the Tube.
Mary was undersurface there. He hated to leave her, even though he
couldn't see her again until the Tube was unsealed. But then he shrugged
and followed the others.

If this tiny amalgam of former enemies was a good example, it wouldn't
be too long before he and Mary and the rest of humanity would be living
on the surface like rational human beings instead of blindly hating
moles.

"It has taken thousands of generations to achieve," the A-class leady
concluded. "Hundreds of centuries of bloodshed and destruction. But each
war was a step toward uniting mankind. And now the end is in sight: a
world without war. But even that is only the beginning of a new stage of
history."

"The conquest of space," breathed Colonel Borodoy.

"The meaning of life," Moss added.

"Eliminating hunger and poverty," said Taylor.

The leady opened the door of the ship. "All that and more. How much
more? We cannot foresee it any more than the first men who formed a
tribe could foresee this day. But it will be unimaginably great."

The door closed and the ship took off toward their new home.

--PHILIP K. DICK

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Galaxy Science Fiction_ January 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

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