diff options
Diffstat (limited to '59514-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 59514-0.txt | 680 |
1 files changed, 680 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/59514-0.txt b/59514-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..70a30dc --- /dev/null +++ b/59514-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,680 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59514 *** + + + + + + + + + + + + + AFTER SOME TOMORROW + + BY MACK REYNOLDS + + _Alan's plan might save the + race from extinction--but he + was the clan's only husband + and had to be protected from + his own folly...._ + + [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from + Worlds of If Science Fiction, June 1956. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that + the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +Before the first shots rang out, Alan had been sitting with some twenty +young people of the Wolf clan in a grove of aspen approximately half +way between the fields and the citadel on the hill-top. He had been +teaching them myth-legend and, as usual, the girls were bored and +unbelieving, the boys open mouthed. + +He realized, even as he spoke, that the telling had changed even +since his own youth. As a boy of ten, before it was definitely known +whether or not he was a sterilie, he had sat at the feet of the Turtle +clan's husband as open mouthed as those who sat at his feet now. But +the telling was different. Now, had he spoken openly of when men bore +weapons and women lived at home with the children, he would have +crossed the boundaries of decency. It hadn't been so in his own youth, +but then, when he was a boy, they had been one generation nearer to +the old days, which weren't so far back after all. + +Helen complained, "This is so silly, Alan. Why don't you tell us +something about ... well, about hunting, or true fighting?" + +He looked at her. Could this be a daughter of his? Tall for her +fourteen years and straight, clear of eye, aggressive and brooking of +no nonsense. The old books told of the femininity of women, but.... + +The shots went _bang, bang, bang_, from below, faint in the half mile +or more of distance. And then _bang, bang_ again and several _booms_ +from the new muzzle loading muskets. + +Helen was on her feet first, her eyes flashing. Instantly she was in +command. "Alan," she snapped. "Quick, to the citadel. All of you boys, +hurry! To the citadel!" + +She whirled to her older classmates. "Ruth, Margo, Jenny, Paula. Get +stones, sharp stones. You younger girls go with Alan. See if you can +help at the citadel. We'll come last. Hurry Alan." + +Alan was already off, herding the boys before him. Possibly all of them +were sterilies and so wouldn't count. But you never knew. + +As they climbed the hill, he looked back over his shoulder. Down in the +fields he could see the workers scattering for their weapons and for +cover. One stumbled and was down. In the distance he couldn't make out +whether she had fallen accidentally or been wounded. Further beyond the +fields he could see the smoke from a half dozen or more places where +the shots had originated. It didn't seem to be an attack in force. + +Not far up the hill from the field workers, on a overhanging boulder in +a lookout position, he could make out Vivian, the scout chief. She sat, +seemingly in unconcerned ease, one elbow supported on a knee as her +telescoped rifle went _crack, crack, crack_. If he knew Vivian there +was more than one casualty among the raiders. + +Who could it be this time? Deer from the south, Coyote or Horse from +the east? Possibly Eagles, Crows or Dogs from Denver way. The clan +couldn't stand much more of this pressure. It was the third raid in six +months. They couldn't stand it and put in a crop, nor could the drain +on the arsenal be maintained. He had heard that the Turtle clan, near +Colorado Springs, the clan of his birth, had got to the point where +they were using bows and arrows even for defense. If so, it wouldn't be +long before they would be losing their husband. + +He was puffing somewhat by the time they reached the citadel. Helen +and her four girls were coming much more slowly, watching the progress +of the fight below them, keeping their eyes peeled for a possible +break through of individual enemies. The stones in their hands were +pathetically brave. + +The rounded citadel building, stone built, loopholed for rifles, loomed +before them. He swung open the door and hurried inside. + +"Hello, honey," a strange voice said pseudo-pleasantly. "Hey, you're +kind of cute." + +Alan's eyes went from the two figures before him, automatic rifles +cuddled under their arms, to the two Wolf clan sentries collapsed in +their own blood on the floor. They had paid for lack of vigilance with +their lives. + +He could see that the strangers were of different clans by their kilts, +one a Horse the other a Crow. This would mean two clans had united in +order to raid the Wolves and that, in turn, would mean the