Malloy glanced at him sharply, then eased back in his chair. Of course, like everybody else, thanks to his Rider, Amery had total recall. Malloy couldn't even remember his first birthday party.

"Is there any way I can be of help to you, Michael?" Amery went on.

"Sure. I want my job back."

Amery's forehead squeezed into lines of distress. "Yes, I was made aware of that. But, Michael, there have been a lot of changes in the publishing business since you were with us. For instance, it would be difficult for you to proofread a manuscript today."

"I'm hardly the type who can't spell. I haven't forgotten that."

"I know, Michael, but here—have a look at this."

Amery handed over a sheet of paper.

Malloy glanced at it. It seemed a typical sheet of a writer's manuscript, though a horrible yellowish gray that made the typescript from the tatters of a ribbon almost illegible. It was also smudged with jelly-doughnut fingerprints and there were several holes burned in it by droppings of cigarette ash. Pretty sloppy, but things didn't seem to have changed much. Not until he read the paper.

—/Cynthia/—/ (walked) toward —/#((him))#/— jauntily (/).

"'Hi,'" —/she/—# called (out) to ((him)).

"'/Hello/'", 'Sweetstuff', he / said /, ((trying)) to # sound # (gay) /....

Malloy looked up blankly. "What are all the cockeyed punctuation marks doing in there?" he asked.

Amery exhaled Havana smoke expansively. "That's the way things are now, Michael. Those punctuation marks indicate whether the protagonist's thoughts are self-directed or Rider-directed, or a combination of both, and which is dominant at the time, human or Rider. They became absolutely essential with the coming of the Riders."

Malloy covered his lips with his fingers. "Of course, I don't understand this punctuation now. But I could learn it quickly enough."

The publisher shook his massive head. "No, you couldn't learn it. You don't have a Rider. You could never understand all the little subtleties."

"I could fake it."

"Never. It might get past the average reader, but the author and critics would know right away. All an editor can do 

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