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her husband with a strange, accusing expression. She said nothing more for a long time.
    After the dinner, they sat in the living room. "I've missed you, and I've missed this town," said Courane sadly.
    "Your girlfriend has been asking about you," said his mother. "Now what am I going to tell her?"
    "Girl? What girl?"
    "You know," said his father, "oh, what's her name? The girl who works for Dr. Klopst."
    "Lilli? With the red hair?"
    His mother nodded. "She hinted that you were going to ask her to marry you, before you went away to Pilessio. What am I going to tell her?"
    "Maybe she'll wait for you," said Courane's father.
    "Wait?"
    "Until you come back," said his mother in a quiet voice.
    "When I come back, it will probably be a long time from now. I have the feeling TECT is going to keep me there a long while. Until I prove myself."
    "I knew it," said his mother again. Her eyes were dry now, but so sorrowful and so desolate that neither man could meet her gaze. "I knew it from the very beginning," she whispered.
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    On the first floor of the large house were the parlor, the community rooms, the spacious den, the kitchen and dining room, and smaller rooms given over to activities that were both practical and entertaining. On the second floor were sleeping quarters. On the third floor, under the sloping roof, poorly ventilated and dimly lit, was the infirmary. There were always occupied beds in the infirmary.
    Before his first meal on the new world, Courane was led upstairs to the infirmary to watch an old woman die. "Her name is Zofia," said Sheldon in a low voice.
    "I see," whispered Courane. He was intensely uncomfortable. He had not had a great deal of experience on Earth with watching strangers die. Perhaps here it was a custom, possibly a ritual of great significance, so he did his best to play whatever part was now his. He was agitated, though, because all the normal standards of his old life had been left behind when he passed through the gate, and there was a new set to learn immediately. He would have to learn them one by one, the way a child learns, and he would make more than one unpleasant and painful discovery along the way. He was hungry—he hadn't eaten since dinner with his parents the day before—but mentioning that fact to Sheldon couldn't possibly be good manners. Not in front of the old woman, who didn't look as though she had another half hour in her.
    He could be wrong, of course. Complaining of hunger at someone else's deathbed might well be accepted behavior here. On Planet D.
    "She was a nice lady," said Sheldon.
    "Ah," said Courane. "I'm sorry for her, then."
    "No need to be."
    "Ah," said Courane. He decided to think about Sheldon's remark later. It made him feel strange.
    In another bed beside the old woman's was a young man about Courane's age. His name was Carmine. He stared at Courane and Sheldon with a blank expression. He seemed to be resting comfortably. He was well-groomed and clean-shaven and his stiff gray gown was fresh and clean. He lay in the bed unmoving, his hands resting limply upon the coarse sheet. When Courane and Sheldon moved away, Carmine's eyes did not follow them.
    "He looks drugged," said Courane. "Are any of you qualified to care for these people? He seems over-medicated."
    "Well, he's not. We're advised about all our medical problems through our tect unit. We don't do anything that isn't prescribed by TECT."
    "What's his condition, then?"
    Sheldon's face clouded briefly. "He's dying."
    "Do you mean today?" asked Courane. If both Zofia and Carmine were expecting the angel of death before dinner, then perhaps this tour was something more peculiar than Courane guessed. Maybe it was a favorite form of entertainment, and Courane was being given a rare privilege.
    "No," said Sheldon, "only the old woman will die today. Carmine has about a month left. Neurological disorder." Sheldon turned away and went to the next bed. There was a heavy black woman sitting up with a