"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 there'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 in 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 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."
"I'll 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.
"I'm all right," Mary said. Judy began to whimper. Earl was feeling his way across the room.
"I'm all right," Virginia said. "I guess."
The lights flickered and dimmed. Abruptly they went out. The basement was pitch-black.
"Well," Tim said. "There they go."
"I have my flashlight." Earl winked the flashlight on. "How's that?"
"Fine," Tim said.
More roms hit. The ground leaped under them, bucking and heaving. A wave of force shuddering the whole house.
"We better lie down," Mary said.
"Yes. Lie down." Tim stretched himself out awkwardly. A few bits of plaster rained down around them.
"When will it stop?" Earl asked uneasily.
"Soon," Tim said.
"Then we'll be back?"
"Yes. We'll be back."
The next blast hit them almost at once. Tim felt the concrete rise under him. It grew, swelling higher and higher. He was going up. He shut
his eyes, holding on tight. Higher and higher he went, carried up by the ballooning concrete. Around him beams and timbers cracked. Plaster poured down. He could hear glass breaking. And a long way off, the licking crackles of fire.
"Tim," Mary's voice came faintly.
"Yes."
"We're not going to - to make it."
"I don't know."
"We're not. I can tell."
"Maybe not." He grunted in pain as a board struck his back, settling over him. Boards and plaster, covering him, burying him. He could smell the sour smell, the night air and ash. It drifted and rolled into the cellar, through the broken window.
"Daddy," Judy's voice came faintly.
"What?"
"Aren't we going back?"
He opened his mouth to answer. A shattering roar cut his words off. He jerked, tossed by the blast. Everything was moving around him. A vast wind tugged at him, a hot wind, licking at him, gnawing at him. He held on tight. The wind pulled, dragging him with it. He cried out as it seared his hands and face.
"Mary -"
Then silence. Only blackness and silence.
Cars.
Cars were stopping nearby. Then voices. And the noise of footsteps. Tim stirred, pushing the boards from him. He struggled to his feet.
"Mary." He looked around. "We're back."
The basement was in ruins. The walls were broken and sagging. Great gaping holes showed a green line of grass beyond. A concrete walk. The small rose garden. The white stucco house next door.
Lines of telephone poles. Roofs. Houses. The city. As it had always been. Every morning.
"We're back!" Wild joy leaped through him. Back. Safe. It was over. Tim pushed quickly through the debris of his ruined house. "Mary, are you all right?"
"Here." Mary sat up, plaster dust raining from her. She was white all over, her hair, her skin, her clothing. Her face was cut and scratched. Her dress was torn. "Are we really back?"
"Mr McLean! You all right?"
A blue-clad policeman leaped down into the cellar. Behind him two white-clad figures jumped. A group of neighbors collected outside, peering anxiously to see.
"I'm okay," Tim said. He helped Judy and Virginia up. "I think we're all okay."
"What happened?" The policeman pushed boards aside, coming over. "A bomb? Some kind of a bomb?"
"The house is a shambles," one of the white-clad interns said. "You sure nobody's hurt?"
"We were down here. In the basement."
"You all right, Tim?" Mrs Hendricks called, stepping down gingerly into the cellar.
"What happened?" Frank Foley shouted. He leaped down with a crash. "God, Tim! What the hell were you doing?"
The two white-clad interns poked suspiciously around the ruins. "You're lucky, mister. Damn lucky. There's nothing left upstairs."
Foley came over beside Tim. "Damn it man! I told you to have that hot water heater looked at!"
"What?" Tim muttered.
"The hot water heater! I told you there was something wrong with the cut-off. It must've kept heating up, not turned off..." Foley winked nervously. "But I won't say anything, Tim. The insurance. You can count on me."
Tim opened his mouth. But the words didn't come. What could he say? - No, it wasn't a defective hot water heater that I forgot to have repaired. No, it wasn't a faulty connection in the stove. It wasn't any of those things. It wasn't a leaky gas line, it wasn't a plugged furnace, it wasn't a pressure cooker we forgot to turn off.
It's war. Total war. And not just war for me. For my family. For my house.
It's for your house, too. Your house and my house and all the houses. Here and in the next block, in the next town, the next state and country and continent. The whole world, like this. Shambles and ruins. Fog and dank weeds growing in the rusting slag. War for all of us. For everybody crowding down into the basement, white-faced, frightened, somehow sensing something terrible.
And when it really came, when the five years were up, there'd be no escape. No going back, tipping back into the past, away from it. When it came for them all, it would have them for eternity; there would be no one climbing back out, as he had.
Mary was watching him. The policeman, the neighbors, the white-clad interns - all of them were watching him. Waiting for him to explain. To tell them what it was.
"Was it the hot water heater?" Mrs Hendricks asked timidly. "That was it, wasn't it, Tim? Things like that do happen. You can't be sure..."
"Maybe it was home brew," a neighbor suggested, in a feeble attempt at humor. "Was that it?"
