Then Loa spoke, in a worried whisper. "Maybe we're not being kind to him, Arbin. It's a hard life for a man like Father. It's like being dead compared to the life he used to lead."
"Nothing's like being dead, Loa. He has his papers and his books. Let him be! A bit of excitement like this peps him up. He'll be happy and quiet for days now."
Arbin was beginning to consider his cards again, and as he reached for one the pounding at the door sounded, with hoarse yells that didn't quite coalesce into words.
Arbin's hand lurched and stopped. Loa's eyes grew fearful; she stared at her husband with a trembling lower lip.
Arbin said, "Get Grew out of here. Quickly!"
Loa was at the wheel chair as he spoke. She made soothing sounds with her tongue.
But the sleeping figure gasped, startled awake at the first motion of the chair. He straightened and groped automatically for his paper.
"What's the matter?" he demanded irritably, and by no means in a whisper.
"Shh. It's all right," muttered Loa vaguely, and wheeled the chair into the next room. She closed the door and placed her back against it, thin chest heaving as her eyes sought those of her husband. There was that pounding again.
They stood close to each other as the door opened, almost defensively so, and hostility peeped from them as they faced the short, plump man who smiled faintly at them.
Loa said, "Is there anything we can do for you?" with a ceremonial courtesy, then jumped back as the man gasped and put out a hand to stop himself from falling.
"Is he sick?" asked Arbin bewilderedly. "Here, help me take him inside."
The hours after that passed, and in the quiet of their bedroom Loa and Arbin prepared slowly for bed.
"Arbin," said Loa.
"What is it?"
"Is it safe?"
"Safe?" He seemed to avoid her meaning deliberately.
"I mean, taking this man into the house. Who is he?"
"How should I know?" was the irritated response. "But, after an, we can't refuse shelter to a sick man. Tomorrow, if he lacks identification, we'll inform the Regional Security Board, and that will be the end of it." He turned away in an obvious attempt at breaking off the conversation.
But his wife broke the returning silence, her thin voice more urgent. "you don't think he might be an agent of the Society of Ancients, do you? There's Grew, you know."
"You mean because of what he said tonight? That's past the limit of reason. I won't argue about it."
"I don't mean that, and you know it. I mean that we've been keeping Grew illegally now for two years, and you know we're breaking just about the most serious Custom."
Arbin muttered, "We're harming no one. We're fining our quota, aren't we, even though it's set for three people-three workers? And if we are, why should they suspect anything? We don't even let him out of the house."
"They might trace the wheel chair. You had to buy the motor and fittings outside."
"Now don't start that again, Loa. I've explained many times that I've bought nothing but standard kitchen equipment for that chair. Besides, it does not make any sense at all to consider him an agent of the Brotherhood. Do you suppose that they would go through such an elaborate trickery for the sake of a poor old man in a wheel chair? Couldn't they enter by daylight and with legal search warrants? Please, reason this thing out."
"Well, then, Arbin"-her eyes were suddenly bright and eager-"if you really think so-and I've been so hoping you would-he must be an Outsider. He can't be an Earthman."
"What do you mean, he can't be? That's more ridiculous still. Why should a man of the Empire come here to Earth, of all places?"
"I don't know why! Yes, I do; maybe he's committed a crime out there." She was caught up instantly in her own fancy. "Why not? It makes sense. Earth would be the natural place to come to. Who would ever think of looking for him here?"
"If he's an Outsider. What evidence do you have for that?"
"He doesn't speak the language, does he? You'll have to grant me that. Could you understand a single word? So he must come from some far-off corner of the Galaxy where the dialect is strange. They say the men of Fomalhaut have to learn practically a new language to be understood at the Emperor's court on Trantor...But don't you see what all this can mean? If he's a stranger on Earth, he will have no registration with the Census Board, and he will be only too glad to avoid reporting to them. We can use him on the farm, in the place of Father, and it will be three people again, not two, who will have to meet the quota for three this next season...He could even help with the harvest now."
She looked anxiously at the uncertain face of her husband, who considered long, then said, "Well, go to bed, Loa. We'll speak further in the common sense of daylight."
The whispering ended, the light was put out, and eventually sleep filled the room and the house.
The next morning it was Grew's turn to consider the matter. Arbin put the question to him hopefully. He felt a confidence in his father-in-law that he could not muster in himself.
Grew said, "Your troubles, Arbin, obviously arise from the fact that I am registered as a worker, so that the produce quota is set at three. I'm tired of creating trouble. This is the second year I have lived past my time. It is enough."
Arbin was embarrassed...Now that wasn't the point at an. I'm not hinting that you're a trouble to us."
"Well, after an, what's the difference? In two years there will be the Census, and I will go anyway."
"At least you will have two more years of your books and your rest. Why should you be deprived of that?"