"I don't think I could either, Lazarus; it's not my field of mathematics."

"If you're interested, Dora can teach you-"

"Or me, Lover Boy."

"Or Teena. What's the idea of calling Justin 'Lover Boy,' Teena? Are you trying to seduce him?"

"No, he's promised to seduce me...about a hundred years from now."

Lazarus looked at me thoughtfully; I tried to look as if I hadn't heard the exchange. "Mmm...maybe you had better take those lessons from Dora, Justin. You haven't met Dora, but think of her as about eight years old; she won't try to seduce you. But she's the brightest computer pilot in space and can teach you more than you want to know about Libby field transformations. I was saying that we felt sure of the theory, but I wanted a separate opinion. So I thought of asking Mary Sperling-"

I said, "Hold it a moment! Lazarus, in all the Archives there is, I am certain, only one Mary Sperling. I'm descended from her, Tamara is descended from her-"

"Lots of Howards descended from her, Son; Mary had over thirty children-quite a record for those days."

"Then you do mean Elder Mary Sperling, born in 1953 Gregorian, died in-"

"She did not die, Justin; that's the point. So I went back there and talked with her."

My head felt fuzzy. "Lazarus, I'm confused. Are you telling me that you've already made one time trip? Nearly two thousand years? No, I mean over two thousand years-"

"Justin, if you'll keep quiet, I'll tell you what I mean."

"Sorry, sir."

"Call me 'sir' and I'll get the twins to tickle you. I mean I went, in present time, to star PK372.2 and the Planet of the Little People. That designation is obsolete, and the new catalogings don't hook it in with that planet because Libby and I decided to toss in a joker; we felt that it was a place for humans to stay away from.

"But the Little People are the source of the concepts that Andy Libby worked out as field theory that anyone can use, and all space pilots, computer and human, do use. But I had never gone back there because-well, Mary and I had been close. So close that it was a blow to me when she 'went over.' More disturbing than a death, some ways.

"But the years do mellow a memory and I did want to consult. So the twins and I set out in the 'Dora' to try to find that planet, from a set of coordinates and a ballistic Andy had assigned a long time back. The ballistic was slightly off, but a star doesn't move far in only two thousand years; we found it.

"No trouble then; I had warned Lor and Laz most solemnly of the subtle danger of the place. They listened, and that made them as immune to the place as I am-not tempted to swap their individual personalities for a pseudo-immortality. In fact, they had a wonderful time; the place is charming, and, safe in all other ways. Hadn't changed much, one huge park.

"I orbited first-it's their planet, and they have powers we don't ken. Same as last time; a Doppelganger of a Little Person showed up in the 'Dora' and invited us down to visit only this time it called me by name-in my head; they don't use oral speech-and admitted to being Mary Sperling. That shook me but it was good news. She-'it,' I mean-it seemed mildly pleased to see me but not especially interested; it was not like meeting a beloved old friend but more like meeting a stranger who nevertheless remembered what that old friend remembered."

"I understand it," the computer said. "Something like Minerva and me, huh?"

"Yes, dear...except that you had a more positive personality your very first day than this creature who used the name of my old friend...and you've been getting positiver and positiver for the past three years."

"Ol' Buddy Boy, I'll bet you tell that to all the girls."

"Could be. Please keep quiet, dear. Nothing more to tell, Justin, save that we grounded and stayed a few days, and Dora and I consulted with the Little People about space-time field theory while the twins listened and enjoyed playing tourist. But, Justin, when the Families left there, returning to Earth in the 'New Frontiers,' you will recall that we left some ten thousand behind."

"Eleven thousand, one hundred, and eighty-three," I answered, "according to log of the 'New Frontiers.'"

"Is that what we logged? Should have been more, maybe, as the logged figure was reconstructed by seeing who couldn't be mustered, almost certainly there were unregistered children among those who elected to stay behind; we were there quite a piece. But the exact number doesn't matter. Justin, call it an even ten thousand. Given a favorable environment; how many would you expect to find there after two thousand years?"

I used the arbitrary expansion. "Approximately ten to the twenty-second-which is ridiculous. I would expect either a stabilized optimax-call it ten to the tenth-or a Malthüsian catastrophe, in not over seven to eight centuries."

"Justin, there were none. Nor any sign that men had ever been there."

"What happened to them?"

"What happened to Neanderthal Man? What happens to any champion when he's defeated? Justin, what's the point in striving when you're so outclassed that it's no contest? The Little People have the perfect Utopia-no strife, no competition, no population problem, no poverty, perfect harmony with their beautiful planet. Paradise, Justin! The Little People are all the things that philosophers and religious leaders throughout history have been urging the human race to become.

"Maybe they are perfect, Justin. Maybe they are what the human race can become...in another million years. Or ten million.

"But when I say that their Utopia frightens me, that I think it is deadly to human beings, and that they themselves look like a dead end to me, I am not running them down. Oh, no! They know far more about mathematics and science than I do-or I wouldn't have gone there to consult them. I can't imagine fighting them because it wouldn't be a fight; they would already have won against anything we could attempt. If we became obnoxious to them, I can't guess what would happen-and don't want to find out. But I don't see any danger as long as we leave them alone as we don't have anything they, want. So it appears to me-but what's the opinion of one old Neanderthal? I understand them as little as that kitten over there understands astrogation.

"I don't know what happened to the Howards who stayed behind. Some may have gone over and been assimilated, as Mary Sperling did. I didn't ask, I didn't want to know. Some may have lapsed into lotus-eaters' apathy and died. I doubt if many reproduced-although it is possible that there were sub-humans around being kept as pets. If so, I most especially did not want to know it. I got what I wanted: a corroborating opinion on a mathematical oddity in field physics-then gathered up my girls and left.

"We did one thing before we left that neighborhood: We made a ball-of-twine photographic survey of their planet, then had Athene examine it when we got back. Teena?"

"Sure, Buddy Boy. Justin, if there is a human artifact on the surface of that planet, it is less than a half meter in diameter."

"So I assume that they are all dead," Lazarus said grimly, "and I shan't go back. No, the trip to PK3722 was not a trial run time trip, but just a common star hop. The test run will be about as simple and quite safe, as it will not involve putting down on a planet. Want to come along? Or shall we take Galahad?"

"Pappy," Galahad said earnestly, "I am young, beautiful, healthy, and happy, and plan to stay that way; you are not volunteering me for any such harebrained junket I'm not making any more star hops of any sort; I'm the home-loving type. I've made one landing with Hot Pilot Lorelei at the overrides. That's enough; I'm convinced."

"Now, boy, be reasonable," Lazarus said gently. "When we do this, my girls will be old enough to want active male attention-which I am not going to supply; I would lose all control over them. Think of it as your duty."