. Change would be
unthinkably dangerous.

Dangerous to whom? To the entrenched powers and their jackals. But the
oppressed peoples of Earth had nothing to lose, really, except their
lives, and many of them seemed quite willing to sacrifice those. Did the
rights of man stop at a full belly, or was there more?

He tried to take refuge in cynicism. After all, he was well off. He was
a successful jackal. But that wouldn't work either. He required a more
basic philosophy.

One thing that held him back was the thought that if he became a rebel,
he would be pitted against his friends--not only those of Earth, but
that strange joyous crew out in space. He couldn't see fighting against
them.

Then there was the very practical consideration that he hadn't the
faintest idea of how to contact the underground even if he wanted to.
And he'd make a hell of a poor conspirator.

He was still in an unhappy and undecided whirlpool when the monitors
came for him.

* * * * *

They knocked on the door at midnight, as was their custom, and he felt
such an utter panic that he could barely make it across the apartment to
let them in. The four burly men wavered before his eyes, and there was a
roaring and a darkness in his head. They arrested him without ceremony
on suspicion of treason, which meant that habeas corpus and even the
right of trial didn't apply. Two of them escorted him to a car, the
other two stayed to search his dwelling.

At headquarters, he was put in a cell and left to stew for some hours.
Then a pair of men in the uniform of the federal police led him to a
questioning chamber. He was given a chair and a smiling, soft-voiced
man--almost fatherly, with his plump cheeks and white hair--offered him
a cigarette and began talking to him.

"Just relax, Dr. Lancaster. This is pretty routine. If you've nothing to
hide then you've nothing to fear. Just tell the truth."

"Of course." It was a dry whisper.

"Oh, you're thirsty. So sorry. Alec, get Dr. Lancaster a glass of water,
will you, please? And by the way, my name is Harris. Let's call this a
friendly conference, eh?"

Lancaster drank avidly. Harris' manner was disarming, and the physicist
felt more at ease. This was--well, it was just a mistake. Or maybe a
simple spot check. Nothing to fear. He wouldn't be sent to camp--not he.
Such things happened to other people, not to Allen Lancaster.

"You've been immunized against neoscop?" ask