THE COSMIC COMPUTER

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the street. It was green, with black trimmings, and lettered in black,
GORDON VALLEY HOME GUARD. Tom Brangwyn was standing beside it, talking
to a young man in a green uniform.

"Hello, Conn." The town marshal looked at his hip and grinned. "See you
got all your clothes on this morning. You were just plain indecent,
yesterday.... You know Fred Karski, don't you?"

Yes, now that Tom mentioned it, he did. He and Fred had gone to school
together at the Litchfield Academy. But the six years since they'd seen
each other last had made a lot of difference in both of them. He was
beginning to think that the only strangers in Litchfield were his own
contemporaries. They shook hands, and Conn looked at the combat car and
Fred Karski's uniform.

"What's going on?" he asked. "The System States Alliance to business again?"