Alas, Babylon

by Pat Frank

  This was Randy's town and these were his people and he knew he would not leave them. Yet it was not right that he make this decision alone. He looked at Lib with­out finding it necessary to speak. She knowing what was in his mind, simply smiled and winked. He said, "I guess I'll stay, Paul."

  "And the others?"

  Randy wished Dan was with them and yet he was confident he could speak for Dan. "We have our doctor here, Dan Gunn. If it wasn't for Dan I don't think any of us could have made it. He saved this town and I'm sure he wouldn't want to leave now." He turned to Hel­en. "Would he?"

  Helen said quietly, "I wouldn't and he wouldn't."

  "But there's one thing you have to do, Paul. Bring supplies for our doctor."

  "What's he need?"

  "Everything. Everything that a hospital needs. But most of all he needs a new pair of glasses."

  "I could requisition those for him, I think, if I had his prescription."

  Helen said, "I know where it is. Don't you leave, Paul! Don't you dare!" She left the room and ran up­stairs.

  "What about you, Admiral Hazzard?" Paul asked. "What about the children? What about the two women who live across the road - the librarian and the tele­graph gal?"

  Sam Hazzard laughed. "Colonel, I have a fleet under my command. If the Navy Department will give me a fleet, I'll go with you. Not otherwise."

  "We don't have any fleets," Paul Hart said. "All we've got left, really, are nuclear submarines. The subs saved us, I guess. The subs and the solid fuel rockets and some of the airborne missiles."

  Lib said, "Alice Cooksey and Florence Wechek are in town but they were talking about the possibility of going out only a few nights ago. They'll both want to stay. You see, they're terribly busy. They've never worked so hard or accomplished so much in their whole lives. And I don't know what Fort Repose would do without them. They're practically our whole education system, and they keep all the records."

  "Isn't anybody going?" Hart asked.

  Ben Franklin said, "Not me!"

  Peyton, who had quietly returned to the conference, said, "Me either."

  Helen came downstairs with the prescription for Dan's glasses. They all walked out to the porch and Randy went out with Paul to the helicopter. They shook hands.

  Randy said, "Paul, there's one thing more. Who won the war?"

  Paul put his fists on his hips and his eyes narrowed. "You're kidding! You mean you really don't know?"

  "No. I don't know. Nobody knows. Nobody's told us.''

  "We won it. We really clobbered 'em!" Hart's eyes lowered and his arms drooped. He said, "Not that it matters."

  The engine started and Randy turned away to face the thousand-year night.