After a moment of pondering. Emmanuel said, 'That would be a foolish choice. He might be wrong. And he loses nothing by accepting the assistance of the Beside-Helper."

In practice, however,' Zina said, most souls about to be judged reject the offer of advocacy by the Beside-Helper."

'On what basis?" He could not fathom their reasoning.

Zina said, 'On the basis that they are sure they are innocent. To receive this help the person must go with the pessimistic as- sumption that he is guilty, even though his own assessment of himself is one of innocence. The truly innocent need no Beside- Helper, just as the physically healthy need no physician. In a situation of this kind the optimistic assumption is perilous. It's the bail-out theorem that little creatures employ when they con- struct a burrow. If they are wise they build a second exit to their burrow, operating on the pessimistic assumption that the first one will be found by a predator. All creatures who did not use their theorem are no longer with us."

Emmanuel said, It is degrading to a man that he must con- sider himself sinful."

'It's degrading to a gopher to have to admit that his burrow may not be perfectly built, that a predator may find it."

'You are talking about an adversary situation. Is divine jus- tice an adversary situation'? Is there a prosecutor?"

'Yes, there is a prosecutor of man in the divine court: it is Satan. There is the Advocate who defends the accused human. and Satan who impugns and indicts him. The Advocate, standing beside the man, defends him and speaks for him: Satan, confront- ing the man, accuses him. Would you wish man to have an accu- ser and not a defender? Would that seem just'?"

"But innocence must be presumed."

The girl's eyes gleamed. "Precisely the point made by the Advocate in each trial that takes place. Hence he substitutes his own blameless record for that of his client, and justifies the man by surrogation."