Wolves were +outnumbered as much as two to one. + +"Relax, darling," the second one said, a lewd quality in her voice. +"Nothing's going to happen to _you_." Her eyes took in the dozen boys +ranging in age from five to twelve. "Look like a bunch of sterilies to +me," she sneered. "Get them up above, and those girls too. You stay +here where we can watch you, honey." + +The Crow went to a small window, stared down below. "Wanda is holding +them pretty well but they're beginning to work their way back in this +direction." She laughed harshly. "These Wolves never could fight." + +Her companion fingered the Bren gun which lay on the heavy table top in +the round room's center. Aside from four equally heavily constructed +chairs the table was the large room's sole furniture. While Alan was +ushering the boys and younger girls up to the second floor where they +would be safe, the Horse said musingly, "We could turn this loose on +them even at this distance." + +The Crow shook her head. "No. It'll be better to wait until they're +closer. Besides, by that time Peggy and her group'll be coming up from +the arroyo. There won't be a Wolf left half an hour from now." + +Alan, his stomach empty, stared out the loophole nearest him. + +One of the women said, grinning, "You better get away from there, +honey. Make you sick. That's a mighty pretty suit you've got on. Make +it yourself?" + +"No," Alan said. As a matter of fact one of the sterilies had made it. + +She laughed. "Well, don't be so uppity. You're going to have to learn +how to be nice to me, you know." + +Both of them laughed, but Alan said nothing. He wondered how long the +women of these clans had been without a husband. + +Down below he could make out the progress of the fighting and then +realized the battle plan of the aggressors. They must have planned it +for months, waiting until the season was such that practically the +whole Wolf clan, and particularly the fighters, would be at work in the +fields. They'd sent these two scouts, probably their best warriors, to +take the citadel by stealth. Only two of them, more would have been +conspicuous. + +They had then, with a limited force, opened fire on the field workers, +pinning them down temporarily. + +Meanwhile, the main body was ascending the arroyo to the left, +completely hidden from the defending forces although they would have +been in open sight from above had the citadel remained uncaptured. + +Alan could see plainly what the next fifteen minutes would mean. The +Wolf clan would draw back on the citadel, Vivian and her younger +warriors bringing up the rear. When they broke into the clear and +started the last dash for the safety of their fortress, they would be +in the open and at the mercy of the crossfire from arroyo and citadel. + +If only these two had failed in their attempt to.... + +The Crow woman said, "Look at this. Five young brats with stones in +their hands. What do you say?" + +It was Helen and her four girls. + +Alan said, "They're only children! You can't...." + +"You be quiet, sweetheart. We can't be bothered with you." + +The Horse said, "Two years from now they'll all be warriors. Here, let +me turn this on them." + +Alan closed his eyes and he wanted to retch as he heard the automatic +rifle speak out in five short bursts. In spite of himself he opened +them again. Helen, his first born, Paula, his second. Ruth, Margo and +Jenny, all his children. They were crumbled like rag dolls, fifty feet +from the citadel door. + +Now he was able to tell himself that he should have called out a +warning. One or two of them, at least, might have escaped. Might have +escaped to warn the approaching fighters of the trap behind them. +Tradition had been too strong within him, the tradition that a man did +not interfere in the business of the warriors, that war was a thing +apart. + +Jenny's body moved, stirred again, and she tried to drag herself away. +Little Jenny, twelve years old. The rifle spat just once again and she +slumped forward and remained quiet. + +"Little bitch," the Crow woman said. + +The heavy chair was in his hands and high above his head, he had +brought it down on her before the rage of his hate had allowed him to +think of what he was doing. The chair splintered but there was still +a good half of it in his hands when he spun on the Horse woman. She +stepped back, her eyes wide in disbelief. As her companion went down, +the side of her face and her scalp welling blood, the Horse at first +brought up her rifle and then, in despair, tried to reverse it to use +its butt as a club. + +She was stumbling backward, trying to get out of the way of his +improvised weapon, when her heel caught on the body of one of the +fallen Wolf sentries. She tried to catch herself, her eyes still +staring horrified disbelief, even as he caught her over the head, and +then once again. He beat her, beat her hysterically, until he knew she +must be dead. + +He worked now in a mental vacuum, all but unconsciously. He ran to the +stair bottom and