Our Children's Children (2 page)

“Help yourself,” said Bentley, making a thumb in the direction of the bath. “If you need it, there's another one upstairs.”

Manning answered after a half a dozen rings.

“I got a story out here,” Bentley told him.

“Out where?”

“Joe's place. Out where I am living.”

“O.K. Let's have it.”

“I ain't no reporter,” said Bentley. “I ain't supposed to get you stories. All I do is take the pictures. This is a big story and I might make mistakes and I ain't paid to take the heat.…”

“All right,” said Manning wearily. “I'll dig up someone to send out. But Sunday and overtime and all, it better be a good one.”

“I got a thousand people out in the backyard, coming through a funny door. They say they're from the future.…”

“They say they're from the what!” howled Manning.

“From the future. From five hundred years ahead.”

“Bentley, you are drunk.…”

“It don't make no never mind to me,” said Bentley. “It's no skin off me. I told you. You do what you want.”

He hung up and picked up a camera.

A steady stream of children, accompanied by some adults, were coming through the kitchen door.

“Lady,” he said to one of the women, “there's another one upstairs. You better form two lines.”

2

Steve Wilson, White House press secretary, was heading for the door of his apartment and an afternoon with Judy Gray, his office secretary, when the phone rang. He retraced his steps to pick it up.

“This is Manning,” said the voice at the other end.

“What can I do for you, Tom?”

“You got your radio turned on?”

“Hell, no. Why should I have a radio turned on?”

“There's something screwy going on,” said Manning. “You should maybe know about it. Sounds like we're being invaded.”

“Invaded!”

“Not that kind of invasion. People walking out of nothing. Say they're from the future.”

“Look here—if this is a gag.…”

“I thought so, too,” said Manning. “When Bentley first called in.…”

“You mean Bentley Price, your drunken photographer?”

“That's the one,” said Manning, “but Bentley isn't drunk. Not this time. Too early in the day. Molly's out there now and I have sent out others. AP is on it now and.…”

“Where is this all going on?”

“One place is over across the river. Not far from Falls Church.”

“One place, you say.…”

“There are others. We have it from Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis. AP just came in with a report from Denver.”

“Thanks, Tom. I owe you.”

He hung up, strode across the room and snapped on a radio.

“… so far known,” said the radio. “Only that people are marching out of what one observer called a hole in the landscape. Coming out five and six abreast. Like a marching army, one behind the other, a solid stream of them. This is happening in Virginia, just across the river. We have similar reports from Boston, the New York area, Minneapolis, Chicago, Denver, New Orleans, Los Angeles. As a rule, not in the cities themselves, but in the country just beyond the cities. And here is another one—Atlanta, this time.”

There was a quiver in the deadpan voice, betraying momentary unprofessional excitement.

“No one knows who they are or where they come from or by what means they are coming. They are simply here, walking into this world of ours. Thousands of them and more coming every minute. An invasion, you might call it, but not a warlike invasion. They are coming emptyhanded. They are quiet and peaceable. They're not bothering anyone. One unconfirmed report is that they are from the future, but that, on the face of it, is impossible.…”

Wilson turned the radio to a whisper, went back to the phone and dialed.

The White House switchboard answered.

“That you, Delia? This is Steve. Where is the President?”

“He's taking a nap.”

“Could you get someone to wake him? Tell him to turn on the radio. I am coming in.”

“But, Steve, what is going on? What is.…”

He broke the connection, dialed another number. After a time, Judy came on the line.

“Is there something wrong, Steve? I was just finishing packing the picnic basket. Don't tell me.…”

“No picnic today, sweetheart. We're going back to work.”

“On Sunday!”

“Why not on Sunday? We have problems. I'll be right along. Be outside, waiting for me.”

“Damn,” she said. “There goes my plan. I had planned to make you, right out in the open, on the grass, underneath the trees.”

“I shall torture myself all day,” said Wilson, “thinking what I missed.”

“All right, Steve,” she said. “I'll be outside waiting on the curb.”

He turned up the radio. “… fleeing from the future. From something that happened in their future. Fleeing back to us, to this particular moment. There is, of course, no such thing as time travel, but there are all these people and they must have come from somewhere.…”

3

Samuel J. Henderson stood at the window, looking out across the rose garden, bright in the summer sun.

Why the hell, he wondered, did everything have to happen on Sunday, when everyone was scattered and it took no end of trouble to get hold of them? It had been on another Sunday that China had exploded and on still another that Chile had gone down the drain and here it was again—whatever this might be.

The intercom purred at him and, turning from the window, he went back to the desk and flipped up the key.

“The Secretary of Defense,” said his secretary, “is on the line.”

“Thank you, Kim,” he said.

He picked up the phone. “Jim, this is Sam. You've heard?”

“Yes, Mr. President. Just a moment ago. On the radio. Just a snatch of it.”

“That's all I have, too. But there seems no doubt. We have to do something, do it fast. Get the situation under control.”

“I know. We'll have to take care of them. Housing. Food.”

“Jim, the armed forces have to do the job. There is no one else who can move fast enough. We have to get them under shelter and keep them together. We can't let them scatter. We have to keep some sort of control over them, for a time at least. Until we know what is going on.”

“We may have to call out the guard.”

“I think,” said the President, “perhaps we should. Use every resource at your command. You have inflatable shelters. How about transportation and food?”

“We can handle things for a few days. A week, maybe. Depends upon how many there are of them. In a very short time, we'll need help. Welfare. Agriculture. Whoever can lend a hand. We'll need a lot of manpower and supplies.”

