Ragen spun around and caught him in the groin with his foot. When he went down, Ragen kicked him with his other foot, smashing his face. Blood burst from the man’s nose and he gagged through broken teeth.

“You vill live,” Ragen said calmly. “I am very careful vat bones I break.”

He looked at the other man on the floor. Though he had not been hit in the face, blood was trickling from his mouth. As Ragen had calculated when he struck, the blow to the solar plexus had put pressure on the epiglottis and ruptured the blood vessels. He, too, would live. Ragen stripped the Seiko watch from the mans wrist.

Outside, Ragen noticed the two empty cars. He picked up a rock and smashed the headlights. They would not follow on the highway without lights.

Ragen drove home, let himself into the apartment, looked . around to make sure it was safe and left the spot …

Allen opened his eyes, wondering if he should bother to use the john. He shook his head when he found himself home. He no longer had to piss. And his knuckles were bruised. And what was that stuff on his right shoe? He touched it and examined it.

“Jesus Christ!” he yelled. “Whose blood is it? Who the hells been in a fight? I wanna know. I have the right to know what’s going on.”

“Ragen had to protect Danny,” Arthur said.

“What happened?”

Arthur explained to all of them: “Its very important for the young ones to know that roadside-rest areas are dangerous places at night. Its a well-known fact that homosexuals frequent these places after dark. Ragen had to get Danny out of a dangerous situation that Allen let him get into.”

“Well, Jesus, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t ask to leave the spot, and I didn’t make Danny come. Who the hell knows who’s coming and who’s going and what all they’re doing during a mix-up time?”

“I should a been dere,” Philip said. “I’d like to have taken on dem fags.”

“You’d have gotten yourself killed,” Allen said.

“Or else you’d have done something stupid,” Arthur said, “like killing one of them. And then we’d face a bloody murder charge.”

“Ahhh …”

“Besides, you are not allowed on the spot,” Arthur said firmly.

“I know, but I’da still of liked tuh be dere.”

“I am beginning to suspect you’ve been stealing time, taking advantage of mix-up periods to go about your antisocial business. ”

“Who, me? Nah.”

“I know you’ve been out. You’re a drug addict and you’ve been abusing your body and your mind.”

“You callin’ me a liar?”

“That is one of your attributes. You are a defective android, and I assure you that as far as it is in my power to prevent it, you will never hold the consciousness again.”

Philip slipped back into the darkness, wondering what an android was. He wasn’t going to ask Arthur to explain. He wasn’t going to give that goddamned limey the satisfaction of getting on his case again. He’d get out whenever he had the chance. He knew that ever since Zanesville, Arthur’s domination had weakened. As long as there was pot or speed or even LSD, he was going to sneak out and keep hard-ass Arthur off balance.