called, "Come down," his voice was shrill. "Alice, +Tommy, all of you." + + * * * * * + +They came, hesitantly, and when they saw the shambles of the room +stared at him with as much disbelief as had the enemy women. He +pointed a finger at the oldest of the girls. "Alice," he said, "you've +been given instruction by the warriors. How is the Bren gun fired?" + +The eleven year old bug eyed at him. "But you're a husband, Alan...." + +"How is it fired?" he shrilled. "Unless you tell me, there will be no +Wolf clan left!" + +He lugged the heavy gun to the window, mounted it there as he had seen +the women do in practice. + +"Tommy," he said to a thirteen year old boy. "Quick, get me a pan of +ammunition." + +"I can't," Tommy all but wailed. + +"Get it!" + +"I can't. It's ... it's _unmanly_!" Tommy melted into a sea of tears, +utterly confused. + +"Maureen," Alan snapped, cooler now. "Get me a pan of ammunition for +the Bren gun. Quickly. Alice, show me how the gun is charged." + +Alice was at his side, trying to explain. He would have let her take +over had she been larger, but he knew she couldn't handle the bucking +of the weapon. Maureen had returned with the ammunition, slipped +it expertly into place. She too had had instructions in the gun's +operation. + +Alan ran his eyes down the arroyo. There were possibly forty of them, +Horses and Crows--well armed, he could see. Less than a quarter of them +had the new muzzle loaders being resorted to by many as ammunition +stocks for the old arms became increasingly rare. The others had +ancient arms, rifles, both military and sport, one or two tommy guns. + +He waited another three or four minutes, one eye cocked on the progress +of the running battle below. Vivian, the scout chief, had dropped +back to take over command of the younger warriors. She was probably +beginning to smell a rat. The intensity of fire wasn't such as to +suggest a large body of enemy. + +The women in the arroyo were placed now as he wanted them. He forced +himself to keep his eyes open as he pressed the trigger. + +_Blat, blat, blat._ + +The gun spoke, kicking high the dust and gravel before the Horse and +Crow warriors advancing up the arroyo. + +They stopped, startled. The citadel was supposedly in their hands. + +They reversed themselves and scurried back to get out of their exposed +position. + +He touched the trigger again. _Blat, blat, blat._ The heavy slugs tore +up the arroyo wall behind them, they could retreat no further without +running into his fire. + +They stopped, confused. + +Alan said, "Maureen, get another pan of ammunition. I'll have to hold +them there until Vivian comes up. Alice, run down to the matriarch and +tell her about the warriors in the arroyo. Quickly, now." + +Little Alice said sourly, "A husband shouldn't interfere in warrior +affairs," but she went. + + * * * * * + +When Vivian strode into the citadel she had her sniper rifle slung +over her back and was admiring a tommy gun she had taken from one of +the captured Horses. "Perfect," she said, stroking the stock. "Perfect +shape. And they seem to have worlds of ammunition too. Must have made +some kind of deal with the Denver clans." + +Her eyes swept the room and her mouth turned down in sour amusement. +The Horse woman was dead and the Crow had by now been marched off to +take her place with the other prisoners who were being held in the +stone corral. + +"What warriors," she said contemptuously. "A _man_ overcomes two of +them. _Two_ of them, mind you." She looked at Alan, the reaction was +upon him now and he was white faced and couldn't keep his hands from +trembling. "What a cutie you turned out to be. Who ever heard of such a +thing?" + +Alan said, defensively, "They didn't expect it. I took them unawares." + +Vivian laughed aloud, her even white teeth sparkling in the redness of +her lips. She was tall, shapely, a twenty-five year old goddess in her +Wolf clan kilts. "I'll bet you did, sweetie." + +One of the other warriors entered from behind Vivian, looked at the +dead Horse woman and shuddered. "What a way to die, not even able to +defend yourself." She said to Vivian worriedly, "They've got an awful +lot of equipment, chief." + +Vivian said, "Well, what're you worrying about, Jean? _We_ have it now." + +The girl said, "They have three tommy guns, four automatic rifles, +twenty grenades and forty sticks of dynamite." + +Vivian was impatient. "They had them, now they're ours. It's good, not +bad." + +Jean said doggedly, "These raids are coming more and more often. We've +lost ten fighters in less than a year. And each time they come at us +they're better equipped and there're more of them." She looked over at +Alan. "If it hadn't been for this ... this queer way things worked out, +they'd have our husband now and we'd be done for." + +"Well, it didn't happen that way," Vivian said abruptly, "and we still +have our husband and we're going to keep him. This wasn't a bad action +at all. They killed three of us, we've got more than forty of them." + +"Not