He couldn't tell them. They wouldn't understand, because they didn't want to understand. They didn't want to know. They needed reassurance. He could see it in their eyes. Pitiful, pathetic fear. They sensed something terrible - and they were afraid. They were searching his face, seeking his help. Words of comfort. Words to banish their fear.
"Yeah," Tim said heavily. "It was the hot water heater."
"I thought so!" Foley breathed. A sigh of relief swept through them all. Murmurs, shaky laughs. Nods, grins.
"I should have got it fixed," Tim went on. "I should have had it looked at a long time ago. Before it got in such bad shape." Tim looked around at the circle of anxious people, hanging on his words. "I should have had it looked at. Before it was too late."
A Present for Pat
"What is it?" Patricia Blake demanded eagerly.
"What's what?" Eric Blake murmured.
"What did you bring? I know you brought me something!" Her bosom rose and fell excitedly under her mesh blouse. "You brought me a present. I can tell!"
"Honey, I went to Ganymede for Terran Metals, not to find you curios. Now let me unpack my things. Bradshaw says I have to report to the office early tomorrow. He says I better report some good ore deposits."
Pat snatched up a small box, heaped with all the other luggage the robot porter had deposited at the door. "Is it jewelry? No, it's too big for jewelry." She began to tear the cord from the box with her sharp fingernails.
Eric frowned uneasily. "Don't be disappointed, honey. It's sort of strange. Not what you expect." He watched apprehensively. "Don't get mad at me. I'll explain all about it."
Pat's mouth fell open. She turned pale. She dropped the box quickly on the table, eyes wide with horror. "Good Lord! What is it?"
Eric twisted nervously. "I got a good buy on it, honey. You can't usually pick one of them up. The Ganymedeans don't like to sell them, and I -"
"What is it?"
"It's a god," Eric muttered. "A minor Ganymedean deity. I got it practically at cost."
Pat gazed down at the box with fear and growing disgust. That? That's a - a god?"
In the box was a small, motionless figure, perhaps ten inches high. It was old, terribly old. Its tiny clawlike hands were pressed against its scaly breast. Its insect face was twisted in a scowl of anger - mixed with cynical lust. Instead of legs it rested on a tangle of tentacles. The lower portion of its face dissolved in a complex beak, mandibles of some hard substance. There was an odor to it, as of manure and stale beer. It appeared to be bisexual.
Eric had thoughtfully put a little waterdish and some straw in the box. He had punched air holes in the lid and crumpled up newspaper fragments.
"You mean it's an idol." Pat regained her poise slowly. "An idol of a deity."
"No." Eric shook his head stubbornly. "This is a genuine deity. There's a warranty, or something."
"Is it - dead?"
"Not at all."
"Then why doesn't it move?"
"You have to arouse it." The bottom of the figure's belly cupped outward in a hollow bowl. Eric tapped the bowl. "Place an offering here and it comes to life. I'll show you."
Pat retreated. "No thanks."
"Come on! It's interesting to talk to. Its name is -" He glanced at some writing on the box. "Its name is Tinokuknoi Arevulopapo. We talked most of the way back from Ganymede. It was glad of the opportunity. And I learned quite a few things about gods."
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Eric searched his pockets and brought out the remains of a ham sandwich. He wadded up a bit of the ham and stuffed it into the protruding belly-cup of the god.
"I'm going in the other room," Pat said.
"Stick around." Eric caught her arm. "It only takes a second. It begins to digest right away."
The belly-cup quivered. The god's scaly flesh rippled. Presently the cup filled with a sluggish dark-colored substance. The ham began to dissolve.
Pat snorted in disgust. "Doesn't it even use its mouth?"
"Not for eating. Only for talking. It's a lot different from usual life-forms."
The tiny eye of the god was focused on them now. A single, unwinking orb of icy malevolence. The mandibles twitched.
"Greetings," the god said.
"Hi." Eric nudged Pat forward. "This is my wife. Mrs Blake. Patricia."
"How do you do," the god grated.
Pat gave a squeal of dismay. "It talks English."
The god turned to Eric in disgust. "You were right. She is stupid."
Eric colored. "Gods can do anything they want, honey. They're omnipotent."
The god nodded. "That is so. This is Terra, I presume."
"Yes. How does it look?"
"As I expected. I have already heard reports. Certain reports about Terra."
"Eric, are you sure it's safe?" Pat whispered uneasily. "I don't like its looks. And there's something about the way it talks." Her bosom quivered nervously.
"Don't worry, honey," Eric said carelessly. "It's a nice god. I checked before I left Ganymede."
"I'm benevolent," the god explained matter-of-factly. "My capacity has been that of Weather Deity to the Ganymedean aborigines. I have produced rain and allied phenomena when the occasion demanded."
"But that's all in the past," Eric added.
"Correct. I have been a Weather Deity for ten thousand years. There is a limit to even a god's patience. I craved new surroundings." A peculiar gleam flickered across the loathsome face. "That is why I arranged to be sold and brought to Terra."
"You see," Eric said, "the Ganymedeans didn't want to sell it. But it whipped up a thunderstorm and they sort of had to. That's partly why it was so cheap."