After a while, Jesus said, 'The police would have picked you up, both of you, a long time ago, but I asked them not to.'

'Thanks,' Orme said. He tried to sound casual, but his voice quivered.

'May I ask why?'

'You may. Nobody is going to be arrested. Ah'hab ben-Ram will be questioned severely and then released. He may be frightened enough to close up his place or ensure that it's used only for legitimate purposes. Some of his patrons will just go to other places like this. Most, I hope, will see the folly of their ways and settle down.

'You must understand that the police are aware of these places and have been since their establishment. In fact, not one has ever gone long undetected in the past fifteen hundred years. But the police are very tolerant. These places are a sort of safety valve for the rebellious youth. They get drunk, and they tell each other their rebellious thoughts. Sometimes, .they even plan some wild action, but these plans are seldom carried out. If they are, they're quickly squashed. The participants pay a high price.'

'May I ask what the price is?'

'You may. The hard-necked culprits are sent to a certain cavern where they stay until the police are sure that they have truly repented. I examine these professors of repentance myself. That way, there is no deceit possible.'

Jesus's cold tone chilled Orme.

'And what happens to those who don't repent?'

'It's best not to ask. However, only a very slight percentage of the young ever get there. You must realise, Richard, that there is such a thing as true evil. From what I've been told, you of the social democracies have abandoned the concept of good and evil. Now it's a matter of the disadvantaged, of bad social and economic conditions, of bad parents, of incorrect conditioning. The communists believe that incorrect thoughts and acts are the result of misapplied economics and wrong political thinking. Am I right?'

'It's much more complicated than that. In essence you're right.'

Jesus said, 'You know that here on Mars there are no disadvantaged, no bad social, political or economic conditions. Family life is generally a joy, and the harsh or unjust parent is quickly reprimanded by his relatives. If that doesn't help the situation, then the neighbourhood steps in.

'We've been able to form this situation because we started out as a very small community. The human members came from many races and nations, but it only took three generations to make one race. Then they had but one religion and language, and of course the early humans had as an example the Krsh, who were more advanced.'

He paused. 'And they also had me.'

He paused again. 'Earth will have me, too, in the near future.'

Orme said, 'If I may be so bold, Rabbi, Earth is a much bigger place than Mars. You have a million only to watch over. But we number ten billion, and Earth has a tremendous variety of tongues, races, nations, customs, and institutions.'

'You may be so bold. Quit being so uneasy, so humble. Relax.'

'I can't.'

'Because of who I am. Despite my great powers, I've never been able to get anybody to relax completely in my presence - except for one person. That is the price I pay for being the Messiah, the Merciful One's adopted son.'

Orme summoned up his courage.

'May... who is that one person?'

'My wife. Ah, here we are. My house. Just beyond that house with the onion-shaped roof. Stop in front of it. I could levitate from the car, but I don't like these tricks in my own neighbourhood.'

Ornate was so astonished that he almost drove past the indicated building. His passengers got out, said 'Shalom,' and walked up to the front door. It was a large house, though modest for the Messiah and God's adopted son. There were no police in sight and probably none were hidden.

Orme could not restrain his curiosity. He called, 'Rabbi, if it's no trouble. A word with you?'

Smiling, Jesus said, 'Certainly.'

Orme got out of the car and ran up to the porch.

'You flabbergasted me, Rabbi. I never heard of you having a wife. It's... unimaginable! Please don't be offended. But-'

'That is because you Christians have thought of me as The Spirit of Holiness's divinely conceived son and also as Him. You've also taken over the Christian idea that I would be defiling myself if I had intercourse with a woman. That, from what I've been told, derives primarily from the man you call Saint Paul. It was his idea that a man shouldn't marry unless he "burned", to use his quaint phrase, and just had to have sexual satisfaction. He thought that the second coming would be within his lifetime and so there was no sense in getting married and having children.

'I can't blame him for that idea, since I was responsible for it. I, too, thought - erroneously - that the day of supreme wrath was near, and I promised my disciples that some of them would still be living when it came. As for my Terrestrial celibacy, well, a wife would have hindered me, and she would have been unhappy and in grave danger.

'But, though the Messiah, I am a man and therefore subject to error. Not to mention sexual desire.'

He opened the door and said, 'Why don't you come in and have breakfast with me? We can talk a little longer. I'd planned to talk to all four of you in the near future about certain matters. But you can relay the information to them.'

Numb, his head bent, looking up from under his brows, Orme entered. The living room was well-furnished but no more than in any other house he'd been in.

Jesus called, 'Miryam!' A moment later a tall dark woman in a blue-and-scarlet robe came in. Her face was beautiful, though Orme had seen those that surpassed it. Her figure was Junoesque: big-busted, narrow-waisted, very wide-hipped, and, judging by the ankles, the legs and thighs were thick.

She kissed Jesus, and he said, 'Miryam, we have a guest for breakfast. He knows who you are and you, of course, could not mistake him for anyone else.'

'I'm happy to meet you,' she said. 'May you be in good health. I'll have breakfast ready in five minutes.'

Jesus chuckled and said, 'You still aren't able to accept the idea. Richard, I am a man, and while I could be celibate - and chaste - on Earth because I was there for such a short time, I cannot be celibate, though I'm chaste, here. Besides, the good women of my flock would criticise me - behind my back, of course - if I did not marry. They are Jewish. A home is happy only if a happy woman is under the roof. When I was on Earth, I had no home. I was a wanderer dedicated to spreading my message.'

'But... children?'

'I've foregone them. I am only home for a few days every month, and children should have a father who is with them every day. Miryam appeases her maternal feelings by teaching in a school. She understood when we married that we could have no offspring. She also knew that I would be able to see her only occasionally, but she thought it well worth it. The ecstasy of being with me for those short periods more than makes up for my absences. And I am happy with her.

'And now, let us wash our hands and faces. It's not good to sit down to partake of the Creator's bounty with dirty hands, though there are times when it's permissible.'

Orme said, 'Yes, I've read your words on that subject.'