But it's part of a pattern which few people haveyet noticed. Let me cite several other similar incidents.
"Perhaps you read about the group of fifty teen-aged copter jockeyswho decided to hold a transcontinental scavenger hunt. Ignoring allair-traffic regulations, they managed to run up the magnificent totalof seventeen collisions and thirty-two casualties."
"Hear about that one, Vance?" the Governor asked, his earlierfestiveness gone.
"Yes, I think I saw something about it," Duran said. "It was prettyunfortunate, but--"
"And then there was the case of the promising young New Englandbiologist who was discovered to have evolved a particularly deadlystrain of bacteria, which he had been toting around with him in anaspirin bottle," Ambly went on, his thin hands clasped tightly infront of him. "Of course, at the age of sixteen, one perhaps can't beexpected to foresee all of the possible consequences.
"So let us consider the two seventeen-year-olds who caused somethingof a sensation in Florida when they used the Branski-Baker method ofgenetic exchange to breed a quite fabulous species of wingedalligator. Several of these so called 'alli-bats' escaped into theeverglades, but it is doubted that they will be able to reproducethemselves. At least there is _some_ doubt."
The senator reached for his drink and sipped it thoughtfully. He wasbeginning to see Roger's gang's misadventure in a new light. But itwas an unfamiliar light, one that would take him a while to becomeaccustomed to.
"Perhaps the most startling case of all," Ambly went on, "concerns theNuclear Fission Society of Urania, Nevada. It is not a well publicizedfact that this quasi-academic group of adolescent physicists wasexposed in the act of assembling an elementary but workable atomicbomb. Many of the elders in this fast-growing little community areengaged, as you no doubt know, in atomic development of one sort oranother. It seemed that this interest had trickled down to theiroffspring, who showed an impressive amount of ingenuity in getting thenecessary materials. Fortunately, one youngster asked his fatherentirely too many questions concerning the actual fabrication offission weapons. The man investigated and--"
"Now, wait a minute," Duran interrupted, wondering momentarily if thewhole tale might not have been a hoax. "How much of this am I reallyexpected to believe?"
"It's all fact, Vance," Governor Gorton responded solemnly. "Fritz hasa couple of scrapbooks I'd like you to look at some time. Each case ispretty well authenticated. But the important thing is the pattern.It's really sort of frightening in a way."
"Many similar incidents have no doubt occurred of which I have norecord," said Ambly. "I'd estimate that ninety percent of such casesare suppressed, either in the interest of national security or becausethe children's parents are sufficiently influential to have the storysquelched."
"Just as we'd have sat on this one," added Gorton, "if the dang thinghadn't actually been shot off."
Duran smiled inwardly at the picture evoked by the Governor'smetaphor. However, he had to admit that the press would in allprobability not have learned about the rocket at all, had it beendiscovered prior to being launched.
"Still," he remarked, "it's odd that the papers haven't shown more ofan interest in it."
"I wrote an article on the subject some time ago," Ambly told him,"but was never able to get it published. It seems that people, for themost part, are more interested in the traditional sordid-sensationaltype of juvenile delinquency.
"Whereas, this is something different, something unique. It isn't theresult of poverty or broken homes, ignorance or twistedpersonalities--this is a mixture of genius, knowledge, restlessness,and something else I don't think we understand."
"What do you suggest be done about it?" Duran asked.
"Well, the first step," said Ambly, "is to get Congress to recognizethe problem for what it is. And even that won't be easy."
"That's where you're supposed to come in," the Governor said, grinninga little guiltily. "Fritz has been tryin' to get me to talk to youabout it for some months. I've got to admit, though, that the businessthis afternoon involvin' your son was what finally convinced me youmight be sold."
"I'm sold, Will," Duran told him. "But what's the solution? We can'tsupervise the activities of every kid in the country with an IQ abovea hundred and ten. Anyway, they're too limited as it is. That, itseems to me, is part of the trouble. And we can't hold their parentsaccountable. Responsibility has to be an individual matter. So what'sthe solution?"
Governor Gorton raised a quizzical eyebrow at Fritz Ambly, who in turnmerely shrugged. The senator glanced at each of them, then down at hisdrink.
"So there isn't one," he said.
"Whatever it is," said Ambly, "it won't be simple or painless. There'sonly one such solution, and that's the time-honored technique ofletting them grow into maturity. And even that is far from painlessand simple to those doing the growing, nor is it always the solution."
"Yet you're convinced this--" the senator paused briefly, "phenomenonconstitutes a danger to the nation?"
Ambly merely smiled. But very, very grimly.
"Well, think it over, Vance," the Governor said, getting to his feet."Say, there are a couple of hydroponics men here somewhere who arepretty interested in meetin' you. You've heard of Van Neef Industries.He's one of 'em."
_So much for the welfare of the nation_, Duran thought with a taste ofbitterness. _Now back to politics._
But he finished off his drink, and put out his cigar, and rose tofollow the Governor. Politics, after all, was the reason he had come.
* * * * *
It was two a.m. before Senator Vance Duran wearily dropped into bed.But he found no rest in sleep that night. For in his dreams he seemedto see a youngster walking, now through a forest, now through a city,now through an autumn countryside. And in the boy's hand was a tightlycapped bottle. And the expression on his face was an enigma....
Early the next morning Jack Woodvale parked the helicopter in a lotback of the city youth detention home. Five minutes later the senatorwas again talking to his older son.
"I have to get back to Washington this morning, Roger," he said. "I'vescheduled a committee meeting for ten-thirty. I suppose I could callit off, but we've got to do something about the Mars colony projectbefore public apathy forces us to drop the whole thing. Youunderstand, don't you?"
"Sure," the boy said with apparent indifference. "Maybe you shouldhave let _me_ volunteer. You'd have solved two problems at the sametime."
"Now, Roger--" Duran began. But he stopped, suddenly alert.
"Son, you weren't ever serious about that, were you? I mean all thattalk I used to hear about your wanting to go to one of the planets?"
"Ah, I don't know, Dad--"
"Please, Roger, you've got to be honest with me. I want to knowexactly how you feel about it. I know you've tried before, and Irefused to take you seriously. I realize that. But now--now tell methe truth."
And the curious thing was, he realized, that he wanted to hear fromhis son what he feared most to hear.
"Well--sure, I wanted to go," his son said. "I kept telling you,didn't I? Of course, I wouldn't want to go unless some of the gangwere going too."
"You really think that you'd be willing to leave Earth, your home,your family--"
Duran hesitated angrily, knowing it was the wrong approach. He waiteda moment, then began again.
"I'm not condemning you for it, Roger. I just find it hard to believe.And I have to be sure you know what you'd be sacrificing."
"I think I do, Dad," Roger said. "But you've got to make a breaksometime. I guess there'd be some girls going along, wouldn't there?"
Duran grinned numbly.
"I guess there would, son," he said.
* * * * *
The Senator watched the land of his home state sink rapidly into themorning haze as the jetliner soared upward. It was a sight he had seenoften, but never with the sense of challenge he experienced now. Forevery moment brought him closer to what bey
ond all doubt would be thetoughest fight of his political career. But he felt that he had logicon his side, though sentiment would very probably be against him.
He sat back, lit a cigarette, and considered the irony of thesituation. When legislation had been passed authorizing the Departmentof Extraterrestrial Development to start the colony project, a list ofcriteria had been drawn up for the would-be settler. It hadmeticulously specified the requirements of health,