Clifford D. Simak by Our Children's Children

Author:Our Children's Children [Children, Our Children's]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fiction, Fantasy, Fantasy - General
ISBN: 9780879978808
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2010-04-29T23:00:00+00:00

28

The pressroom office was dark except for the feeble light from the clacking wire machines ranged along the wall. Wilson crossed to his desk and sat down. He leaned forward to snap on the desk lamp, then pulled back his hand. There was no need of light and there was healing in the dark. He leaned back in his chair; for the first time this afternoon there was nothing he should do, but there was still inside him the nagging sense that he should be up and doing.

The President, he thought, should long since be in bed. It was nearly midnight and well past his usual bedtime and he had missed his nap in the afternoon. Samuel Henderson, he thought, was getting old, too old for this sort of thing. He had seemed drawn and haggard when the refugee scientists were escorted to his office to be introduced to the men from the National Academy.

"You heard my speech, Steve?" the President had asked him when the men were gone.

"In the car."

"What do you think? Will the country go along?"

"Not at first. Not willingly. But when they think about it, I believe they will. Wall Street will raise a lot of dust."

"Wall Street," said the President, "is something I can't afford to give my time to right now."

"You should be heading for bed, Mr. President. It's been a long, hard day."

"Directly," said the President. "First I have to talk with Treasury and Sandburg phoned in to ask if he could come over."

Directly, he had said, but it still would be hours, more than likely, before he got to sleep.

Somewhere, in some secret room, the scientists were talking; out there, in the vastness of the nation, of the world, in fact, people from the future were walking from their tunnels; in the mountains to the west a monster was skulking in the darkness.

It still was unbelievable. It had happened all too fast. A man had not been given time to catch up with it. In a few hours now the people would be waking to a new day that, in many respects would be utterly unlike any day before, unlike any day in all of human history, faced by problems and dilemmas no man had ever faced before.

Light showed through the crack underneath the doors that led into the press lounge. Some members of the press would still be there, although they were not working. There was no sound of typewriters. He remembered that he'd never gotten to eat the sandwiches. He'd put two of them upon a plate and had taken a bite out of one of them when Brad Reynolds had come bursting through the door. Now that he thought of it, he realized that he was hungry. There might be some sandwiches left, although they'd be dry by now, and for some reason, he wanted to stay here in the dark, alone, with no necessity of talking to anyone at all. Although, perhaps, he thought, he should see what was on the wires.

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