Aside from the liaisons with the females, which are very frag­mentary at best, I have little to do with the two hundred and forty-seven others who were my crewmates and who now live with me in the enclosure. Meetings and socialization on some level are frequent but I remain aloof. I desire as little contact with them as possible.

This was not always the case. When we left our system we were bound into a tight society built upon hierarchical levels which would keep us closely knit for the duration of the mission. Within that hierarchy I had contact with many of my companions, always through assigned roles. That society broke down completely, however, when we were brought to the enclosure and it has never reconstituted itself. I do not think that it was meant to remain under such conditions.

The fact is that we have—all of us now—become sullen with one another and somehow withdrawn. Fornication with the fe­males, while necessary to my limited sense of well-being, can hardly be thought of as a true system of relationships and I have abandoned all contact with those who were my immediate supe­riors or inferiors in the society of the voyage. As that hierarchy was conceived, of course, one’s closest connections extended only a few levels above and below and all two hundred and forty-eight of us were strictly ranked for many reasons, the least of them compatability.

(I was, for what this matters, one hundred and fifty-eighth. This does not mean that there were one hundred and fifty-seven aboard more worthy or intelligent than I, but on the other hand there were ninety who were definitely less so. Those who established the hierarchy certainly had their reasons.)

Life in the enclosure has brought an end to this culture without the establishment of a substitute, a common manifestation of culture lag.

Initially it was strange to see many of those ranked far above me reacting to these demeaning circumstances with even less dig­nity than I, as well as to observe the pitiful attempts they made to hold onto the prerogatives of their ranking in a circumstance which eliminated differentiation among us. Those at the bottom of the hierarchy, on the other hand, seemed to do much better. This might have been expected. The feeling of strangeness passed when I came to understand that the society of the ship was as arbitrary and imposed as what had been done to us in the enclosure; and the enclosure, in a way, was a fairer circumstance because it was not our fault. What we had done to ourselves on our own devices was almost as unspeakable as the worst which the aliens had done to us.

Soon after I had this insight, I began to separate myself from my shipmates and wrap myself in layers of isolation.

Because of this I quickly achieved a reputation for insolence among my peers but, oddly, the reputation brought with it a mea­sure of respect and I found that I was able to take my pleasure easily with females at all levels of the old hierarchy. We were back in the natural state, all of the restraints were gone and, above or below, I could make them come to me simply by stating demands in my new way and refusing to be denied. The surpassing ease with which I was able to copulate with females of all types and levels only taught me something which I should have known a long time ago anyway: the females, even more than we, need an interlocking series of power relationships, need to have their roles defined, and are made easily submissive by a male who will enable them to sense his power. My therapist hints that this characteristic of females exists in his culture as well but I have had no chance to verify this.

I am not trying to say that I am truly happy here, or that this variety of sexual entanglements has given me real pleasure. It has not. I am not happy here. I am merely passing the time. Like all of us I want desperately to be free of the enclosure, free of this accursed world and back on the ship again, heading toward our system and liberty. My therapist assures me that the ship has been perfectly preserved, in working condition, on a large plain not four hundred miles from here and that in accordance with our technological instruction and revelation it has been maintained perfectly. I want to be on it. It is fully operative and could leave at any time. I want to be on it. Their politicians have not yet decided, however, whether we will be released from the enclosure or, if released, whether we may take the ship. I want to be on the ship, no matter how superficially adjusted I may seem. I can only hope that the ship has not long since been destroyed or, worse yet, tenanted by some two hundred and forty-eight natives ofthis planet, who will return to our system with malevolent intent and the technological means to destroy our civilization. I do not think that this is so; my therapist tells me that out psychological and sociological revelations have for the first time brought his race to their senses. But who knows? How can one be sure? What certainties exist?

It might be quite sensible, from their point of view, to try to locate our system and destroy us. We have taught them so much. We have given them the means. And they know now how vul­nerable we are.