He had not realized how resentful she was. Were they all like that? How about the workers toiling in the factories, day and night, endlessly? The pale, stooped men and women, plodding back and forth to work, blinking in the colorless light, eating synthetics—
"You shouldn't be so bitter," he said.
Mary smiled a little. "I'm bitter because I know you'll never come back." She turned away. "I'll never see you again, once you go up there."
He was shocked. "What? How can you say a thing like that?"
She did not answer.
He awakened with the public newscaster screeching in his ears, shouting outside the building.
"Special news bulletin! Surface forces report enormous Soviet attack with new weapons! Retreat of key groups! All work units report to factories at once!"
Taylor blinked, rubbing his eyes. He jumped out of bed and hurried to the vidphone. A moment later he was put through to Moss.
"Listen," he said. "What about this new attack? Is the project off?" He could see Moss's desk, covered with reports and papers.