'This village? asked the senator. 'Nearby, I presume.

'I don't actually know, said Blake. 'Something funny happened to me. I don't know where I am. The village is called Middleton.

'That's just down the valley, said the senator. 'Not five miles from here. It would seem that we are neighbours.

'I went out after dinner, Blake told them. 'I was on the patio, looking towards the mountains. A storm was coming up. Big black clouds and lightning, but still a good way off. And then, suddenly, I was on the hill across the creek from this place and the rain was coming down and I was soaked…

He stopped and set down his brandy glass, carefully, on the hearth. He stared from one to the other of them.

'That's the way it was, he said. 'I know that it sounds wild.

'It sounds impossible, said the senator.

'I am sure it does, said Blake. 'And there was not only space, but time, as well, involved. Not only did I find myself some miles away from where I had been standing, but it was night and when I stepped out on the patio dusk had just begun to fall.

'I am sorry, said the senator, 'that the stupid guard threw the light on you. Finding yourself here must have been shock enough. I don't ask for guards. I don't even want them. But Geneva insists that all senators must be guarded. I don't know exactly why. There is no one, I am sure, thirsting for our blood. Finally, after many years, Earth is at least part-way civilized.

'There is this bioengineering business, said Elaine. 'Feelings do run high.

'Nothing is involved, said the senator, 'except a determination of policy. There is no reason…

'But there is, she said. 'All the Bible Belt fanatics, all the arch conservatives, all the prissy conventionists are dead set against it.