Nancy stepped forward. "That's just it! Here all we were able to do, all we were allowed to do, was enjoy ourselves. But only in your ways. Some of us felt there were better ways to enjoy ourselves than with parties and festivals and sensation pills."
"What ways?" the man asked quietly.
The man next to Nancy spoke. "We wanted time to think. Some of us wanted to paint or write books."
"We wanted to be with our children," the woman said.
"Surely you realize by now," the man continued from behind the desk, "how insignificant these things are in comparison to the progress we've made in Dreamtown. Paintings done by hand cannot equal our paintings that are done mechanically. And as for books. One must be alone to read books and we believe that people should be together and share with one another."
"That's just it," Nancy said. "Reading a book is sharing something! You share an experience with the man who wrote the book. You tell people about it, they read it, you discuss it. That's sharing."
Another man at the desk spoke. "You talk of experience. With our sensation pills you gain much greater and more vivid experience than you ever could from a book."
"But it's not real that way," Nancy said softly. "It's not natural either."
The leader of the Watchers resumed the examination, which consisted of the same questions and the same accusations repeated over and over again. The three Rebels stood awaiting whatever it was that to be done to them, helpless to answer the charges, since there seemed to be no way for them to make themselves understood.
"What will they do with them?" Brant asked.