
a skull pointed like a howitzer shell and steadily widened downwards through massive,
sloping shoulders, a barrellike torso and legs which were easily as thick as Peace's waist. The
power of these limbs was so great that, regardless of the enormous weight they supported, the
whole assemblage moved with a silent, springy gait, appearing to bounce a short distance
clear of the floor with every step.
"Wadja say, Peace?" Cleet's voice was a subterranean rumble emerging from the cavern of his
mouth, which was every bit as large as Ryan had indicated. It appeared to stretch from ear to
ear, and for one horrified moment Peace got the impression that it extended around the back
of the sergeant's head, a circular band of lips and teeth on the artillery shell of his cranium.
"I ... I didn't say anything, Sergeant," Peace mumbled.
"I'm real glad about that." Cleet came closer, darkening Peace's field of view with his blue
uniform. "And whyja move my stanchion?"
The fear which arose within Peace joined forces with the shock and despair he was already
feeling to produce the sudden realization that he could not go on like this for thirty, forty or
fifty years, that he would prefer to die at once and get it over with. And, mercifully, the means
for a swift and spectacular suicide had placed themselves before him.
"I didn't move it," he said. "I kicked it, because it was in my way. Anything gets in my way, I
kick it." He demonstrated his brand-new approach to life's problems by lashing out at the
stanchion with his foot and toppling it over. His shoes were thinner than he had realised and
the contact with the corner of the square post sent waves of pain racing up his leg, but he
stood his ground without flinching and waited for annihilation. Cleet's mouth sagged open
with amazement, a process which occurred in stages, like the gradual collapse of a suspension
bridge. He took a deep breath, a huge machine fuelling up for some monstrous feat of
destruction, then sank to his knees and cradled the fallen stanchion in his arms.
"Wadja do that for?" he whimpered. "You've scuffed the paint. What's Lieutenant Toogood
gonna say?"
"I don't care," Peace said, taken aback.
"It's all right for you—but I'm responsible for these stanchions." Cleet raised his eyes in re-
proach. "I know your type, Peace. You're nothin' but a bully."
"Listen. ..." Peace shuffled his feet, partly in embarrassment, partly to ease the throbbing in
his injured toe.
"Don't kick me!" Cleet cringed back to what he considered a safe distance before speaking
again. "I'm gonna report you to Lieutenant Toogood, Peace. The Lieutenant will fix you, all
right. You'll see. You're gonna be tweakin' yourself from now till Christmas. You'll see. By
the time the Lieutenant's finished with you your tits are gonna be upside down. You'll see."
He spun around and hurried off down the hall. His conical form was trembling with agitation
and he was visibly springing clear of the floor with every step. The group of recruits watched
his departure in silence, then— as if responding to a signal—crowded around Peace,
overturning the rest of Cleet's stanchions as they did so.
"I never saw anything like that," one man said, grabbing Peace's hand and shaking it. "I
thought that big gorilla would eat you, but you had him sized up right from the start. How did
you do it?" "It's a knack," Peace said weakly. His self-destructive impulse had faded and he
was beginning to fear that the moment of recklessness had made the outlook for his future
even bleaker than before. "I wonder what this Lieutenant Toogood's like? If somebody like
Cleet is afraid of him. ..."
Ryan eyed the door through which Cleet had vanished. "I don't like the way things are going,
men. I think I'll only stay in the Legion long enough to do the basic training and get a free trip
to some other world." Those near him, still recovering from the mental stress of having
looked at Cleet, gave murmurs which indicated they had similar plans.
The realization that he was the only man present who had not had the foresight to prepare an