"And meanwhile only you can get into the nursery and see them."
"That's my job."
"Now, listen, Brendan, we all went through the nursery, too. And your father had the same job you do. We weren't sealed off from everybody but him. We saw other people. You know that just as well as we do."
Brendan snorted. "There's no parallel. We weren't the end product. We were just one more link in the chain, and we had to be taught all about the dome, because the hundred-odd of us were going to constitute its next population. We had to be taught about the air control system, the food distribution, the power plant—and the things it takes to keep this place functioning as well as it can. We had to each learn our job from the specialist who had it before us.
"But the next generation isn't going to need that. That's obvious. This is what we've all been working for. To free them. Ten generations ago, the first of us set out to free them.
"And that's what I'm going to do, Falconer. That's my job, and nobody here could do it, but me, in my way."
"They're our children too!"
"All right, then, be proud of them. Tomorrow they go outside, and there'll be men out on the face of this world at last. Your flesh, your blood, and they'll take this world away from the storms and the animals. That's what we've spent all this time for. That's what generations of us have huddled in here for, hanging on for this day. What more do you want?"
"Some of the kids are going to die," one of the other men growled. "No matter how well they're equipped to handle things outside, no matter how much has been done to get them ready. We don't expect miracles from you, Brendan. But we want to make sure you've done the best possible. We can't just twiddle our thumbs."
"You want work to do? There's plenty. Shut up and listen to what's going on outside."