who have overrun their feed ing grounds.
'The records show that the end result of empire is-the Blast.'
But he hadn't said it well.
All but Sav peered incredulously at him. 'You claim,' Tot said slowly, 'that unless we remain primitive nomads, dependent upon the crazies, ignorant of finer things, there will be a second Blast?'
'In time, yes. That is what happened before. It is our duty to see that it never happens again.'
'And you believe that the answer is to keep things as they are, disorganized?'
'So more men like Bog can die in the circle?'
Sos stood as if stricken. Was he on the right side, after all?
'Better that, than that we all die in the Blast,' Sol put in surprisingly. 'There are not enough of us, now, to recover again.'
Unwittingly, he had undercut Sos's argument, since overpOpulation was the problem of empire.
Neq turned on Sol. 'Yet you preserve the circle by deserting it!'
Sav, who understood both sides, finally spoke. 'Sometimes you have to give up something you love, something you value, so as not to destroy it. I'd call that sensible enough.'
'I'd call it cowardice!' Tyl said.
Both Sol and Sos jumped toward him angrily.
Tyl stood firm. 'Each of you defeated me in the circle. I will serve either. But if you fear to face each other for supremacy, I must call you what you are.'
'You have no right to build an empire and throw it away like that,' Tor said. 'Leadership means responsibifity.'
'Where did you learn all this 'history'?' Neq demanded. 'I don't believe it.'
'We're just beginning to cooperate like men, instead of playing like children,' Tun said.
Sol looked at Sos. 'They have no power over us. Let them talk.' ,
Sos stood indecisively. What these suddenly assertive men were saying made distressing sense. How could he be sure that what the master of the underworld had told him was true? There were so many obvious advantages of civilization-and it had taken thousands of years for the Blast to come, before. Had it really been the fault of civilization, or had there been factors he didn't know about? Factors that might no longer exist....
Little Soli appeared and ran toward Sol. 'Are you going to fight now, Daddy?'
Tyl stepped ahead of him and managed to intercept her, squatting with difficulty since his knees were still healing. 'Soli, what would you do if your daddy decided not to fight?'
She presented him with the round-eyed stare. 'Not fight?'
No one else spoke.
'If he said he wouldn't go in the circle any more,' Tyl prompted her. 'If he went away and never fought again.'
Soil burst out crying.
Tyl let her go She ran to Sol. 'You go in `the circle, Daddy!' she exclaimed. 'Show him!'
It had happened again. Sol faced him, defeated. 'I must fight for my daughter.'
Sos struggled with himself, but knew that the peaceful settlement had flown. He saw, in a terrible revelation, that this, not name, woman or empire, had been the root of each of their encounters: the child. The child called Soli had been there throughout; the `circle had determined which man would claim the name and privilege of fatherhood.
Sol could not back down, and neither could
