raych had not entirely left the neighborhood after he had walked them back to their apartment house.

he had eaten well while waiting for the interview with davan to be done and later had slept a bit after finding a bathroom that more or less worked. he really had no place to go now that all that was done. he had a home of sorts and a mother who was not likely to be perturbed if he stayed away for a while. she never was.

he did not know who his father was and wondered sometimes if he really had one. he had been told he had to have one and the reasons for that had been explained to him crudely enough. sometimes he wondered if he ought to believe so peculiar a story, but he did find the details titillating. he thought of that in connection with the lady. she was an old lady, of course, but she was pretty and she could fight like a man--better than a man. it filled him with vague notions.

and she had offered to let him take a bath. he could swim in the billibotton pool sometimes when he had some credits he didnt need for anything else or when he could sneak in. those were the only times he got wet all over, but it was chilly and he had to wait to get dry.

taking a bath was different. there would be hot water, soap, towels, and warm air. he wasnt sure what it would feel like, except that it would be nice if she was there.

he was walkway-wise enough to know of places where he could park himself in an alley off a walkway that would be near a bathroom and still be near enough to where she was, yet where he probably wouldnt be found and made to run away. he spent the night thinking strange thoughts. what if he did learn to read and write? could he do something with that? he wasnt sure what, but maybe they could tell him. he had vague ideas of being paid money to do things he didnt know how to do now, but he didnt know what those things might be. he would have to be told, but how do you get told?

if he stayed with the man and the lady, they might help. but why should they want him to stay with them?

he drowsed off, coming to later, not because the light was brightening, but because his sharp ears caught the heightening and deepening of sounds from the walkway as the activities of the day began.

he had learned to identify almost every variety of sound, because in the underground maze of billibotton, if you wanted to survive with even a minimum of comfort, you had to be aware of things before you saw them. and there was something about the sound of a ground-car motor that he now heard that signaled danger to him. it had an official sound, a hostile sound. he shook himself awake and stole quietly toward the walkway. he scarcely needed to see the spaceship-and-sun on the ground-car. its lines were enough. he knew they had to be coming for the man and the lady because they had seen davan.

he did not pause to question his thoughts or to analyze them. he was off on a run, beating his way through the gathering life of the day. he was back in less than fifteen minutes. the ground-car was still there and there were curious and cautious onlookers gazing at it from all sides and from a respectful distance. there would soon be more. he pounded his way up the stairs, trying to remember which door he should bang on. no time for the elevator. he found the door--at least he thought he did--and he banged, shouting in a squeak, "lady! lady!"

he was too excited to remember her name, but he remembered part of the mans.

"hari!" he shouted. "let me in."

the door opened and he rushed in--tried to rush in. the rough hand of an officer seized his arm. "hold it, kid. where do you think youre going?"

"leggo! i aint done nothin." he looked about. "hey, lady, whatre they doin?"

"arresting us," said dors grimly.

"what for?" said raych, panting and struggling. "hey, leggo, you sunbadger. dont go with him, lady. you dont have to go with him."

"you get out," said russ, shaking the boy vehemently.

"no, i aint, you aint either, sunbadger. my whole gang is coming. you aint gettin out, lessn you let these guys go."

"what whole gang?" said russ, frowning.

"theyre right outside now. probly takin your ground-car apart. and theyll take yore apart."

russ turned toward his partner, "call headquarters. have them send out a couple of trucks with macros."

"no!" shrieked raych, breaking loose and rushing at astinwald. "dont call!"

russ leveled his neuronic whip and fired.

raych shrieked, grasped at his right shoulder, and fell down, wriggling madly. russ had not yet turned back to seldon, when the latter, seizing him by the wrist, pushed the neuronic whip up in the air and then around and behind, while stamping on his foot to keep him relatively motionless. hari could feel the shoulder dislocate, even while russ emitted a hoarse, agonized yell. astinwald raised his blaster quickly, but dorss left arm was around his shoulder and the knife in her right hand was at his throat.

"dont move!" she said. "move a millimeter, any part of you, and i cut you through your neck to the spine.--drop the blaster. drop it! and the neuronic whip."

seldon picked up raych, still moaning, and held him tightly. he turned to tisalver and said, "there are people out there. angry people. ill have them in here and theyll break up everything youve got. theyll smash the walls. if you dont want that to happen, pick up those weapons and throw them into the next room. take the weapons from the security officer on the door and do the same. quickly! get your wife to help. shell think twice next time before sending in complaints against innocent people.--dors, this one on the floor wont do anything for a while. put the other one out of action, but dont kill him."

"right," said dors. reversing her knife, she struck him hard on the skull with the haft. he went to his knees.

she made a face. "i hate doing that."

"they fired at raych," said seldon, trying to mask his own sick feeling at what had happened.

they left the apartment hurriedly and, once out on the walkway, found it choked with people, almost all men, who raised a shout when they saw them emerge. they pushed in close and the smell of poorly washed humanity was overpowering. someone shouted, "where are the sunbadgers?"

"inside," called out dors piercingly. "leave them alone. theyll be helpless for a while, but theyll get reinforcements, so get out of here fast."

"what about you?" came from a dozen throats.

"were getting out too. we wont be back."

"ill take care of them," shrilled raych, struggling out of seldons arms and standing on his feet. he was rubbing his right shoulder madly. "i can walk. lemme past."

the crowd opened for him and he said, "mister, lady, come with me. fast!" they were accompanied down the walkway by several dozen men and then raych suddenly gestured at an opening and muttered, "in here, folks. ill rake ya to a place no one will ever find ya. even davan probly dont know it. only thing is, we got to go through the sewer levels. no one will see us there, but its sort of stinky ... know what i mean?"

"i imagine well survive," muttered seldon.

and down they went along a narrow spiraling ramp and up rose the mephitic odors to greet them.