Today I found that none of the children have Voices. I could _want_ them to have Voices, but the children's thoughts tell me that it is not right to have a Voice. The eldest boy says that we should leave the tank, that a greater "tank" is around us, and that it is easier to move around in that greater tank. He also says that we must guard ourselves against Faces outside. That is strange, but the boy is a good boy. Many times he knows that things will happen before they do. He is a good boy. He is almost as tall as I am. The eldest girl is pretty like Diane, her body very white and soft but, since I _wanted_ it so, her hair is golden, instead of dark. The boy likes her very much, and I have seen them together, touching. Tomorrow I will explain to him that if he _wants_ something, he will get it. So he must _want_ a baby. * * * * * "Query? The Energi will bomb-drop the 'aquarium'? War declared against us? War declared? Entities be wholly damned! Negative! Negativvv!" The disintegrator was fired once more, this time into the orange eye of the _beush_ himself, by himself, and for the good of himself. * * * * * When, if I ever do _want_ the Voice to come back, it will be very surprised to know that Diane has had twenty-four babies; that the three eldest boys have mated twice, once and twice, and have had four babies. The Voice will also be surprised to know that it took all twenty-nine of us to _want_ all the Faces around the tank to die, as the eldest boy said to do. We could not tell, but the boy said that six million Faces were dead. That seems impossible to me, but the boy is always right. Tomorrow we are leaving the tank. We will _want_ to leave it; it is getting crowded. The boy says that beyond the greater tank, which we will also leave, there is enough space for all the babies Diane could have if she lived forever. Forever, he said. It would be nice to live forever. I think I'll _want_.... End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Faces Outside, by Bruce McAllister