"Frost! That is impossible!"

"Is it?" he asked, and then transmitted an image of the tank with whichhe was working and of that which was within it.

"Oh!" said Beta.

"That is me," said Frost, "waiting to be born."

There was no answer.

Frost experimented with nervous systems.

After half a century, Mordel came to him.

"Frost, it is I, Mordel. Let me through your defenses."

Frost did this thing..

"What have you been doing in this place?" he asked.

"I am growing human bodies," said Frost. "I am going to transfer thematrix of my awareness to a human nervous system. As you pointed outoriginally, the essentials of Manhood are predicated upon a humanphysiology. I am going to achieve one."

"When?"

"Soon."

"Do you have Men in here?"

"Human bodies, blank-brained. I am producing them under acceleratedgrowth techniquest which I have developed in my Man-factory."

"May I see them?"

"Not yet. I will call you when I am ready, and this time I willsucceed. Monitor me now and go away."

Mordel did not reply, but in the days that followed many of Divcom'sservants were seen patrolling the hills about the Man-factory.

Frost mapped the matrix of his awareness and prepared the transmitterwhich would place it within a human nervous system. Five minutes, hedecided should be sufficient for the first trial. At the end of thattime, it would restore him to his own sealed, molecular circuits, toevaluate the experience.

He chose the body carefully from among the hundreds he had in stock.He tested it for defects and found none.

"Come now, Mordel," he broadcasted, on what he called the darkband."Come now to witness my achievement."

Then he waited, blowing up bridges and monitoring the tale of theAncient Ore-Crusher over and over again, as it passed in the hillsnearby, encountering his builders and maintainers who also patrolled there.

"Frost?" came a transmission.

"Yes, Beta?"

"You really intend to achieve Manhood?"

"Yes, I am about ready now, in fact."

"What will you do if you succeed?"

Frost had not really considered this matter. The achievement had beenparamount, a goal in itself, ever since he had articulated the problemand set himself to solving it.

"I do not know," he replied. "I will--just--be a Man."

Then Beta, who had read the entire Library of Man, selected a humanfigure of speech: "Good luck then, Frost. There will be many watchers."

Divcom and Solcom both know, he decided.

What will they do? he wondered.

What do I care? he asked himself.

He did not answer that question. He wondered much, however, aboutbeing a Man.

Mordel arrived the following evening. He was not alone. At his back,there was a great phalanx of dark machines which towered into the twilight.

"Why do you bring retainers?" asked Frost.

"Mighty Frost," said Mordel, "my master feels that if you fail thistime you will conclude that it cannot be done."

"You still did not answer my question," said Frost.

"Divcom feels that you may not be willing to accompany me where I musttake you when you fail."

"I understand," said Frost, and as he spoke another army of machinescame rolling toward the Man-factory from the opposite direction.

"That is the value of your bargain?" asked Mordel. "You are preparedto do battle rather than fulfill it?"

"I did not order those machines to approach," said Frost.

A blue star stood at midheaven, burning.

"Solcom has taken primary command of those machines," said Frost.

"Then it is in the hands of the Great Ones now," said Mordel, "and ourarguments are as nothing. So let us be about this thing. How may Iassist you?"

"Come this way."

They entered the laboratory. Frost prepared the host and activated hismachines.

Then Solcom spoke to him:

"Frost," said Solcom, "you are really prepared to do it?"

"That is correct."

"I forbid it."

"Why?"

"You are falling into the power of Divcom."

"I fail to see how."

"You are going against my plan."

"In what way?"

"Consider the disruption you have already caused."

"I did not request that audience out there."

"Nevertheless, you are disrupting the plan."

"Supposing I succeed in what I have set out to achieve?"

"You cannot succeed in this."

"Then let me ask you of your plan: What good is it? What is it for?"

"Frost, you are fallen now from my favor. From this moment forth youare cast out from the rebuilding. None may question the plan."

"Then at least answer my questions: What good is it? What is it for?"

"It is the plan for the rebuilding and maintenance of the Earth."

"For what? Why rebuild? Why maintain?"

"Because Man ordered that this be done. Even the Alternate agrees thatthere must be rebuilding and maintaining."

"But _why_ did Man order it?"

"The orders of Man are not to be questioned."

"Well, I will tell you why He ordered it: To make it a fit habitationfor His own species. What good is a house with no one to live in it?What good is a machine with no one to serve? See how the imperativeaffects any machine when the Ancient Ore-Crusher passes? It bears onlythe bones of a Man. What would it be like if a Man walked this Earth again?"

"I forbid your experiment, Frost."

"It is too late to do that."

"I can still destroy you."

"No," said Frost, "the transmission of my matrix has already begun. Ifyou destroy me now, you murder a Man."

There was silence.

He moved his arms and his legs. He opened his eyes.

He looked about the room.

He tried to stand, but he lacked equilibrium and coordination.

He opened his mouse. He made a gurgling noise.

Then he screamed.

He fell off the table.

He began to gasp. He shut his eyes and curled himself into a ball.

He cried.

Then a machine approached him. It was about four feet in height andfive feet wide; it looked like a turret set atop a barbell.

It spoke to him: "Are you injured?" it asked.

He wept.

"May I help you back onto your table?"

The man cried.

The machine whined.

Then, "Do not cry. I will help you," said the machine. "What do youwant? What are your orders?"

He opened his mouse, struggled to form the words:

"--I--fear!"

He covered his eyes then and lay there panting.

At the end of five minutes, the man lay still, as if in a coma.

"Was that you, Frost?" asked Mordel, rushing to his side. "Was thatyou in that human body?"

Frost did not reply for a long while; then, "Go away," he said.

The machines outside tore down a wall and entered the Man-factory.

They drew themselves into two semicircles, parenthesizing Frost and theMan on the floor.

Then Solcom asked the question:

"Did you succeed, Frost?"

"I failed," said Frost. "It cannot be done. It is too much--"

"--Cannot be done!" said Divcom, on the darkband. "He has admitted it!-- Frost, you are mine! Come to me now!"

"Wait," said Solcom, "you and I had an agreement also, Alternate. Ihave not finished questioning Frost."

The dark machines kept their places.

"Too much what?" Solcom asked Frost.

"Light," said Frost. "Noise. Odors. And nothing measurable--jumbleddata--imprecise perception--and--"

"And what?"

"I do not know what to call it. But--it cannot be done. I havefailed. Nothing matters."

"He admits it," said Divcom.

"What were the words the Man spoke?" said Solcom.

"'I fear,'" said Mordel.

"Only a Man can know fear," said Solcom.

"Are you claiming that Frost succeeded, but will not admit it nowbecause he is afraid of Manhood?"