“You have to buy us some time,” said the President. “Until we have a chance to look at what we have. You'll have to handle it on an emergency basis until we can settle on some plan. Don't worry too much about procedures. If you have to bend a few of them, we'll take care of that. I'll be talking to some of the others. Maybe we can all get together sometime late this afternoon or early evening. You are the first to call in. I've heard from none of the others.”

“The CIA? The FBI?”

“I would imagine they both might be moving. I haven't heard from either. I suppose they'll be reporting in.”

“Mr. President, do you have any idea.…”

“None at all. I'll let you know as soon as possible. Once you get things moving, get in touch again. I'll need you, Jim.”

“I'll get on it immediately,” said the Secretary.

“Fine, then. I'll be seeing you.”

The intercom purred.

“Steve is here,” said the President's secretary.

“Send him in.”

Steve Wilson came through the door.

Henderson motioned toward a chair. “Sit down, Steve. What have we got?”

“It's spreading, sir. All over the United States and Europe. Up in Canada. A few places in South America. Russia. Singapore. Manila. Nothing yet from China or Africa. So far, no explanation. It's fantastic, sir. Unbelievable. One is tempted to say it can't be happening. But it is. Right in our laps.”

The President removed his glasses, placed them on the desk top, pushed them back and forth with his fingertips.

“I've been talking with Sandburg. The army will have to get them under shelter, feed them, care for them. How's the weather?”

“I didn't look,” Wilson said, “but if I remember correctly from the morning broadcasts, good everywhere except the Pacific Northwest. It's raining there. It's always raining there.”

“I tried to get State,” said the President. “But, hell, you never can get State. Williams is out at Burning Tree. I left word. Someone's going out to get him. Why does everything always have to happen on Sunday? I suppose the press is gathering.”

“The lounge is filling up. In another hour they'll be pounding at the door. I will have to let them in, but I can hold them for a while. By six o'clock, at the latest, they'll expect some sort of statement.”

“Tell them we're trying to find out. The situation is under study. You can tell them the armed services are moving rapidly to help these people. Stress the help. Not detention—help. The guard may have to be called out to do the job. That is up to Jim.”

“Maybe, sir, in another hour or two we'll know more of what is going on.”

“Maybe. You have any thoughts on the matter, Steve?”

The press secretary shook his head.

“Well, we'll find out. I expect to be hearing from a lot of people. It seems incredible we can sit here, knowing nothing.”

“You'll probably have to go on TV, sir. The people will expect it.”

“I suppose so.”

“I'll alert the networks.”

“I suppose I had better talk with London and Moscow. Probably Peking and Paris. We're all in this together; we should act together. Williams, soon as he calls in, will know about that. I think I'd better phone Hugh, at the UN. See what he thinks.”

“How much of this for the press, sir?”

“The TV, I guess. Better keep the rest quiet for the moment. You have any idea how many of these people are invading us?”

“UPI had an estimate. Twelve thousand an hour. That's in one place. There may be as many as a hundred places. The count's not in.”

“For the love of God,” said the President, “a million an hour. How will the world take care of them? We have too many people now. We haven't got the housing or the food. Why, do you suppose, are they coming here? If they are from the future, they would have historical data. They would know the problems they'd create.”

“A compelling reason, said the secretary. “Some sort of desperation. Certainly they'd know we are limited in our capacity to put them up and keep them. It would have to be life or death for them to do it.”

“Children of our children,” said the President, “many times removed. If they're truly from the future, they are our descendants. We can't turn our backs on them.”

“I hope everyone feels the same about it,” said Wilson. “They'll create an economic pinch if they keep coming and in an economic pinch there will be resentment. We talk about the present generation gap. Think of how much greater that gap will be when not two generations, but a number are involved.”

“The churches can help a lot,” said the President, “if they will. If they don't, we could be in trouble. Let one loudmouthed evangelist start some pulpit thumping and we've had it.”

Wilson grinned. “You're talking about Billings, sir. If you think it would be all right, I could get in touch with him. We knew one another back in college days. I can talk with him, but I don't know what good I'll do.”

“Do what you can,” said the President. “Reason with him. If he refuses to see reason, we'll find someone who can really lean on him. What really bothers me is the welfare population. Bread out of their mouths to feed all these extra mouths. It'll take fast footwork to keep them in line. The labor unions may be scared by all the extra manpower, but they are hardheaded people, all of them. A man can talk to them. They understand economics and you can make some sense to them.”

The intercom came to life. The President thumbed the lever.

“Secretary Williams on the line, sir.”

Wilson stood up to leave. The President reached for the phone. He looked up at Wilson.

“Stay close,” said the President.

“I intend to, sir,” said Wilson.

4

All the buttons on Judy's phone were blinking. She was talking quietly into the transmitter. The spindle on her desk was festooned with notes.

When Wilson came into the office, she hung up. The lights kept on with their blinking.

“The lounge is full,” she said. “There is one urgent message. Tom Manning has something for you. Said it is top important. Shall I ring him?”

“You carry on,” said Wilson. “I'll get him.”

He sat down at his desk, hauled the phone close and dialed.

“Tom, this is Steve. Judy said it is important.”

“I think it is,” said Manning. “Molly has someone. Seems to be a sort of leader of the gang out in Virginia. Don't know how his credentials run, if there are credentials. But the thing is, he wants to talk with the President. Says he can explain. In fact, he insists on explaining.”

“Has he talked with Molly?”

“Some. But not important stuff. He is reserving that.”

“It has to be the President?”

“He says so. His name is Maynard Gale. He has a daughter with him. Name of Alice.”

“Why don't you ask Molly to bring them along. Back way, not out in front. I'll notify the gate. I'll see what can be done.”

“There's just one thing, Steve.”