She arose and walked over to where the stick lay. She extended her hand a few feet in front of her, and touched something. Something tangible, yet she could not see it. And no matter how hard she pushed, she could not extend her hand beyond a given point. _A dome was covering them and protecting them!_ For weeks she and Robbie stayed under the dome while the wind took some of the radiation away. Each morning, when they awoke, a package of food lay by their side. Strange food, food they had never tasted or seen before. _Alien food._ _They had been spared by--what?_ The puzzling thoughts spun in her mind. _Why_ were they being spared? _Who_ was sparing them? Then one day, weeks after the bombs dropped, the dome disappeared. She could not see it disappear, but she knew that it was gone for the pile of ash that had leaned against it fell to the ground. Then she started out with but one thought in mind. _I must find Johnny!_ Across country she went, through small towns filled with death. She walked, with Robbie stumbling along at her side, his small face wide with wonder and fear. Her heart ached as she looked into his staring eyes, while an occasional whimper left his lips. "... mommy, where's Daddy? Where is he, mommy?" She gripped his hand tighter and continued to walk, each mile a numb and crazy nightmare. "_Now take note of the setting the aliens are in. It took careful planning for our scientists to devastate the planet's surface as you now witness._" It was late afternoon when Helen stopped to rest by a seared oak tree. Robbie had been walking beside her. Suddenly he turned and looked up at her. "Mommy, why are we walking so far? I'm tired of walking. I don't want to walk any more. Where is daddy?" "Hush, dear. We're going to find daddy." She knew they would never find him ... alive. But something made her keep going. Something inside wouldn't let her turn back. _She had to know...._ "We've got to find daddy so he'll make everything right again, don't we?" She hesitated before answering. "Yes--yes that's it. We've got to find daddy so he can help us--and make everything right again!" "Oh." "Go to sleep, Robbie. You've got to rest." "But I'm hungry." "Sleep, dear. We'll eat ... later." She kissed him, sat on the ground beside him and rocked his head in her weary arms. "_For those of you students who do not understand the languages of this planet, I'll interpret. She was trying to comfort her young one, telling him that his father was going to make everything right again when they found him. While inwardly she knew they would never find him alive. Primitive peoples often react to disasters in this way, making themselves and others around them believe things that are not true._"