The group stirred again, moving restlessly.
"I'm sorry," Garth spoke, "that I did not ask your permission to bring you here. But I had no choice. If I had asked for volunteers to repopulate the world of two million years from our time, you would have concluded I was crazy. So I had to bring you here without consulting you."
They didn't seem to hear him. They stirred uneasily. All malice was gone out of them. Only unease and trembling wonder were left.
Martin twisted. He spoke.
"We have to rebuild—to repopulate—a world. That's why we're here?"
Garth swallowed, fighting the lump in his throat. He nodded.
"It seems hard to understand, sir," Martin said. "But what can I do to help?"
The lump in Garth's throat rose so high he could not swallow it.
A bulky figure in uniform came out of the crowd. "What can I do, Mr. Garth, to help?"
There was a confused babble of voice. "What can we do, Mr. Garth, to help?"