The line clicked and went dead. Derrence put the phone down, carefully. He rubbed at his eyes, then wiped them with a handkerchief. "I'm going to be dismissed." It was a promise, a hope, now that the horror of something else, something insane and impossible, something infinitely worse filled his brain and chest and stomach. "I'm going to be dismissed." He went to the door. He didn't stop to listen; just opened it. He stepped outside. Mercy was at her desk, sitting quietly. She looked at him. "It's all right, Mercy. I know. You were doing a job. It's all right." His voice rang in the silence of the 36th floor. Mercy didn't answer. Mercy just looked at him. He turned from her and walked up the hall. He passed Miss McCarty's office. He stopped, moved back, stood in her doorway. He would apologize for deceiving her. She sat at her desk, looking at him. He said, "In a short while you'll learn I abused...." His voice was a squeak in an empty cavern, a footfall on a dead planet. And Miss McCarty just looked at him, unblinking, unmoving. He hurried up the hall, passing secretaries, writers, executives. All sat at their desks quietly; unblinking, unmoving. All looked at him. He put his head down. He ran, and held back the screams rising in his throat. Tzadi would explain everything. Tzadi would laugh at his insane fears. Tzadi would fire him, and then he would ride down in the elevator and go home and have a drink. * * * * * He reached Tzadi's office. The door was open and Tzadi sat behind his desk, unblinking, unmoving. Behind him stood three men; taller, better built men than Tzadi. The middle one was looking out the window, his back to Derrence. The man to the right of Tzadi said, "Come in, please." He had a long, lean face. It looked sad. Derrence moved forward, slowly, until he was right up against the desk. He looked down at Tzadi. "What's it all about, Ed?" Tzadi said nothing. "What did you try to do for me?" The man to the right of Tzadi said, "He tried to save your life. He'll be dismantled for that. It's a sad thing, of course, him being one of the original hundred, but most have been dismantled anyway." "Dismantled," Derrence said, the fear was immense now. "You mean you don't know? You didn't guess anything, and Tzadi didn't tell you?" Derrence raised his eyes from Tzadi. "Dismantled?" "Yes. Taken apart. Destroyed. Killed. He lasted longer than most of the original hundred by each year. You understand? He was one of the _first hundred_ made by the Original himself. That's why he had defects--stilted speech, squat construction and, most serious, a tendency to romanticize humanity. Even among the latest models, there are a few who feel that way, but once the last human is gone that problem...." Derrence was calm now; the calmness beyond shock, beyond horror. "_I'm_ the last human?"