three, eight," Jean said. "You forget the five girls. In another +couple of years they'd have been warriors. And besides, what difference +does it make if we've got forty of them? There're always more of them +where they came from. There must be a thousand women toward Denver +without a husband between them." + +Vivian quieted. "Let's hope they don't all decide on Alan at once," she +said. "I wonder if the Turtles are having the same trouble." + +"They're having more," Alan said. He had lowered himself wearily into +one of the chairs. + +The two warriors looked at him. "How do you know, sweetie?" Vivian +asked him. + +"I was talking to Warren, a few weeks ago. He's husband of the Turtle +clan now, they traded him from the Foxes. Both clans were getting too +interbred...." + +"Get to the point, honey," Jean said, embarrassed at this man talk. + +"The Turtles are having more trouble than we are. They have a stronger +natural fortress at the center of their farm lands, but they've had so +many raids that their arsenal is depleted and half their warriors dead +or wounded. They're getting desperate." + +"That's too bad," Vivian muttered. "They make good neighbors." + +Jean said, "The matriarch told me to let you know there'd be a meeting +this afternoon in the assembly hall. Clan meeting, all present." + +"What about?" Vivian said, her attention going back to the beauty of +her captured weapon again. + +"About the prisoners. We've got to decide what to do with them." + +"Do with them? We'll push them over the side of the canyon. Nobody +thought we'd waste bullets on them did they?" + +Alan said, mildly, "The question has come up whether we ought to +destroy them at all." + +Vivian looked at him in gentle annoyance. "Sweetie," she said, "don't +bother your handsome head with these things. You've had enough +excitement to last a nice looking fellow like you a lifetime." + +Jean said, echoing her chief's disgust, "Anyway, that's what the +meeting is about. Alan, here, has been talking to the matriarch and +she's agreed to bring it up for discussion." + +Vivian said nastily, "Sally is beginning to lose her grip. If there's +anything a clan needs it's a strong matriarch." + +"A wise matriarch," Alan amended, knowing he shouldn't. + +Vivian stared at him for a moment, then threw her head back and +laughed. "I'm going to have to spank your bottom one of these days," +she told him. "You get awfully sassy for a man." + + * * * * * + +As chairman, Alan had a voice but not a vote in the meetings of the +Wolf clan. He sometimes wondered at the institution which had come +down from pre-bomb days. Why was it necessary to have a chair_man_. +Of course, myth-legend had it that men were once just as numerous and +active in society's economic (and even martial!) life as were women. +But that was myth-legend. It all had a _basis_ in reality, perhaps, but +some of it was undoubtedly stretched all but to the breaking point. + +Of course if all men _had_ been fertile in the old days. But if you +started with _if_, as a beginning point, you could go as far as you +wished in any direction. + +He called the meeting to order in the assembly hall which stood +possibly a hundred feet below the citadel in one direction, another +hundred from the stone corral which housed their prisoners, in the +other. The Wolf clan was present in its entirety with the exception +of children under ten and except for four scouts who were holding the +prisoners. As chairman, Alan sat on the dais flanked by Sally, the +matriarch, 35 years of age, tall, Junoesque, on one side and by Vivian +the scout chief, on the other. + +Before them sat, first, the active warrior-workers, some thirty-five +of them. Second, the older women, less than a score. Further back +were the sterilies, possibly twenty of these and quite young, only +within recent memory had they been allowed to become part of the clan, +in the past they had been driven away or killed. Further back still +were the children above ten but too young to join the ranks of either +warrior-workers or sterilies. + +Alan called the meeting to order, quieted them somewhat and then +invited the matriarch to take the floor. + +Sally stood and looked out over her clan, the dignity of her presence +silencing them where Alan's plea had not. + +She said, "We have two matters to bring to our attention. First, I +believe the clan should make it clear to Alan, our husband, that such +interference in the affairs of women is utterly out of the question. I +am speaking of his unmanly activities in the raid this morning." + +There were mumblings of approval throughout the hall. + +Alan came to his feet, his face bewildered. "But, Sally, what else +could I do? If I hadn't overcome the enemy warriors and turned the Bren +gun on the others you would all be gone now. Possibly none of you would +have survived." + +Sally quieted him with a chill look. "Let me repeat what is well known +to every member of the clan. We consist of less than sixty women, a few +more than thirty-five of