They said nothing; he went on, uncomfortably: "There are two aspects to this; one is genetic, the other is emotional. Genetic- We three are a weird case; male and female, yet quasi-identicals. More than quasi-forty-five forty-sixths to be exact. Which makes the probability of bad reinforcement far greater than it is for ordinary siblings. - But besides that, we are Howards only by courtesy, as our genes have not undergone some twenty-four centuries of systematic culling. I'm so close to the head of the column that there was no culling at all; my four grandparents were among the first selectees, so when I was born in Gregorian 1912, I had behind me no inbreeding, no culling out, no cleaning of the gene pool. And you dears are in the same predicament as even that forty-sixth chromosome comes from me, since it replicates my forty-fifth. Yet you two seem willing to accept this high risk of reinforcement."

He paused. There was no comment. He shrugged and went on: "The emotional objection comes only from me; you two don't seem to have it...reasonable, I suppose, since the concept it is based on-from the Old Testament-has been replaced by the concept of following the advice of Families' geneticists. I'm not arguing with the wisdom of that; I agree with it-since they say No to a couple of unrelated strangers just as readily as to siblings if the gene charts give 'No' as the answer. But I was talking about feelings, not science. I don't suppose any but scholars read the Old Testament anymore, but the culture I was brought up in was soaked in its attitudes-'Bible Belt,' you've heard me call it that. Girls, it is hard to shake off any taboos a child is indoctrinated with in his earliest years. Even if he learns later that they are nonsense.

"I tried to do better with you two. I've had time enough to sort out my taboos and my prejudices from what I really know, and I tried-I tried very hard!-not to inflict on you two any of the irrational nonsense that was fed to me under the pretext of 'educating' me. "Apparently I succeeded, or we would never have reached this impasse. But there it is- You two are modern young women...but, though we share the same genes, I am an old savage from a very murky time." He sighed. "I'm sorry."

Lorelei looked at her sister; they both stood up. "Sir, may we be excused?"

"Huh? No rebuttal?"

"Sir, an emotional argument permits no refutation. As for the rest, why should we weary you with arguments when your mind is made up?"

"Well...perhaps you're right. But you listened courteously to me. I want to pay you the same respect."

"It is not necessary, sir." Her eyes and those of her sister were welling with tears; they ignored them. "We are sure of your respect, and-in your way-of your love. May we go?"

Before Lazarus could answer, the computer spoke up: "Hey! I want a piece of this!"

"Dora!" Lorelei rebuked.

"Don't give me that, Lor. I'm not going to stay politely quiet while my family make fools of themselves. Buddy Boy, Lor didn't tell you about the whammy they considered pulling on you-and that I still can. And will!"

"Dora, we 'don't want that sort of help. Laz and I agreed on that."

"So you did. But you didn't ask me to vote on it. And I'm no lady and never was. Buddy Ol' Boy, you know it makes no difference to me who does what to whom; I couldn't care less-except that it's so funny to hear 'em squeal and grunt. But you're being mean to my sisters. Lor and Laz talked over the fact that you can't make this trip without their help and they rejected that gambit as being beneath their dignity or some such twaddle. But I don't have any dignity. Without my help nobody makes a time trip. Shucks, if I go on strike, you can't even get back to Tertius. Now can you?"

Lazarus looked wryly surprised, then grinned. "Mutiny again. Dorable, I concede your point; you can keep us out here-wherever 'here' is-until we starve. I suspected centuries back that a flesh-and-blood might someday find himself in just such a helpless position. But, dear, I won't let your threats affect my decision. You can keep me from time-tripping-but I doubt if you will let Lor and Laz starve. You'll take them home."

"Oh, hell, Pappy-you're being mean again. You're a real whirling son of bitch! Do you know it?"

"Guilty on both counts, Dora," Lazarus admitted.

"And Lor and Laz are being stupidly bullheaded. Lor, he politely offered you a chance to speak your piece...and you turned him down. Stubborn bitch."

"Dora, behave yourself."

"Whuffor? When you three don't. Blow your noses and sit down and give Buddy the straight tell. He's entitled to it."

"Perhaps you had better," Lazarus said gently. "Sit down, girls, and talk with me. Dora? Keep her steady between the hawsepipes, baby girl-and we'll get her into port yet."

"Aye, aye, Commodore! But you get those two silly bitches straightened out. Huh?"

"I'll try. Who's the spokesman this time? Laz?"

"It doesn't matter," answered Lapis Lazuli. "I'll talk for us. Don't worry about Dora. When she realizes that we are content to accept your decision, she'll stop being difficult."

"Oh, you think so, do you? Shape up, Laz-or we'll be back in Boondock faster than you can say 'Libby pseudoinfinities.'"

"Please, Dora, let me tell Brother."

"Just be sure you tell him everything...or I'll tell him about things that went on in here a full year before he said you were old enough."

Lazarus blinked and looked interested. "Well, well! Did you kids steal a march on me?"

"Well, Mama Ishtar told us we were old enough. You were the one being stuffy about it."

"Mmm...stipulated. Someday I must tell you about something that happened to me at an early age in a church belfry."

"I'm sure we'd like to hear it, Brother-but do you want to hear us now?"

"Yes. Dora and I will keep quiet."

"Let me say in preface that we are not going to ask Ishtar to thwart your wishes by using the sperm bank. But there are other possibilities to which you can hardly object. Consider how we were born. I could easily bear an implanted clone from my own tissue, and so could Lor-although we might swap clones...for reasons purely sentimental since we have identical genes. Do you see anything wrong with that? Genetically, or emotionally? Or otherwise?"

"Mmm...no. Unusual-but your business."

"Just as easy-since Ishtar still has living tissue of yours in vitro-is to clone you...nd Lorelei and I would bear identical twins-both of them 'Lazarus Long' in every gene lacking only your long experience. Would you find that offensive?"

"Eh? Now wait a minute! Let me think."

"Let me add that we regard this as a last resort...if you are dead. If you don't come back."

"Don't start sniffling again! Uh, if I'm dead, I don't have much vote in it, do I?"

"No, because if we did not do it, then Ishtar would plant your clone in one of the others-or in herself, with Galahad's help. But if Lorelei Lee and I do it...we would much rather do it with your blessing."

"Mm...stipulated that I'm dead-well, okay, okay, it's with my blessing. Just one thing-"

"What, Brother?"

"Crack down on the little beast. Or 'beasts.' I was a mean one. You two were handful enough for six-but I was ornery. If you don't establish who's boss right from the cradle-he- they-I, damn it-'I' will give you so much grief your lives won't be worth living."

"We'll try to cope with...'you,' Lazarus-and we have the advantage of knowing what a, uh, 'real whirling son of bitch' you can be."

"Ouch! Am I bleeding?"

"You led with your chin, Brother. The truth is, you spoiled us...and we may find it hard not to spoil you. But we'll bear in mind your advice. But we want to say this before we leave the subject of genetics. You've had how many children?"

"Uh...too many, maybe."

"You know exactly how many and so do we...and it's a number large enough to be inspected as a statistical universe. How many were defectives?"