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A couple of days later, he came home and found all the windows of his dome broken. Best-sellers are often disappointing, he thought. He found a note from Embelsira, saying, “I have gone home to Mother.”

He knew she expected him to go after her, but he wrote her a note saying he was going to see his aunt who was terrified by all the riots, and put it in the mail, so she wouldn’t get it too soon. He packed his kit with his most important possessions and he took his ulerin under his arm.

When he reached Barshwat, he had some difficulty getting through the crowd in front of Earth Headquarters. All the windows were boarded up and the garbage hadn’t been collected for a considerable length of time. Just as he reached the door, a familiar voice called, “That’s the Earth spy!”

“Don’t be silly!” another voice said. “He’s obviously one of us!”

“But a traitor!” cried another voice. “Otherwise why go in there?” Stones splattered against the door, followed by impartial cries of “Spy!... Traitor!... Fool!” the last seemingly addressed to each other, rather than Clarey.