THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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were almost invisible in the shadows. As they entered, Tom Brangwyn went
to the long table and took off his belt and holster, laying it down. One
by one, the others unbuckled their weapons and added them to the pile.
Klem Zareff's cane went on the table with his pistol; there was a sword
inside it.

That was something else he was seeing with new eyes. He hadn't started
carrying a gun when he had left for Terra, and he was wondering, now,
why any of them bothered to. Why, there wouldn't be a shooting a year in
Litchfield, if you didn't count the Tramptowners, and they stayed south
of the docks and off the top level.

Or perhaps that was just it. Litchfield was peaceful because[Pg 14]
everybody was prepared to keep it that way. It certainly wasn't because
of anything the Planetary Government did to maintain order.

Now Brangwyn was setting out glasses, filling a pitcher from a keg in