whom are active. There are twenty sterilies +and twenty-five or so children. And one husband. A few more than one +hundred in all." + +Her voice slowed and lowered for the sake of emphasis. "All of our +women--except for two or three--might die and the clan would live on. +The sterilies certainly might all die, and the clan live on. Even the +children could all die and the clan live on. _But if our husband dies, +the clan dies._ The greatest responsibility of every member of any +clan is to protect the husband. Under no circumstances is he to be +endangered. You know this, it should not have to be brought to your +attention." + +There was a strong murmur of assent from those seated before them. + +Alan said, "But, Sally, I saved your lives! And if I hadn't, I would +have been captured by the Crows and Horses and you would have lost me +at any rate." + +This was hard for Sally Wolf, but she said, "Then, at least, _they_ +would have had you. If you had died, in your foolhardiness, you would +have been gone for all of us. Alan, two clans, husbandless clans, +united in this attempt to capture you from us. While we fought to +protect our husband, the life of our clan, we hold no rancor against +them. In their position, we would have done the same. Much rather +would we see you taken by them, than to see you dead. Even though the +Wolf clan might die, the race must go on." She added, but not very +believably, "If they had captured you, perhaps we could have, in our +turn, captured a husband from some other clan." + +"The reason we probably couldn't," Vivian said mildly, "is that since +we've turned to agriculture and settled, our numbers have dropped off +by half. We had more than sixty warriors while we were hunter-foragers." + +"That's enough, Vivian," Sally snapped. "The question isn't being +discussed this afternoon." + +"Ought to be," somebody whispered down in front. + +"Order," Alan said. He knew it was a growing belief in the clan that +giving up the nomadic life had been a mistake. From raiders, they had +become the raided. + +Sally said, "The second order of business is the disposal of the Horse +and Crow prisoners captured in the action today." + +Vivian said, "We can't afford to waste valuable ammunition. I say shove +them into the canyon." + +Most of those seated in the hall approved of that. Some were puzzled +of face, wondering why the matter hadn't been left simply in the scout +chief's hands. + +Sally said, dryly, "I haven't formed an opinion myself. However, our +chairman has some words to say." + +Vivian looked at Alan as though he was a precocious child. She shook +her head. "You cutie, you. You're getting bigger and bigger for your +britches every day." + +Two or three of the warriors echoed her by chuckling fondly. + +Alan said nothing to that, needing to maintain what dignity and +prestige he could muster. + +He stood and faced them and waited for their silence before saying, +"You feminine members of the clan are too busy with work and with +defense to pursue some of the studies for which we men find time." + +Vivian murmured, "You ain't just a whistlin', honey. But we don't mind. +You do what you want with your time, honey." + +He tried to smile politely, but went on. "It has come to the point +where few women read to any extent and most learning has fallen into +the hands of the men--few as we are." + +Sally said impatiently, "What has this got to do with the prisoners, +Alan dear?" + +It would seem that he had ignored her when he said, "I have been +discussing the matter with Warren of the Turtle clan and two or three +other men with whom I occasionally come in contact. At the rate +the race is going, there will be no men left at all in another few +generations." + +There was quiet in the long hall. Deathly quiet. + +Sally said, "How ... how do you mean, dear?" + +"I mean our present system can't go on. It isn't working." + +"Of course it's working," Vivian snapped. "Here we are aren't we? It's +always worked, it always will. Here's the clan. You're our husband. +After we've had you for twenty years, we'll trade you to another clan +for their husband--prevents interbreeding. If you have a fertile son, +the clan will either split, each half taking one husband, or we'll +trade him off for land, or guns, or whatever else is valuable. Of +course, it works." + +He shook his head, stubbornly. "Things are changing. For a generation +or two after bomb day, we were in chaos. By time things cleared we +were divided as we are now, in clans. However, we were still largely +able to exist on the canned goods, the animals, left over from the old +days. There was food and guns for all and only a few of the men were +sterilies." + +Vivian began to say something again, but he shook a hand negatively at +her, pleading for silence. "No, I'm not talking about myth-legend now. +Warren's great-grandfather, whom he knew as a boy, remembers when there +were four times or more the number of men we have today and when the +sterilies were very few." + +Vivian said