by Edward Elmer Smith and Edward Everett Evans

“ There is no such thing as opacity; everything is perfectly transparent, yet every molecule of substance is perceptible in its relationship to every other molecule in the cosmos. Senses do not exist. Sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, sathura, endovix—all are parts of the one great sense of peyondix. I am guiding each of you seven—closer! Tighter! There! Seize it, sir—and when you work the Stretts you must fix it clearly that time does not exist. You must work in millionths of microseconds instead of in minutes, for they have minds of tremendous power. Reality does not exist! ”

“ While the Omans could not understand this purely Terran reasoning, they accepted the decision without a demurring thought. “Who, then, are the two its to simulate?”
“No stipulation; roll your own,” Hilton said, and glanced at Karns. “None of these Oman women are really hard on the eyes.”
“Check. Anybody who wouldn't call any one of 'em a slurpy dish needs a new set of optic nerves.”
“In that case,” the Omans said, “no delay at all will be necessary, as we can make do with one temporarily. The Sory, no longer Sora, who has not been glad since the Tuly replaced it, is now in your kitchen. ”

“ Hilton said, and Karns agreed.
That, of course, touched off a near-riot of joy; after which the two men made an inch-by-inch study of their tremendous living-room. Then, long after bedtime, Larry and Dark Lady escorted Hilton to his bedroom.
“Do you mind, sir, if we sleep on the floor at the sides of your bed?” Larry asked. “Or must we go out into the hall?”
“Sleep? I didn't know you could sleep.”
“It is not essential. However, when round-the-clock work is not necessary, and we have opportunity to sleep near a human being, we derive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction from it. ”

“ Larry and Javvy spoke in unison. “The players and singers who entertained the Masters of old have gone back to work. They will also, of course, appear in person whenever and wherever you wish.”
Both men looked around the vast room and Karns said: “All the comforts of home and a couple of bucks' worth besides. Wall-to-wall carpeting an inch and a half thick. A grand piano. Easy chairs and loafers and davenports. Very fine reproductions of our favorite paintings ... and statuary.”
“You said it, brother.” Hilton was bending over a group in bronze. ”

“ And this ‘Laughing Cavalier’ and this ‘Toledo’ are twice as old and twice as fabulously valuable.”
“And there are my own golf clubs...”
“Excuse us, sirs,” the Omans said, “These things were simple because they could be induced in your minds. But the matter of a staff could not, nor what you would like to eat for supper, and it is growing late.”
“Staff? What the hell has the staff got to do with ...”
“House-staff, they mean,” Karns said. “We don't need much of anybody, boys. Somebody to keep the place shipshape, is all. Or, as a de luxe touch, how about a waitress? ”

“ That'll be finer.”
“Very well, sirs. There is one other matter. It has troubled us that we have not been able to read in your minds the logical datum that they should in fact simulate Doctor Bells and Doctor Blake?” ”

“ Put a woman into a house, though—especially such houses as the Omans have built and with such servants as they insist on being—and she goes domestic in a really big way. Just sex isn't good enough any more. She wants the kind of love that goes with a husband and a home, and nine times out of ten she gets it. With these BuSci women it'll be ten out of ten.”
“You may be right, of course, but it sounds kind of far-fetched to me.”
“Wait and see, chum,” Sandra said, with a laugh. ”