself he's concerned
about. It's a goal outside and bigger than himself. The colony _means_
something to him. It never meant anything at all to any of the others."

"Then this is the kind of situation we've been looking for."

"But we haven't the techniques or insight to understand it. We can
analyze a man who's running away--but we're not prepared for one who's
running _toward_."

* * * * *

The night after they returned from Maintown a terrific storm broke over
the plateau