'Just like everyone else.'
'Yes..... Are you angry with me?'
The man-child studied the face of the other, finding nothing but
friendship, sensitivity and good intentions. 'No,' he said sadly.
'I don't know what to feel.'
'Should we talk about this another time?'
'What would it change?'
'Probably nothing,' said Smith ruefully. 'You understand that
I'm only speaking for the good of the group. We're a family,
really.'
'But one without children,' added Kalus sympathetically.
'Yes. We need them. . .or everything we do dies with us. Along with
all hope for the future.' He took another drink to keep from
betraying emotion. But this only augmented, rather than submerging the
yearning for life that so overwhelmed him. 'The sound of their
laughter,' he began again, his eyes welling. The wail of newborn
life. . .would be such blessed relief from the dry, sterile sound of our
own voices.'
At this Kalus eyes' misted as well, remembering Shama, and the Child
on the shore. 'I would give everything I have to hear it,' he
said, surprised by his own words, and the thoughts that lay behind them.
'Me, too.' And the young scientist put a hand on Kalus'
shoulder. 'What I'm trying to tell you is that according to our
tests, only Rawlings, myself and the Commander, still have the ability
to father a child.
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