eing murdered. Would you have listened
to his explanations, accepted the fact that his work was worth the
cost of a few lives so that future billions of human beings might be
saved? No, there was no time for explanation or indoctrination.
Leffingwell chose concealment."

"Yes," Harry sighed. "I understand that better now, I think. But I
couldn't see it then, when I tried to kill him." He flushed. "And I
still can't quite comprehend why he spared me after that attempt."

"Because he wasn't the monster you thought him to be. When I pleaded
with him--"

"_You_ were the one!"

Harry's son turned away. "Yes. When I was told who you really were, I
went to him. But I was only a child, remember that. And he didn't
spare you out of sentimentality. He had a purpose."

"A purpose in sending me to prison, letting me rot all these years
while--"

"While I grew up. I and the others like myself. And while the world
outside changed." Harry's son smiled. "Your friend Richard Wade was
right, you know. He guessed a great deal of the truth. Leffingwell and
Manschoff and the rest of their associates deliberately set out to
assemble a select group of nonconformists--men of specialized talents
and outlooks. There were over three hundred of you at Stark Falls.
Richard Wade knew why."

"And so he was dragged off and murdered."

"Murdered? No, Father, he's very much alive, I assure you. In fact,
he'll be here tonight."

"But why was he taken away so abruptly, without any warning?"

"He was needed. There was a crisis, when Dr. Leffingwell died."
Harry's son sighed. "You didn't know about that, did you? There's so
much for you to learn. But I'll let him tell you himself, when you see
him this evening."

Richard Wade told him. And so did William Chang and Lars Neilstrom and
all the others. During the ensuing weeks, Harry saw each of them
again. But Wade's explanation was sufficient.

"I was right," he said. "There was no Underground when we were at
Stark Falls. What I didn't realize, though, was that there was an
Overground."

"Overground?"

"You might call it that. Leffingwell and his staff formed the nucleus.
They foresaw the social crisis which lay ahead, when the world became
physically divided into the tall and the short, the young and the old.
They knew there'd be a need of individuality then--and they _did_
create a stockpile. A stockpile of the younger generation, specially
educated; a stockpile of the older generation,