Our Children's Children by Clifford D. Simak Page A

the people came out of the tunnel faster than the trucks could cart them off and the great mass of people kept pushing outward, covering ever-widening blocks.
    Lieutenant Andrew Shelby spoke into the phone to Major Marcel Burns on the other end: “We ain’t more than making a dent in them, sir. Christ, I never saw so many people. It would be easier if we could get some of the sightseers out of the area, and we’re doing what we can, but it’s hard to get them untangled and they don’t want to leave and we haven’t got the manpower to do a job of it. We’ve closed off all civilian traffic to the area and the radio has been asking people not to come out here, but they still are coming or are trying to come and the roads are clogged. I hate to think of what it will be like once it gets dark. How about them engineers who were supposed to come out here and put up some flood lights?”
    â€œThey’re on their way,” said Burns. “Hang in there, Andy, and do everything you can. We got to get those people out of there.”
    â€œI need more carriers,” the lieutenant said.
    â€œI’m feeding them in,” the major told him, “as fast as I can lay my hands on them. And another thing—there’ll be a gun crew coming out.”
    â€œWe don’t need no gun. What we need a gun for?”
    â€œI don’t know,” the major said. “All I know it is on its way. No one told me what it was coming for.”

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    â€œYou can’t honestly believe this story,” Douglas protested.
    â€œIt’s too preposterous to admit of any credence. It is something jerked out of the middle of a science fiction story. I tell you. we’ve been had.”
    Williams said quietly, “So are all these people coming out of the time tunnels preposterous. There has to be some explanation of them. Gale’s may be a bit fantastic, but it holds together in a sort of zany fashion. I admit I have some difficulty.…”
    â€œAnd his credentials,” the Attorney General pointed out. “Identification rather than credentials. Ombudsman for the Washington community, a social service worker of some kind. No connection with any governmental unit.…”
    â€œMaybe,” said Williams, “they have no real government. You must realize, five centuries from now there would be changes.”
    â€œSteve,” said the President, “what do you make of it? You are the man who brought him in.”
    â€œA waste of time,” said Douglas.
    â€œIf you want me to vouch for his story,” said Wilson, “I can’t do that, of course.”
    â€œWhat did Molly say?” asked Sandburg.
    â€œNothing really. She simply turned him over to me. He told her none of the things that he told us, of that I’m sure, but she wormed out of him and his daughter some sort of story about what kind of world they came from. She said she was satisfied.”
    â€œDid Global News try to make a deal?” asked Douglas.
    â€œOf course they did. Any news agency or any reporter worth his salt certainly would have tried. They’d have been delinquent in their job if they hadn’t tried. But Manning didn’t press too hard. He knew as well as I did.…”
    â€œYou didn’t make a deal?” asked Douglas.
    â€œYou know he didn’t,” said the President.
    â€œWhat I need right now,” said Wilson, “is some indication of how much I should tell the press.”
    â€œNothing,” said Douglas. “Absolutely nothing.”
    â€œThey know I’ve been in here. They know something is going on. They won’t be satisfied with nothing.”
    â€œThey don’t need to know.”
    â€œBut they do need to know,” said Wilson. “You can’t treat the press as an adversary. They have a definite function to perform. The people have a right to know. The press has played ball with us before and they