She turned towards Blake. 'Wouldn't you know, she said, 'that the senator, who lives in a house built three hundred years ago and brags about there being not a single gadget in it…

'The chef, said the senator. 'You forget the chef.

She ignored him. 'And brags about not a single gadget in it, would align himself with the wild-eyed bunch, with the arch-progressives, with the far-out gang?

The senator sputtered. 'Not a thing far-out about it. It just makes common sense. It will cost trillions of dollars to terraform a single planet. At a cost much more reasonable, and in a fraction of the time required, we can engineer a human race that could live upon that planet. Instead of changing the planet to fit the man, we change the man to fit the planet…

'That's exactly the point, said Elaine. 'That's the point your opponents have been making. Change the man — that's the thing that sticks fast inside their craws. When you got through, this thing that would live upon another planet would not be a man.

'It might not look like one, said the senator, 'but it still would be a man.

She said to Blake. 'You understand, of course, that I'm not against the senator. But there are times when it's terribly hard to make him realize what he's up against.

'My daughter, said the senator, 'plays my devil's advocate and at times it is a service. But in this instance there is no particular need. I know the bitterness of the opposition.

He lifted the decanter.

Blake shook his head. 'If there is some way I can get back home. It has been quite a night.

'You could stay the night with us.

'Thank you, senator, but if there is some way…

'Certainly, said the senator. 'One of the guards can take you. We had better use the ground car. Bad night for a floater.

'I would appreciate it.

'It'll give one of the guards a chance to be of use, said the senator. 'Driving you home, they won't be seeing wolves. By the way, when you, were out there, you didn't see a wolf?