One twin took charge: "Commodore Sheffield, this is Captain Hilda, First Officer Carter, Chief Pilot Burroughs, Copilot Deety Carter. You've all met my sister but not our cousin, Elizabeth Long."

"Now introduce us over again," ordered "Commodore Sheffield." ("Commodore Sheffield" indeed! Whom did he think he was fooling?)

"Yes, sir. Doctor Jacob Burroughs and his wife Hilda, Doctor Zebadiah Carter and his wife Doctor Deety Burroughs Carter. Doctor Elizabeth Long, Doctor Aaron Sheffield."

"Wait a half," my husband interrupted. "If you're going to do that, I must add that Captain Hilda has more doctorates than all the three of us, together."

Captain Long looked at her sister: "Lor, I feel naked."

"Laz, you are naked."

"Not where it matters. Commodore, do you still own that diploma mill in New Rome? What are you charging for doctor's degrees? Nothing fancy, say a Ph.D. in theory of solid state. One for each of us."

"How about a family discount, 01' Buddy Boy?"

The "Commodore" glanced at the overhead. "Dora, keep out of this."

"Why? I want a doctor's degree, too. I taught them solid state."

He looked at the young woman in (half out of) the sheet. "Does Dora have a point?"

"She does."

"Dora, you get the same treatment as your sisters. Now shut up. All three are declared special doctoral candidates, B.I.T., required residence and courses completed_but writtens and orals as tough as you think you are smart. That diploma mill- Certainly I own it. It's for suckers. You three must produce. Two regents being present, it's official. Dora, tell Teena."

"You betcha, Buddy Boy! 'Doctor Dora'-won't that be neat?"

"Pipe down. Friends, these twin sisters could have several doctorates by flow, had they chosen to bury themselves on a campus. They are geniuses-"

"Hear, hear!"

"-and the Long family is proud of them. But erratic, insecure, unpredictable, and you turn your backs at your own risk. Nevertheless they are my favorite sisters and I love them very much."

They looked at each other. "He acknowledged us."

"It took him much too long."

"Let's be big about it."

"Both sides?"

"Now!"-they bowled him off his feet. He was standing-they hit with the same vector, with a quick assist from their "sister" Dora (she cut the gravity field for two tenths of a second), and sent him in a complete back flip. He bounced on his arse.

He seemed undisturbed. "Beautifully timed, girls. Pax?"

"Pax," they answered, bounded to their feet, pulled him to his. "We're proud of you, Buddy Boy; you're shaping up."

I decided to kick it over, learn why we had been kidnapped. Yes, "kidnapped." I got to my feet before he could sit down. "And I am proud," I said, dropping a deep court curtsy, "to have the honor of meeting the Senior... of the Howard Families."

Thunderous silence- The woman in-and-out of the sheet said, "Lazarus, there was never a chance

of getting away with it. These are sophisticated people. They have what you must have. Drop your deviousness and throw yourself on their mercy. I'll start it by telling my own experience. But first-"

She got to her feet, letting the sheet drop. "Dora! May I have a long mirror? An inverter if possible-otherwise a three-way."

Dora answered, "Teena can afford such stunts as inverters-I can't; I have a ship to run. Here's your three-way." A partition vanished, replaced by a three-way mirror, lavish in size, taller than I.

She held out her hands to me. "Doctor D.T., will you join me?"

I let her pull me to my feet, stood with her at the mirror. We glanced at ourselves; she turned us around. "Do you all see it? Doctor Hilda, Doctor Carter, Doctor Burroughs? Lazarus, do you see it?"

The two she did not address answered. Laz (perhaps Lor) said, "They look as much alike as we do." The other answered, "More." "Except for-" "Shush! It's not polite."

Lazarus said, "I always have to step in it to find it. But I never claimed to be bright."

She didn't answer; we were looking at ourselves in the mirror. The resemblance was so great as to suggest identical twins as with Lapis Lazuli and Lorelei Lee-Yes, I had known at once who they were. Captain Auntie did, too; I'm not sure about our husbands.

Those are nice teats-I can admit it when I see them on someone else. It's no virtue to have this or that physical asset; it's ancestry combined with selfobligation to take care of one's body. But a body feature can be pleasing to the owner as well as to others.

Same broad shoulders, same wasp waist, same well-packed, somewhat exaggerated buttocks.

"We're alike another way, too," she said. "What's the fourth root of thirtyseven?"

"Two point four-six-six-three-two-five-seven-one-five. Why?"

"Just testing. Try me."

"What's the Number of the Beast?"

"Uh- Oh! Six sixty-six."

"Try it this way: Six to the sixth power, and that number in turn raised to its sixth power."

"The first part is forty-six thousand, six hundred, fifty-six and- Oh, that's a brute! It would be one and a fraction-one-point-oh-three-plus times ten to the twenty-eighth. Do you know the exact number?"

"Yes but I had a computer crunch it. It's-I'll write it." I glanced around- at once a little waldo handed me a pad and stylus. "Thanks, Dora." I wrote:

10,314,424,798,490,535,546,171,949,056.

"Oh, how beautiful!"

"But not elegant," I answered. "It applies to a six-dee geometry and should be expressed in base six-but we lack nomenclature for base six and our computers don't use it. However-" I wrote:

Base six:(1O'°)~° = 1,000 000,000 000,000 000,000 000,000 000,000 000.

She looked delighted and clapped. "The same number," I went on, "in its elegant form. But no words that I know by which to read it. That awkward base-ten expression at least can be put into words."

"Mmm, yes-but not easily. 'Ten thousand three hundred and fourteen quadrillion, four hundred twenty-four thousand seven hundred and ninetyeight trillion, four hundred and ninety thousand five hundred and thirty-five billion, five hundred and forty-six milliard, one hundred and seventy-one million, nine hundred and forty-nine thousand, and fifty-six. But I would never say it other than as a stunt."

I blinked at her. "I recognize that nomenclature-just barely. Here is the way I would read it: 'Ten octillion, three hundred fourteen septillion, four hundred twenty-four sextillion, seven hundred ninety-eight quintillion, four hundred ninety quadrillion, five hundred thirty-five trillion, five hundred forty-six billion, one hundred seventy-one million, nine hundred forty-nine thousand, and fifty six."

"I was able to follow you by reading your figures at the same time. But base-six is best. Is the number interesting or useful as well as beautiful?"

"Both. It's the number of universes potentially accessible through my father's device."

"I must talk with him. Lazarus, shall I tell my story now? It's the proper foundation."

"If you are willing. Not shy about it."

"Shy'!" She went over and kissed him-a buss en passant but one in which time stops. "Old darling, I was shy before I found out who I am. Now I'm relaxed, and as bold as need be. New friends, I was introduced as Elizabeth

Long, but my first name is usually shortened to a nickname-'Lib.' And, yes, I'm Dr. Long. Mathematics. My full name is Elizabeth Andrew Jackson Libby Long."

I was more braced for it having swapped some casual mental calculation with her. I have this trick of letting my features go slack. I don't have to think about it; I've been doing it since I was three when I found that it was sometimes best to keep thoughts to myself.

I did this now and watched my family.

The Hillbilly looked thoughtful, and nodded.

Zebadiah prison-whispered to me: "Sex change."