impatiently, "What's this got to do with the prisoners? +There they are. We can kill them or let them go. If we let them go, +they'll be coming back, six months from now, to take another crack at +us. Alan is cute as a button, but I don't think he should meddle in +women's affairs." + +But most of them were silent. They looked up at him, waiting for him to +go on. + +"I suppose," Sally said, "that you're coming to a point, dear?" + +He nodded, his face tight. "I'm coming to the point. The point is that +we've got to change the basis of clan society. This isn't working any +more--if it ever did. There's such a thing as planned breeding ..." it +had been hard to say this, and the younger women in the audience, in +particular, tittered "... and we're going to have to think in terms of +it." + +Sally had flushed. She said now, "A certain dignity is expected at a +clan meeting, Alan dear. But just what did you mean?" + +Vivian said, "This is nonsense, I'm leaving," and she was up from the +speaker's table and away. Two or three of her younger girls looked +after, scowling, but they didn't follow her out of the hall. + +"I mean," Alan said doggedly, "that one of those Crow women has been +the mother of two fertile men. To my knowledge she is the only woman +within hundreds of miles this can be said about. We men have been +keeping records of such things." + +Sally was as mystified as the rest of the clan. + +Alan said, "I say bring these women into the clan. Unite with the +Turtles and the Burros so that we'll have three clans, five counting +the Horses and Crows. Then we'll have enough strength to fight off the +forager-hunters, and we'll have enough men to experiment in selective +breeding." + +Half of the hall was on its feet in a roar. + +"Share you with these ... these desert rats who just raided us, who +killed eight of our clan?" Sally snapped, flabbergasted. + +He stood his ground. "Yes. I'll repeat, one of those Crow women has +borne two fertile men children. We can't afford to kill her. For all we +know, she might have a dozen more. This haphazard method of a single +husband for a whole clan must be replaced...." + +The hall broke down into chaos again. + +Sally held up a commanding hand for silence. She said, "And if we share +you with another forty or fifty women, to what extent will the rest of +us have any husband at all?" + +He pointed out the sterilies, seated silently in the back. "It would +be healthier if you gave up some of this superior contempt you hold +for sterile males and accept their companionship. Although they cannot +be fathers, they can be mates otherwise. As it is, how much true +companionship do you secure from me--any of you? Less than once a month +do you see me more than from a distance." + +"Mate with sterilies?" someone gasped from the front row. + +"Yes," Alan snapped back. "And let fertile men be used expressly for +attempting to produce additional fertile men. Confound it, can't you +warriors realize what I'm saying? I have reports that there is a woman +among the Crows who has borne two fertile male children. Have you ever +heard of any such phenomenon before? Do you realize that in the fifteen +years I have been the husband of this clan, we have not had even one +fertile man child born? Do you realize that in the past twenty years +there has been born not one fertile man child in the Turtle clan? Only +one in the Burro clan?" + +He had them in the palm of his hand now. + +"What--what does the Turtle clan think of this plan of yours?" Sally +said. + +"I was talking to Warren just the other day. He thinks he can win their +approval. We can also probably talk the Burros into it. They're growing +desperate. Their husband is nearly sixty years old and has produced +only one fertile male child, which was later captured in a raid by the +Denver foragers." + +Sally said, "And we'd have to share you with all these, and with our +prisoners as well?" + +"Yes, in an attempt to breed fertile men back into the race." + +Sally turned to the assembled clan. + +A heavy explosion, room-shaking in its violence, all but threw them +to the floor. Half a dozen of the younger warriors scurried to the +windows, guns at the ready. + +In the distance, from the outside, there was the chatter of a machine +gun, then individual pistol shots. + +"The corral," Jean the scout said, her lips going back over her teeth. + +Vivian came sauntering back into the assembly hall, patting the stock +of her new tommy gun appreciately. "Works like a charm," she said. +"That dynamite we captured was fresh too. Blew 'em to smithereens. Only +had to finish off half a dozen." + +Alan said, agonizingly, "Vivian! You didn't ... the prisoners?" + +She grinned at him. "Alan, you're as cute as a button, but you don't +know anything about women's affairs. Now you be a honey and go back to +taking care of the children." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of After Some Tomorrow, by Mack Reynolds + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 59514 *** |