"When you start talking about 'duty,' I break out with hives. The trouble is, Pappy, you're a sissy, afraid of two little girls."

"Could be. Because they won't be little girls much longer. Justin?"

I thought furiously. To be invited by the Senior to take a star trip with him is not an honor to turn down. That it included an attempt to travel in time did not bother me; the idea seemed unreal. But it couldn't be dangerous or he wouldn't be taking his sister-daughters along-and, besides, I felt that Lazarus was unkillable; a passenger with him should be safe. Gigolo for his girls?-Lazarus was farcing Galahad, I was sure...as I was certain that Lad and Lori would settle such matters to suit themselves. "Lazarus, I will go anywhere you ask me to go."

"Hold it!" objected Galahad. "Pappy, Tamara isn't going to like this."

"No trouble, Son. Tamara is welcome, and I think she would enjoy it. She's not chicken like some people we won't mention."

"What?" Galahad sat up straight. "Take away Tamara and Justin...and our twins...and you yourself? Half the family? And leave the rest of us here to mourn?" Galahad took a deep breath, sighed it out. "All right, I give up. I volunteer. But leave Justin and Tamara at home. And the twins, we can't risk them. You pilot, I'll cook. As long as we last, that is."

"Galahad shows unexpected streaks of nobility," Lazarus said to no one in particular. "It'll get him killed yet. Forget it, Son; I don't need a cook, Dora is a better cook than either of us. The twins will insist on going, and I need to supervise them through a couple of time jumps; later they will have to do it alone."

Lazarus turned to me. "Justin, while you are welcome, it will be a dull trip. You would know you'd traveled in time only because I'd tell you so. I have in mind going to a planet easy to find because Libby and I surveyed it and he determined its ballistic accurately. I'm not planning to land; it's a moderately dangerous place. But it happens to be a planet I can use as a clock.

"This may sound silly. But it is hard to be sure of the date in space, other than by your inboard clocks-in particular the radioactive-decay clocks of your computer. Telling time by examining celestial bodies is difficult and involves subtle measurements and long calculation; it is more practical to ground on a civilized planet and bang on somebody's door and ask.

"There are exceptions-any stellar system with known ephemerides of its planets, such as here, or Secundus' star, or the Solar System, and others-if Dora hat such data in her gizzards, she can look at such a system and read the time by its planets as if they were hands on a clock-Libby did that with the Solar System from the 'New Frontiers.'

"But on this trial trip I'll be calibrating a time-travel clock-another matter and new. I left something in orbit around that planet on a known date. Later I could not find it, despite having equipped it so that I certainly should have found it. Uh...it was Andy Libby's coffin.

"Very well, I'll go look again, trying to split two known dates. If I find it, I will have begun calibration of a time-travel clock-as well as proving that the time-trip theory is correct. Follow me?"

"I think so," I admitted, "to the extent of seeing that it is an experimental proof. But field theory is so far from my own specialty that I can't say more."

"No' need to. I don't understand it too well myself. The first computer designed to manage Libby-Sheffield drive was a reflection of Andy's unique mind; all since are refinements. If a pilot tells you he understands it and uses a computer simply because it's faster, don't ride with him; he's a phony. Eh, Teena?"

"I understand astrogation," said the computer, "because Minerva replicated Dora's astrogation circuitry and programming in me. But I do not think that it is possible to discuss it in English, or even Galacta, or any language using word elements. I can print out the basic equations and thereby show a static picture-a slice-of a dynamic process. Shall I do so?"

"Don't bother," said Lazarus.

"Heavens, no!" I echoed. "Thank you, Athene, but I have no ambition to be a star pilot."

"Galahad," said Lazarus, "How about rousing your lazy carcass and finding a little snack for lunch? Say about four thousand calories each. Justin, I asked if you plan to go back to Secundus because I don't want you to."

"That suits me!"

"Pallas Athene, make this a private record, keyed to me and to Chief Archivist Foote."

"Program running, Mr. Chairman." Galahad lifted his eyebrows, left abruptly.

"Chief Archivist, is the situation in New Rome becoming critical?"

I answered carefully, "Mr. Chairman, in my opinion it is, although I'm no more than a dilettante in social dynamics. But... did not come here to deliver a silly message from Madam Chairman Pro Tem. I came here hoping to talk with you about it"

Lazarus looked at me long and thoughtfully-and I caught a glimpse of part of what makes him unique. He has the quality of giving full attention to whatever he does, be it a matter of life and death, or something as trivial as dancing to amuse a guest. I recognized it because Tamara has the same quality;- she displays it by giving total attention to the person she is with.

She does not have exceptional beauty, nor, I suppose, is she more skillful in technique than any of several other professionals-or even some amateurs. No matter, it is this quality of total concentration that sets her apart from other fine women of her merciful calling.

I think the Senior lends it to everything. Now he had suddenly "picked up the gavel," and his computer knew it at once, and Galahad-spotted it almost as quickly-and I stopped worrying.

"I never assumed," he said, "that the Families' Chief of Records would play messenger with a useless message. So tell me your reason."

Elaborate it? No, explanations could follow. "Mr. Chairman, the Archives should be replicated off Secundus. I came here to see if it could be done on Tertius."

"Go on."

"I've never seen civil disorder. I'm not sure of the symptoms, nor how long it takes them to grow into open violence. But the people of Secundus aren't used to arbitrary laws and rules that change overnight. I think there will be trouble. I would feel that I had carried out the duties of my office if I insured that destruction of the Archives could not mean that our records are lost. The vaults are underground-but not invulnerable. I have figured out eleven ways that some or all of the Archives could be destroyed."

"If there are eleven ways, then there is a twelfth, and a thirteenth, and so on. Have you discussed this with anyone?"

"No!" I added more quietly, "I didn't want to put ideas into anyone's head."

"Sound. Sometimes the best one can do about a weak point is not to call attention to it."

"It seemed so to me, sir." I added, "But when I started worrying I started trying to do something to protect the records. I instituted a policy of making dead-storage duplicates of all processed data at the point they enter the Archives. I had in mind copying the entire Archives, then shipping them somewhere. But I had no funding, or enough money of my own, to pay for the memory cubes. They should be Welton Fine-Grains, or they would be too bulky to ship."

"When did you start copying new accessions?"

"Shortly after the Trustees' Meeting. I had expected Susan Barstow to be elected. When Arabelle Foote-Hedrick got it- well, it disturbed me. Because of an incident years back when we were both on campus. I thought about resigning. But I had started work on your memoirs."

"Justin, I think you kidded yourself about your reason for staying. You suspected that Arabelle might make an ad-interim appointment other than your deputy."

"That's possible, sir."

"But irrelevant. You used Weltons for this copying?"