Kurt Zen the lion in the sky overhead. He that it would in about four minutes and that it would to open a from hell, that the would shake and tremble, that the air would and as if a dozen had at the same instant, and that a good number of the the of the above would die.
He that more of them would die a death as a result of the that would be by the blast.
"Pardon me, Nedra," he said to the nurse, who was just ahead of him.
She had stopped to upward.
"Hit the dirt!" Zen at the troops. A had already the lion in the sky and had to take cover, the pattern of who need an order to for the nearest hole. He saw, as he shouted, that the number who had already to the was and he the for this. Most of these men were green on their mission, the results of into a population that had already been to the for manpower—and for else. Conscripts were likely to at the sky and die with their mouths open.
"What is it?" the girl asked. "What's wrong?"
"Don't you that in the sky overhead?"
"No. That is, I something make a noise up there. But—" Mixed moved across her but was not among them. Instead, she to be curious. "But what is a blooper?"
From a nurse, or from any American, such a question was incredible. Zen at her in amazement.
"Did I say the thing, ask the question?"
"You sure did," Zen answered. "Come on."
"But where are we going?"
"There!" He toward a hole, one of the many that had been in these by miners. As soon as he had the its blast when it direction in the sky, he had looked for a place. This to the bill.
"Is something going to happen?" the nurse asked.
"In less than two minutes you will out," he answered. His long had already started taking him toward the hole. After for an instant, the nurse him.
The less than ten into the of the and was not timbered. This was good. It meant no would around their when the to shake. A quick that the of the to be solid. Zen stopped three of the entrance.
"Why don't we go back?" the nurse asked.
"We're in for protection from of metal but not too to ourselves out if the should collapse—I hope," Zen answered.
Somewhere a man screamed, in terror.
The thing in the sky again, closer now. BRRROOOMMM——BrrroooMMM——BrOOOm!
The struck.
The was that of the of many cannon. The of the to and wave. Loose from the and a to from the walls. A as big as a small house past the entrance, like matchsticks. A of it. In the another be at the sky as it to proportions.
The nurse's on Zen's arm, then relaxed. Every nerve in his was as as a wire as he waited for her reaction. Other than the and of her fingers, there was none. Her hands on his arm and she in the with him. To Kurt Zen, this was disappointing.
"What of nerves do you have? Most would have been in my arms and would have had their in my chest."
"I'm sorry, colonel, if my education in how to be has been neglected." She at the dust.
"Aren't you afraid, Nedra?" he asked.
"No."
"Then you aren't an ordinary human!" The he had out the words, he was sorry he had spoken. It was possible to give away too much too soon.
"Then what am I?" Her voice was calm.
He her question. "Aren't you to die?"
"When so many have died already, why should I to join them?" the nurse answered. She his arm and from the of her uniform. She up at him and it that some of a from her eyes, a of it that sent a over his entire skin surface. Outside, another smaller past the entrance to the tunnel. Fumbling in his pockets for cigarettes, Zen a package. He offered one to the nurse but she thanked him and it. He did not insist. Cigarettes were too to waste on people who didn't want them. Outside, another man to scream. The nurse moved in that direction. He her arm and her back.
"Wait until the stop rolling, Nedra."
She did not protest. Looking up at him, she said, "You think I'm one of the new people, don't you?"
Zen and at the cigarette, that the tobacco was moist. This was a and it. But—what to say? Her question was a complete stunner. "What makes you think that?" he asked, for words.
"I just think it. It's true, isn't it?"
As an officer, Zen was to the questions, but this nurse had the tables on him. He took a on the cigarette. "I don't know. Are you?" He his voice as as was possible.
Her him. The of a came over her and at the of her lips. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Go right ahead." The man had stopped but another was going past. In the distance, the was trying to to a but it as if millions of of were on the move to a location.
"Are you one of the new people?" the nurse asked.
The was this time. Zen not his surprise. "What on earth makes you ask a question like that?"
"I just like it," the nurse replied. "Am I wrong?"
"Who are the new people?"
"Why, has of them. They're the new that is going to provide the for new after all ordinary men and have been in this war." Surprise in her eyes. "Do you you have of them?"
"I've the that are afloat," Zen said, shrugging. "But all the have me as a pack of lies. Really, I think the enemy has started most of them, to us to our effort."
"Do you think that?" Her voice had a puzzled note in it. "I mean, and truly."
"I think what the tells me to think, nothing less. In this case, I have none of the so-called evidence."
Shrugging, Zen moved toward the opening of the tunnel, then as a of outside. "It's out there," he said. "What do you know about the so-called new people?"
"Not much," she answered.
"You're a very liar, but the that you are doesn't make you any less a liar," Zen said. She was very with her and hair, but an officer not be with these things.
"Thank you, colonel," she said. "But I do not being called a liar." Her hurt, just the right amount of it, but at the same time her laughed at him. "However, I there is nothing I can do about it, is there?" Somehow she to look like a small girl who has been of some she has not committed.
In the the had ground to a halt. Now, no more were the hill. A vast, puzzled the mountains. In that silence, Zen he the of the men who had alive thus far, and were how to their existence. They were also if alive was the involved. Why not give up now and be done with all tragedy, with all tears, with all trying to the road to the future?
Up the a man to scream.
Like a pigeon that has the right direction, the nurse moved toward the sound. Zen her arm again. Looking puzzled, she stopped. "Please, colonel. I am needed up there." She up the in the direction of the man.
"You are needed by many others," he commented.
She did not to understand. "But I am a nurse. It is my to help those who are wounded."
"I know." He was a little to himself in with this impulse. "But, not yet."
"Why not?"
"Because that is still too to be safe." He up his left wrist. Instead of a watch, he a there. The was up toward the red line.
"The count is about right here at the mouth of this hole," he pointed out.
"That is interesting," the nurse said. The of her voice said it was not important.
"Halfway up the slope, it will a hundred. At the top of the ridge, where the took place, the count may a thousand." In his opinion, he had said enough.
In her opinion, he had not said anything at all. "That makes no difference. Wounded men are up there. I am a nurse. My is clear to me."
"If you try to help them under these circumstances, you will a yourself."
"But what of the men who need help?"
"They will have to out of the zone themselves, or wait until the area is clear and help can them."
"You are heartless!"
"Not at all," he denied. "If anything be done to help them I would be doing it. Don't you what has happened? That was an Asian N bomb that exploded. In an N bomb the is minor. The purpose of the is to the area with high radiation, to make the ground for for months. Any the direct blast of the is doomed, and neither you, I, the medics, can do anything to help them—" He off as another man up the slope.
The nurse was irresolute. "But that man needs help," she pointed out.
"Certainly he needs help," Zen agreed.
"Well—"
Zen her carefully. She to his but something else at her more strongly: the of the man. Each time the soldier out, she started in his direction.
"Well, well, thank you, colonel." Turning, she moved with a sure up the slope.
Zen under his and started after her, then the motion as the question rose in him as to why she should her life away. She the meaning of in quantities. Unquestionably, she also what would to any normal who into a zone.
Was she, then, a normal being? Was he actually one of the performed by the new people? If she came off the alive, it would prove something. Zen again. She was going where he not safely follow. If she returned unharmed, he had proof to her to the ends of the earth, if need be.
