He felt a small hand slip into his. It was Lynn. She summoned a smile. The girl looked washed out and frightened. Her blue eyes were enormous. After a while Trigg folded the paper, looking intently from face to face. "I think," he said, "we had better call a meeting. There are some vital problems we must face. I--I have expected something like this ever since we landed last night." _Last night?_ Matt thought. _Only last night. It seems like a year ago._ "When do you want to call the meeting?" Captain Bascom asked. "After the evening meal. We are in a peculiar position. We may be the only human survivors!" Matt said, "Surely--someplace--_someone_ escaped the plague. It's inconceivable that it wiped out the entire species." "Species have been wiped out before," Trigg reminded him grimly. "But there is a chance, of course, that isolated communities have survived. That's one thing I want to take up at the meeting. The possibility of contacting any survivors." Matt realized the director was regarding Lynn grimly. "Until we do establish contact with other communities," Trigg went on, "we'll have to assume that we are alone...." "What are you driving at?" "Survival!" Matt's eyes narrowed, and he ran his hand through his crisp black hair. "Go on," he said. "Survival of the race. There are nine women. But only seven are young enough to bear children." Lynn's eyes were enormous. She said, "What do you mean, Isaac?" in a tight voice. "I mean," rejoined the director, "that you'll be expected to bear children--lots of children--and the sooner you get about it, the better!" IV Matt Magoffin kept his seat after the evening meal, as the conference was scheduled to be held in the messroom right away. He had broken out a pack of cigarettes and was smoking--a long-deferred luxury. There had been more talking than eating at the tables. Everyone, Matt realized, must have the facts pretty well assimilated. He saw the director rising and turned to face him. "I think everyone here," Isaac Trigg's voice plunged abruptly into the meeting, "is acquainted with the disaster that has befallen Earth. Are there any questions now?" No one said anything. "Very well," said Trigg, tugging at his beard. "As I see it, we have four aims to consider. "First, trying to establish contact with any survivors. Second, securing our own continued existence. Third, the survival of the race." He paused and frowned, then added, "And lastly preserving our heritage of knowledge." He came to a stop, his eyes on their tense faces. "Does anyone wish to add anything?" No one did.