children are Literates, and his program against Literacy is being
twisted against itself!"

"But you agree that we're right and he's wrong?" Prestonby asked. "You
must, or you'd never have come to me to learn to read."

"He's such a good father. I'd hate to see him hurt," she said. "But,
Ralph, you're my man. Anything you're for, I'm for, and anything
you're against, I'm against."

He caught her hand, across the table, forgetful of the others in the
office.

"Claire, now that everybody knows--" he began.

* * * * *

"_Top emergency! Top emergency!_" a voice brayed out of the alarm box
on the wall. "_Serious disorder in Department Thirty-two! Serious
disorder in Department Thirty-two!_"

The voice broke off as suddenly as it had begun, but the box was not
silent. From it came a medley of shouts, curses, feminine screams and
splintering crashes. Prestonby and Claire were on their feet.

"You have wall screens?" he asked. "How do they work? Like the ones at
school?"

Claire twisted a knob until the number 32 appeared on a dial, and
pressed a button. On the screen, the Chinaware Department on the third