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. Every atom has its purpose."
"I'm not ashamed!"
"Take it easy!"
"Sorry sir. I'm not ashamed of my ancestors. I simply don't know who they were. Why, for all I know, they may have been People."
Krausa was startled. "Why, so they could have been," he said slowly. Most slaves were purchased on planets that respectable traders never visited, or were born on estates of their owners . . . but a tragic percentage were People, stolen by raiders. This lad -- Had any ship of the People been lost around the necessary time? He wondered if, at the next Gathering, he might dig up identification from the Commodore's files?
But even that would not exhaust the possibilities; some chief officers were sloppy about sending in identifications at birth, some waited until a Gathering. Mother, now, never grudged the expense of a long n-space message; she wanted her children on record at once -- Sisu was never slack.
Suppose the boy were born People and his record had never reached the Commodore? How unfair to lose his birthright!
A thought tip-toed through his brain: a slip could be corrected in more ways than one. If any Free Ship had been lost -- He could not remember.
Nor could he talk about it. But what a wonderful thing to give the lad an ancestry! If he could . . .
He changed the subject "In a way, lad, you were always of the People."
"Huh? Excuse me, Father?"
Son, Baslim the Cripple was an honorary member of the People
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