“Of course!” someone exclaimed. “That’s Fido and Susie.”

There were murmurs of assent, but Duncan was none the wiser. He also thought that he could have chosen more appropriate names.

He was even more certain of this by the time that the monsters had reached the camp. They stood half as high as a man, and must have weighed two hundred kilos.

“What are they?” he asked. “Wolves?”

“Yes and no,” Boss answered. “They’re dire wolves. They’ve been extinct for about ten thousand years.”

Now Duncan remembered. He had heard vaguely of the experiments on genetic reversal that had been taking place on Earth. There had been much excitement a few years ago about something called a passenger pigeon, which had now become such a pest that efforts were being made to control it. And there was even talk of restoring dinosaurs when the technique was perfected.

“Hello, Professor,” said Boss. “Your hounds really shook some of us last night. By the way, folks, this is Cliff Evans, head of the

department of. animal 166 genetics at the Central Park Zoo-have I got that right? And as some of you have guessed, this is the famous Fido and Susie. Is it safe to feed them a few scraps, Cliff?”

The professor shook his head.

“Not on your life; I’m afraid they’re not terribly bright. We go to a lot of trouble balancing their diet. I should hate to get human protein mixed up in it.”

“Very considerate of you. Now, how’s the transport going to work out?”

“I can let you have ten well-behaved horses and five ditto ponies. ““That only enough for fifteen. We need at least twenty-five.”

“No problem. You can also have six miniphants. They can each take two riders, and they’re safer than horses….”

While this discussion was in progress, Duncan examined the professor and his pets. The survey did not inspire much confidence; in particular, he did not care for the way in which the scientist was covered from head to heels in smooth leather, with massive reinforcements around the throat and from elbow to heavily gloved hands. It could not have been very comfortable on a hot June morning, and presumably he was not wearing this armor for fun.

However, Fido and Susie seemed sleek, well fed, and even somnolent. From time to time they yawned and licked their chops, with a disturbing display of dentition, but they showed no interest in after-breakfast snacks. In fact, they showed very little interest in anything, and Duncan could see the truth of the professoes remarks about their intelligence. Their narrow skulls obviously contained much smaller brains than those of modern wolves; it was no wonder that they had become extinct. Duncan-himself an experiment in controlled genetics-felt rather sorry for the big, clumsy beasts.

“Attention, everyone!” Boss called. “We’re breaking camp in thirty minutes, and then we have a short trip to make—only about six kilometers. You know the restrictions on transport in New York City,

so we have the following choices-foot, horse, or m-in-i-phant. On a beautiful morning like this, Fm going to walk. But it’s up to you-who wants to ride horseback? One, two, three-was your hand up,

Bill? .. . four … eleven, twelve, thirteen … that’s unlucky—any more? No? O.K.” thirteen it is.”

“What about bicycles?” somebody shouted.

“Not allowed in the park,” said Professor Evans. “Only last year a mad cyclist killed one of my ponies. Unfortunately, he survived. If you want a bike, you can go across to Fifth Avenue and hire one. For that matter, you can walk to the 96th Street station and catch the subway. It runs every ten minutes in the tourist season.”

There were no takers, but all the miniphants were snapped up. Duncan opted for this mode, on Boss’s advice. The rest of the party elected to walk.

Half an hour later, the string of animals arrived at the camping site. To

Duncan’s astonishment, they were unaccompanied by humans. One large miniphant led the procession, and the other five kept the horses from straying. The two species seemed to be on excellent terms with each other.

“I suppose it’s the first time you’ve seen a miniphant?” said Boss, noticing Duncan’s interest.

“Yes-I’d heard about them, of course. Why are they so popular?”

“They have the advantage of the elephant without the handicap of its size.

As you see, they’re not much bigger than horses. But they’re much more intelligent, understand several hundred words, and can carry out quite complicated orders without supervision. And with that trunk they can open doors, pick up parcels, work switches-would you believe that they can operate viddies?”

“Frankly, no.”

“You’re wrong; some of them can, though not reliably yet. They get the right number about eight times out of ten.”

The leader ambled up to Boss and raised his trunk in salutation.

“Hello, Rajah-nice to see you again.”

Rajah brought down his trunk and wound it affectionatoly around BoWs wrist.

Then he bent his legs 168 and knelt ponderously on the ground, so that his riders could climb easily into the pair of seats arranged sidesaddle on his back. The other five miniphants performed the same act with the timing of a well-trained corps de ballet.

Did a boat feel like this? Duncan asked himself, as he swayed gently and comfortably out of the park. This was certainly the way to travel if the weather was fine, you didn’t have far to go, and you wanted to enjoy the view. As all three criteria were now satisfied, he was blissfully content.

The file of animals and humans made its way out of the clearing, through the belt of trees, and past the pile of rocks from which the morning’s revelation had been vouchsafed. They skirted the little hill, and presently came to a lake on which dozens of small boats were being languidly paddled back and forth. Each boat appeared to contain one young man, who was doing the paddling, and one young lady, who was doing nothing. Only a few couples took enough notice of the procession wending past to wave greetings; presumably New Yorkers were too accustomed to miniphants to give them more than a passing glance.

After the lake, there came a beautiful expanse of grass, smooth and flat as a billiard table. Though there were no warning signs, not a single person was walking on it, and all the animals avoided it with scrupulous care.

Duncan’s fellow passenger twisted around in his seat and called over his shoulder: “They say the New Yorkers are getting more tolerant. Last man to walk on that wasn’t lynched on the spot -they gave him a choice between gas and electrocution.” Duncan presumed he was joking, but didn’t pursue the matter; this back-to-back seating was not good for conversation.

From time to time Bill van Hyatt, who was riding-quite expertly-a beautiful cream-colored pony, came up to him to deliver snippets of information. Most of these were welcome, even though not always necessary.

Of all Man’s cities, New York was still the most famous-the only one

where all exiles, every169 where in the Solar System, would feel at home. Now that they were clear of the taller trees, it was possible to see many of the midtown landmarks-not only the dominating finger of the Empire State Building, but the slowly orbiting Grand Central Mobile, the shining slab of the old United Nations, the great terraced pyramid of Mount Rockefeller spanning half the island from Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River…. Duncan had no difficulty recognizing and naming these, but the more distant structures to the east and west were strange to him. That big golden dome over in-was it New

Jersey?-was most peculiar, but Duncan had grown a little tired of exposing his ignorance and was determined to ask no more nonessential questions. He could always look up the guidebooks later.

They reached Columbus Circle and started climbing the ramp up to the bridge over the Grand Canal that now bisected Manhattan. On the level below, bikes, trikes, and passenger capsules were racing silently back and forth; and on the level below them, the famous Checker Gondolas were shuttling between the East River and the Hudson. Duncan was surprised to see such heavy traffic so far north of the city area, but guessed it was almost all recreational or tourist