"Why do you think that?"

"Just like Hishtoo five days ago, Abdul. First, it's dan- gerous, and second, they don't need to. Or so they think . . ."

"I see- Is there anything further you wish me to do now?"

"Well ... no point in giving your Demu there any more amnesia than we have to, I guess. You might pull the field in until they start to wake up. Then if they pull back, ease it up to max. If they try to keep coming^ though, sock it to full strength and the hell with them."

"Very well. I will do so, making certain they have no chance to reach their larger weapon. And-"

"Oh-oh! I've got company." The knock at the door came slow and heavy. "I'll leave the channel open, this end. Don't be heard from there unless I ask you a ques- tion. Barton out."

He replaced the radio at his belt, activated his per- sonal Shield. He took the sleep-gun in his right hand, concealed under the robe- With his left, he opened the door-not widely, only enough to see, and to be seen.

The Demu who had knocked moved to the side of the corridor and back along it, past the group that faced Barton a few meters distant.

Foremost stood Hishtoo, his hand weapon trained on Barton. The design was unfamiliar; Barton hoped it was the sleeper, not the ion gun or something he didn't know about. Behind Hishtoo was Limila, unmasked and hood thrown back-under her disguise, she had not worn the wig- Beside her, Eeshta stood, and-Barton's heart leaped -Gerain and livajj, apparently unharmed. Behind the lot of them were five armed Demu.

"It is Barton?" said Hishtoo. "It is that you look Demu, yes, as Limila does when I find her with Eeshta.

But inside is Barton."

At least Hishtoo was talking, not shooting-up to now.

"It is that you are not to be there. Barton. You are not to become, for it is that only Demu become, and you are not Demu, but animal. It is that you are to he Demu soon, as Limila again, and these others when they learn. But still not to become, for you are not egg-born.

So it is that you are not to be where you are." Hishtoo

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beckoned with his weapon. Why hadn't he used it? And what was it, anyway?

Suddenly, Barton knew-the important parts, any- way. If it was the ion gun, Hishtoo couldn't fire it into the place of becoming-whatever that meant, and Bar- ton was beginning to have some ideas on the subject.

Ergo, for the time being. Barton stayed right where he was.

And the sleep-gun? "After they decide to make a per- son Demu," Limila had said, "they do not use it on that person."

Well, now . . . but don't get overconfident, you dumb bustard!

"It is that you are wrong, Hishtoo. It is/that I am be- come, Demu or no."

"It is not so! It is that you are not Demu^and you are not twice here!"

Twice here! "But it is that you are twice here, Hish- too. You are to become. It is that you are to enter now, and become!"

"It is not that I become. I have not that which is to be used by those who do not become . . . . "

". . . no shame to their eggs," Barton finished. He drew out the cloth bag. "It is that I have that for you, Hishtoo." He held it out. To the group behind, he spoke the first benison, in the chantlike pattern he bad heard earlier. Whether or not it strictly applied, it should affect Hishtoo.

"You who visit, see no more the one who brought you." -'

And then, to Hishtoo, "You who would become, may you become, as you wish." Again he held out the bag. "This is to use by those who do not become, no shame to their eggs."

Hishtoo moved forward, then stopped. ,

'Wo shame to their eggs," Barton repeated. Hishtoo's hands rumbled as he tucked the weapon away. Like a sleepwalker he came forward and took' the bag. Barton opened the door to admit him, then closed it, the two of them alone in the place of becoming.

Fascinated. Barton watched as step by slow step, Hishtoo moved to view a statue, then another, then a painting. Clearly the Demu had, for the moment, forgot- ten Barton's existence.

But not for long. Jaws working, Hishtoo turned on

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him. The gun was out again, the covered knife fallen to the floor. "No! No! It is not true-it cannot be! The Demu were never-" He couldn't say it. "You-it is that I curse-I curse-" The hand and arm began to shake; he dropped the weapon. But when he reached, it was for the bag-the knife.

He didn't find it. Slowly, Hishtoo crumpled to the floor and curled into a tight ball. His breathing was slow and ragged; he no longer tried to move.

Well, thought Barton, what the bell-the fetal posi- tion would be about the same in an egg, wouldn't it?

His guess had been right. But now-could he make it stick?

"Barton to Ship One. Abdul? You heard most of that -no, don't answer-here's what's important. Hishtoo took a good look at the Demu family tree and went into catatonic shock, it looks like. Barton out."

All right, back to the door. Funny, he thought-even in a crisis, the Demu could not breach their own sanc- tuary. Or maybe they were merely waiting for proper authority-he'd better take a look outside.

Proper authority was there, all right. This one's hood had no mere gold edge; robe and hood were solidly gold- colored.

Barton spoke first. "It is that Hishtoo, who would be- . come, lies without move or speech. It is not by me, but by his seeing in this place. It is that some now might en- ter and help-some who are to be here."

"It is that I am to be there," said Gold Hood, "as you are not. But you are there, though you do not be- come, being not egg-born. It is that I enter now." Barton stood aside to allow it.

"And I!" cried Eeshta,

"No," the Demu said, turning in the doorway. "It is not that you are to be here."

"It is that I am to be with Hishtoo', who is in need of help."

"It is that you are not twice here, nor grown to proper age. It is that you are to obey."

"But Hishtoo . . . !"

"It is that Hishtoo needs no help, that it is with Hish- too as with all who first enter here. Hishloo becomes, or uses that which is needed-the only choice of all who

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would become. It is that you, the young, remain outside the place of becoming and be silent."

"No." Eeshta advanced. "I am once here; I do not come twice. It is that I enter now, to become or not." In a quandary. Barton followed his hunch and let'her in, blocking the other's attempt to bar her.

For long seconds, Eeshta looked around the room.

The young Demu drew in a great gasp. Then, unmistak- ably, came the pulsed hiss of Demu laughter. "Oh, Bar- ton! Poor Hishtoo!" No longer laughing, she shook her head. "I am right to help him-without help he cannot see this and still live."