"Do you really want to go back?" Mary demanded.
"Of course, but the risk—"
"I'm not asking you about the risk. I'm asking you if you really want to go back. Maybe you want to stay here. Maybe Earl's right. You in a uniform and a mask, with one of those needle guns. Driving a snake."
"With you in a factory-labor camp! And the kids in a Government Relocation Center! How do you think that would be? What do you think they'd teach them? What do you think they'd grow up like? And believe... ."
"They'd probably teach them to be very useful."
"Useful! To what? To themselves? To mankind? Or to the war effort... ?"
"They'd be alive," Mary said. "They'd be safe. This way, if we stay in the house, wait for the attack to come—"
"Sure," Tim grated. "They would be alive. Probably quite healthy. Well fed. Well clothed and cared for." He looked down at his children, his face hard. "They'd stay alive, all right. They'd live to grow up and become adults. But what kind of adults? You heard what he said! Book burnings in '77. What'll they be taught from? What kind of ideas are left, since '77? What kind of beliefs can they get from a Government Relocation Center? What kind of values will they have?"
"There's the id block," Mary suggested.
"Industrial designing and Technology. For the bright ones. The clever ones with imagination. Busy slide rules and pencils. Drawing and planning and making discoveries. The girls could go into that. They could design the guns. Earl could go into the Political Service. He could make sure the guns were used. If any of the troops deviated, didn't want to shoot, Earl could report them and have them hauled off for reeducation. To have their political faith strengthened—in a world where those with brains design weapons and those without brains fire them."
"But they'd be alive," Mary repeated.
"You've got a strange idea of what being alive is! You call that alive? Maybe it is." Tim shook his head wearily. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we should go undersurface with Douglas. Stay in this world. Stay alive."
"I didn't say that," Mary said softly. "Tim, I had to find out if you really understood why it's worth it. Worth staying in the house, taking the chance we won't be tipped back."
"Then you want to take the chance?"
"Of course! We have to. We can't turn our children over to them—to the Relocation Center. To be taught how to hate and kill and destroy." Mary smiled up wanly. "Anyhow, they've always gone to the Jefferson School. And here, in this world, it's only an open field."
"Are we going back?" Judy piped. She caught hold of Tim's sleeve imploringly. "Are we going back now?"
Tim disengaged her arm. "Very soon, honey."
Mary opened the supply cupboards and rooted in them. "Everything's here. What did they take?"
"The case of canned peas. Everything we had in the refrigerator. And they smashed the front door."
"I'll bet we're beating them!" Earl shouted. He ran to the window and peered out. The sight of the rolling ash disappointed him. "I can't see anything! Just the fog!" He turned questioningly to Tim. "Is it always like this, here?"
"Yes," Tim answered.
Earl's face fell. "Just fog? Nothing else? Doesn't the sun shine ever?"
"I'll fix some coffee," Mary said.
"Good." Tim went into the bathroom and examined himself in the mirror. His mouth was cut, caked with dried blood. His head ached. He felt sick at his stomach.
"It doesn't seem possible," Mary said, as they sat down at the kitchen table.
Tim sipped his coffee. "No. It doesn't." Where he sat he could see out the window. The clouds of ash. The dim, jagged outline of ruined buildings.
"Is the man coming back?" Judy piped. "He was all thin and funny-looking. He isn't coming back, is he?"
Tim looked at his watch. It read ten o'clock. He reset it, moving the hands to four-fifteen. "Douglas said it would begin at nightfall. That won't be long."
"Then we're really staying in the house," Mary said.
"That's right."
"Even though there's only a little chance?"
"Even though they's only a little chance we'll get back. Are you glad?"
"I'm glad," Mary said, her eyes bright. "It's worth it, Tim. You know it is. Anything's worth it, any chance. To get back. And something else. We'll all be here together... . We can't be—broken up. Separated."
Tim poured himself more coffee. "We might as well make ourselves comfortable. We have maybe three hours to wait. We might as well try to enjoy them."
At six-thirty the first rom fell. They felt the shock, a deep rolling wave of force that lapped over the house.
Judy came running from the dining room, face white with fear. "Daddy! What is it?"
"Nothing. Don't worry."
"Come on back," Virginia called impatiently. "It's your turn." They were playing Monopoly.
Earl leaped to his feet. "I want to see." He ran excitedly to the window. "I can see where it hit!"
Tim lifted the shade and looked out. Far off, in the distance, a white glare burned fitfully. A towering column of luminous smoke rose from it.
A second shudder vibrated through the house. A dish crashed from the shelf, into the sink.
It was almost dark outside. Except for the two spots of white Tim could make out nothing. The clouds of ash were lost in the gloom. The ash and the ragged remains of buildings.
"That was closer," Mary said.
A third rom fell. In the living room the windows burst, showering glass across the rug.
"We better get back," Tim said.
"Where?"
"Down in the basement. Come on." Tim unlocked the basement door and they trooped nervously downstairs.
"Food," Mary said. "We better bring the food that's left."
"Good idea. You kids go on down. We'll come along in a minute."
"I can carry something," Earl said.
"Go on down." The fourth rom hit, farther off than the last. "And stay away from the window."
"Ill move something over the window," Earl said. "The big piece of plywood we used for my train."
"Good idea." Tim and Mary returned to the kitchen. "Food. Dishes. What else?"
"Books." Mary looked nervously around. "I don't know. Nothing else. Come on."
A shattering roar drowned out her words. The kitchen window gave, showering glass over them. The dishes over the sink tumbled down in a torrent of breaking china. Tim grabbed Mary and pulled her down.
From the broken window rolling clouds of ominous gray drifted into the room. The evening air stank, a sour, rotten smell. Tim shuddered.
"Forget the food. Let's get back down."
"But—"
"Forget it." He grabbed her and pulled her down the basement stairs. They tumbled in a heap, Tim slamming the door after them.
"Where's the food?" Virginia demanded.
Tim wiped his forehead shakily. "Forget it. We won't need it."
"Help me," Earl gasped. Tim helped him move the sheet of plywood over the window above the laundry tubs. The basement was cold and silent. The cement floor under them was faintly moist.
Two roms struck at once. Tim was hurled to the floor. The concrete hit him and he grunted. For a moment blackness swirled around him. Then he was on his knees, groping his way up.
"Everybody all right?" he muttered.