For lack of anything more desirable, Guy took to walking in the evening. He covered miles in his meanderings through this city in the center of the continent, and in doing so learned very little, but at least it kept him from being everlastingly confronted by that unnamable acclaim.
Worst of all, most of them treated his name—Gomanar—with some amusement. Guy searched his mind, and knew that it had no amusing nuance by any stretch of the imagination. He wondered whether he had assumed the name of some famous man, but a search of the libraries gave him negative evidence—which in this case was fairly conclusive both for fame and for notoriety.
His work was well received. Even when he made errors, it was overlooked, and Guy knew that others were called to task for their errors.
At last he could stand it no longer, and since his position as an instrument worker placed him in contact with numberless small, technical parts, Guy pilfered them shamelessly, and started to make a thought-beam receiver in his rooms.
And that was a project that might take a year in itself.
But it would give him the answer.
Forty days after he arrived in this city, which contained among other things the most prominent university on Ertene, Guy was walking alone in his usual habit. His steps unconsciously turned toward the university campus, and as he neared the broad campus, the pleasant strains of music came to him. It gave him a lift of spirit, and his steps quickened until he was approaching a ten-deep ring of people surrounding the vast campus.
He stood behind them, trying to look between their heads, and his curiosity caused him to press forward. The man ahead of him turned, annoyed, and his annoyance turned to pleasure. He stepped aside and motioned Guy to take his place. Guy blinked, smiled, and moved forward; it had become natural to accept these offers. A whispering arose, faint, unintelligible, insidious. Those in front of him pressed aside, one by one, and opened a lane for Guy until he could see the entire campus from the front line.
He remembered seeing a notice in the evening news; The University of Locana was holding the graduation dance for the upper classmen. It meant absolutely nothing to Guy, but the sight was interesting to see.