She did.

He drew upon every stimulus in the bank which couldpromote sensations of pleasure and relaxation, and hedropped the city around the car, and the windows became transparent, and she looked out upon the profilesof towers and a block of monolithic apartments, and thenshe saw three rapid cafeterias, an entertainment palace,a drugstore, a medical center of yellow brick with analuminum Caduceus set above its arehway, and a glassedin high school, now emptied of its pupils, a fifty-pumpgas station, another drugstore, and many more cars,parked or roaring by them, and people, people moving inand out of the doorways and walking before the buildingsand getting into the cars and getting out of the cars; and itwas summer, and the light of late afternoon filtered downupon the colors of the city and the colors of the garmentsthe people wore as they moved along the boulevard, asthey loafed upon the terraces, as they crossed the balconies, leaned on balustrades and windowsills, emergedfrom a corner kiosk, entered one, stood talking to oneanother; a woman walking a poodle rounded a corner; rockets went to and fro in the high sky.

The world fell apart then and Render caught thepieces.

He maintained an absolute blackness, blanketingevery sensation but that of their movement forward.

After a time a dim light occurred, and they were stillseated in the Spinner, windows blanked again, and theair as they breathed it became a soothing unguent.

"Lord," she said, "the world is so filled. Did I really seeall of that?"

"1 wasn't going to do that tonight, but you wanted meto. You seemed ready."

"Yes," she said, and the windows became transparentagain. She turned away quickly.

"It's gone," he said. "I only wanted to give you aglimpse."

She looked, and it was dark outside now, and theywere crossing over a high bridge. They were movingslowly. There was no other traffic. Below them were theFlats, where an occasional smelter flared like a tiny,drowsing volcano, spitting showers of orange sparksskyward; and there were many stars: they glistened onthe breathing water that went beneath the bridge; theysilhouetted by pinprick the skyline that hovered dimly below its surface. The slanting struts of the bridge marchedsteadily by.

"You have done it," she said, "and I thank you."Then; "Who are you, really?" (He must have wantedher to ask that.)

"I am Render," he laughed. And they wound theirway through a dark, now-vacant city, coming at last totheir club and entering the great parking dome.

Inside, he scrutinized all her feelings, ready to banishthe world at a moment's notice. He did not feel he wouldhave to. though.

They left the car, moved ahead. They passed into theclub. which he had decided would not be crowded tonight. They were shown to their table at the foot of thebar in the smalt room with the suit of armor, and theysat down and ordered the same meal over again.

"No," he said, looking down, "it belongs over there."

The suit of armor appeared once again beside thetable, and he was once again inside his gray suit andblack tie and silver tie clasp shaped like a tree limb.

They laughed.

"I'm JUS! not the type to wear a tin suit, so I wishyou'd stop seeing me that way."

"I'm sorry," she smiled. "I don't know how I did that,or why.""I do, and I decline the nomination. Also, I cautionyou once again. You are conscious of the fact that this isail an illusion. I had to do it that way for you to get thefull benefit of the thing. For most of my patients though,it is the real item while they are experiencing it. It makesa counter-trauma or a symbolic sequence even more powerful. You are aware of the parameters of the game,however, and whether you want it or not this gives youa different sort of control over it than I normally have todeal with. Please be careful.""I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.""I know. Here comes the meal we just had.""Ugh! It looks dreadful! Did we eat all that stuff?""Yes," he chuckled. "That's a knife, that's a fork,that's a spoon. That's roast beef, and those are mashedpotatoes, those are peas, that's butter ...""Goodness! I don't feel so well."

"... And those are the salads, and those are thesalad dressings. This is a brook trout—mm! These areFrench fried potatoes. This is a bottle of wine. Hmm—let's see—Romanee-Conti, since I'm not paying for it—and a bottle of Yquem for the trou—Hey!"The room was wavering.

He bared the table, he banisjied the restaurant. Theywere back in the glade. Through the transparent fabricof the world he watched a hand moving along a panel.Buttons were being pushed. The world grew substantialagain. Their emptied table was set beside the lake now,and it was still nighttime and summer, and the tableclothwas very white under the glow of the giant moon thathung overhead.

"That was stupid of me," he said. "Awfully stupid. Ishould have introduced them one at a time. The actualsight of basic, oral stimuli can be very distressing to aperson seeing them for the first time. I got so wrappedup in the Shaping that I forgot the patient, which is justdandy! I apologize."

"I'm okay now. Really I am."He summoned a cool breeze from the lake."... And that is the moon," he added lamely.She nodded, and she was wearing a tiny moon in thecenter of her forehead; it glowed like the one abovethem, and her hair and dress were all of silver.The bottle of Romanee-Conti stood on the table, andtwo glasses.

"Where did that come from?"

She shrugged. He poured out a glassful.

"It may taste kind of flat," he said.

"It doesn't. Here—" She passed it to him.

As he sipped it he realized it had a taste—a fruite suchas might be quashed from the grapes grown in the Islesof the Blest, a smooth, muscular charnu, and a capiteuxcentrifuged from the fumes of a field of burning poppies.With a start, he knew that his hand must be traversingthe route of the perceptions, symphonizing the sensualcues of a transference and a counter-transference whichhad come upon him all unaware, there beside the lake.

"So it does," he noted, "and now it is time wereturned."

"So soon? 1 haven't seen the cathedral yet... .**

"So soon."

He willed the world to end, and it did.

"It is cold out there," she said as she dressed, "anddark."

"I know. I'll mix us something to drink while I clearthe unit."

"Fine."

He glanced at the tapes and shook his head. Hecrossed to his bar cabinet.

"It's not exactly Romanee-Conti," he observed, reaching for a bottle.

"So what? I don't mind."

Neither did he, at that moment. So he cleared the unit,they drank their drinks, he helped her into her coatand they left.

As they rode the lift down to the sub-sub he willedthe world to end again, but it didn't.

Dad, I hobbled from school to taxi and taxi to spaceport, for the local Air Force Exhibit—Outward, itwas called. (Okay, I exaggerated the hobble. It gotme extra attention though.) The whole bit wasaimed at seducing young manhood into a five-yearhitch, as I saw it. But it worked. I wanna Join up Iwanna go Out There. Think they'll take me when I'm old enuff? I mean take me Out—not somecrummy desk job. Think so?

I do.

There was this damn lite colonel ('scuse theFrench) who saw this kid lurching around andpressing his nose 'gainst the big windowpanes, andhe decided to give him the subliminal sell. GreatiHe pushed me through the gallery and showed meall the pitchers of AF triumphs, from Moonbase toMarsport. He lectured me on the Great Traditionsof the Service, and marched me into a flic roomwhere the Corps had good clean fun on tape, wrestling one another in null-G "where it's all skill andno brawn," and making tinted water sculpture-workway in the middle of the air and doing dismounteddrill on the skin of a cruiser. Oh joy!