and were quiet.
* * * * *
There was a stillness in the ancient control room, like the stillnessin a sunken ship at the bottom of the sea. It lingered for a longtime, while Colonel Halter watched and waited.
Dr. Mueller's voice, seventy-five years tired, said, "He's--quiet now.Please come and take us out."
Colonel Halter switched on his desk visiophone.
"They're coming out," he said quietly. "I'll be there to supervise."
On the visiophone, the general's image nodded. "Congratulations,Colonel. How are they?"
"There'll be one case for psycho. Captain McClelland."
"I'll be damned!" exclaimed the general. "From his record, I thoughthe'd never break!"
"Let's say he couldn't bend, sir." A pause. "And yet he did keep themfrom destroying themselves."
"He'll be made well again.... What about the others?"
"I think they, too, are very great and human people."
"Well," said the general, "they're _your_ patients. I'll see you atthe ship in five minutes."
"I'll be there, sir." Colonel Halter flipped the switch. Thevisiophone blanked out. He looked at the television screen.
The six black-clothed figures were quiet on the floor of their ship'scontrol room. They reminded him of sleeping children curled togetherfor warmth.
As he left his office and walked out into the humming city, he feltdrained, still shaking with tension, realizing even now how close hehad come to failure.
But there was the scarred and pitted needle-nosed old hull, brightwith moonlight, standing like a monument against the night sky.
Not a monument to the past, though.
It marked the birthplace of the future ... and he had been midwife. Hefelt his shoulders straighten at the knowledge as he walked toward theancient ship.
--RICHARD STOCKHAM
* * * * *
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