The robonurse's grips seized his shoulders gently. "You'll have to leave here, boy. We can't have you disturbing these people."
Larry stood up. "All right," he said. "I'll go." He had seen all he needed to see.
The stranger in the City had been right, Larry thought, as he made his way back to his home. The place to look had been in the Playground. He had seen something even more frightening than the City.
His father was waiting for him as he entered.
"Well?"
Larry sat down heavily in a pneumochair and knit his hands together. "I've seen the Playground," he said. "Yesterday the City, today the Playground. What's left to see?"
"You've seen it all, son."
Larry studied his father's pale, harried face for a moment. "I thought the City was pretty horrible. I decided yesterday I'd become a Permanent."
"I know. Your Watcher told me."