Later he described the Caglioro to his friends: "--ten billion pale eels! The nightmare of a diseased mind! A human miasma!"

Similarly, Uther Offaw would later describe the circumstances, a trifle less trenchantly, as "psychic soup."

Fader addressed the group, speaking without inflection:

"This is where men come to rest, to think their thoughts and think the thoughts of others. Women, of course, have similar facilities."

Dauncy asked Fader: "How many folk are out there?"

"It is hard to guess. Persons come; persons go. Notice yonder around the balcony: a party of tourists is amused to throw coins out on the floor! As you see, it causes something of a scramble. Sometimes the tourists throw large sums, and persons become seriously hurt in the tumult."

Jardine asked suspiciously: "Is coin throwing permitted without payment of fees?"

"Yes; we stretch a point in this case. You may indulge yourself as you wish. If you have no small coins you may change sols at the wicket yonder."

Kiper said excitedly: "I'm out of coins! Who'll lend me a few dinkets?"

Kirdy said sternly: "Learn some dignity, Kiper! It's a stupid and pointless waste, throwing money away!" He looked at Fader: "We are not all of us lummoxes, despite your conviction."

Fader smiled, and shook his head.

"I deal with many kinds of people, but I make no judgments."

Cloyd Diffin spoke: "You said that the women had separate facilities. Can these be visited?"

"You may select from Tours 128, 129 or 130, as listed in the brochure. They are similar save for optional features."

"Where do men and women meet? How do they marry and form families?"

Fader said: "Our social system is complex. I cannot even provide a generality within the limits of Tour 112. Payment of tutorial fees will provide instruction to any desired level of expertise. If you care to undertake this course of study, please make arrangements with the tour secretary tonight."

The irrepressible Kiper called out: "Tonight Cloyd performs his own research! He intends to gain wisdom at the very source of such lore!"

Cloyd was not amused.

"That will be about enough from you, Kiper."

Aries pointed across the Caglioro, to where the other group of tourists stood staring up toward the ceiling.

"What is going on over there?"

Fader turned to look.

"They are paying for a spectacle. You must not look; that is the rule. If you participate in the viewing, you must pay what we call a subsidiary fee."

"Pure and total bosh!" declared Aries.

"I have paid to look out over the Caglioro. If your 'spectacle' interferes with my enjoyment of the view, I will feel free to claim a partial refund!"

Fader emphatically shook his head.

"If you are inconvenienced, simply turn your back and do not look."

Kirdy said: "Fader, be sensible. We have paid to inspect the Caglioro, together with--and here I quote the brochure to the best of my memory--'all the picturesque episodes and quaint incidents for which this surprising chamber is notorious." Any spectacles occurring during our visit are implicitly included."

"Just so," said Fader.

"Consider very carefully the thrust of that sentence. The Caglioro is not notorious for this particular spectacle, nor any other single and specific spectacle. Hence, if you watch one of these events, a subsidiary fee must be applied."

"In that case, we will look across the Caglioro as is our right, but we will ignore any and all spectacles. Fellow Bold Lions, do you hear this? Look out over the Caglioro to your heart's content, but if a spectacle interferes with your view, pay no heed. Neither enjoy it nor acknowledge its existence; otherwise we must listen to Fader's ratchety legalisms. Is that clear? Look, then, at will! But give no notice to any spectacle, should one chance to occur!"

Fader had nothing to say. Meanwhile, on a walkway high up under

the roof, a pair of old men shuffled out upon a circular platform te feet in diameter. They wore only loose trunks:

one white, the other| black. The old man in white showed disinclination, and peered with? raised eyebrows and a slack jaw down at the floor far below. He turned 3 and would have scuttled back to the walkway had not a gate barred! his exit. The old man in black hobbled forward and seized him;

the^ two wrestled, lurching this way and that, until the man in white tripped and tumbled headlong, whereupon his opponent fell upon him, dragged him clawing and scratching to the edge of the platform, and pushed him over the side.

Sprawling, toppling, the old man in white fell, to land upon a target studded with sharp staves, which pierced and broke his body. The Yips ranged around the floor of the Caglioro gave no more than a glance to the proceedings. Up on the high platform the old man in black trunks shuffled wearily away and was lost to view in the high shadows.

Kirdy turned and addressed the Bold Lions: "I saw nothing unusual, in the nature of a spectacle. Did anyone?"

"Not I."

"Not I."

"Not I."

"Nothing but ten thousand Yips engrossed in their machinations."

Uther Offaw turned to Fader: "I have just noticed a high platform up yonder. What is the reason for that, and I do not wish to pay an educational fee."

Fader allowed the shadow of an ironic smile to form on his face.

"That is used for certain spectacles which we present to tourists willing to pay. Indigent old persons approaching death, if they so choose, are allowed a luxury supplement to their rations. In return they must wrestle upon the platform, until one of them falls to his death. It is a procedure beneficial in every respect. Old persons enjoy a good diet in their nonproductive years and generate income by their passing, which otherwise would be wasted." , "Interesting! Men and women both enjoy the advantages of the scheme?"

"Naturally!"

"It seems a rather cynical exploitation of these old people," said Uther Offaw.

"By no means!" declared Fader.

"I am not encouraged to argue with you, but I will point out that because of strictures imposed upon us from without, we must use any and every means to survive."

"Hm. Might a spectacle be arranged with children as participants, rather than old men?"

"Quite possibly so. The tour clerk will be able to quote you the exact charges."