“Cats have no souls,” Hamilton said morbidly, watching his tomcat avidly feed. “The most majestic cat in the… — Philip K. Dick

“People like your wife are dangerous.”

“Why?” Hamilton asked.

“They don’t belong to any group. They fool around with everything. As soon as we turn our back—”

“So you destroy them. You turn them over to the lunatic patriots.”

“The lunatic patriots,” McFeyffe said, “we can understand. But not your wife. She signs Party peace petitions and she reads the Chicago Tribune. People like her—they’re more of a menace to Party discipline than any other bunch. The cult of individualism. The idealist with his own law, his own ethics. Refusing to accept authority. It undermines society. It topples the whole structure. Nothing lasting can be built on it. People like your wife just won’t take orders.”

This time, there was no punishment from above. Sighing, Hamilton almost wished there had been; the capricious personality element infuriated him. There was just too little relationship between deed and punishment; the lightning was probably cutting down some totally innocent Cheyennite, on the far side of town.

“Time to get up,” he informed her. “Don’t you hear the Almighty bellowing in the living room?”

“What’s he saying?” Marsha murmured crossly.

“Nothing in particular. Repent or suffer eternal damnation. The usual tribal tub-thumping.”