As every thinking man knows, every slave always yearns for the freedom his master denies him... But, gentlemen," said the Physician, "I really don't think we can consider any religion which has human sacrifice as an integral part as a humane religion. " " At least," added the Painter with a chuckle, "not as far as the victim is concerned. " The Philosopher looked irritated. "Bosh! What if the victim likes it that way? "...

The great merchantship Naipor settled her tens of thousands of tons of mass into her landing cradle on Viornis as gently as an egg being settled into an egg crate, and almost as silently. Then, as the antigravs were cut off, there was a vast, metallic sighing as the gigantic structure of the cradle itself took over the load of holding the ship in her hydraulic bath. At that point, the ship was officially groundside, and the Naipor was in the hands of the ground officers. Space Captain Humbolt Re

Of course , came the thought, a very good way to put out a fire is to pour cold water on it. That's a very good idea. At least, it had put out the fire. Fire? What fire? The fire in his body, the scalding heat that had been quenched by the cold water. Slowly, as though it were being turned on through a sluggishly turning rheostat, consciousness came back to The Guesser. He began to recognize the sensations in his body. There was a general, all-over dull ache, punctuated here and there by sharper

The Guesser had been fighting the Misfits for twenty years, and hating them for as long as he could remember. The idea that he could ever become one of them had simply never occurred to him. Even the idea of going to one of the Misfit Worlds was so alien that the very suggestion of it was shocking to his mind. And yet, the suggestion that the Sixer woman had made did require a little thinking over before he accepted or rejected it. The Misfits. What did he really know about them, anyway? They di

Space Captain Humbolt Reed, commander of the Naipor , looked at his Master Guesser and shook his head. "I ought to have you shot. Declassification is too good for you by far. Impersonating an Executive! How did you ever think you'd get away with it?" He paused, then barked: "Come on! Explain!" "It was the only way I could think of to get back to the Naipor , great sir," said The Guesser weakly. The captain leaned back slowly in his seat. "Well, there's one extenuating circumstance. The officers