The focus shifted to the open door and then Peccary and Staghorn could
see into the classroom. This one was in slightly better order than
the others and was occupied by two people. In front sat Miss Terry,
obviously the teacher, and at one of the desks sat Paul. He seemed to
be the entire class. At Miss Terry's urging he was coming to his feet,
his face still stained with tears. He held his book a few inches from
his nose and stared over the top of it sullenly.
"Go ahead, Paul," said Miss Terry, sweetly stubborn. "I'm waiting."
Paul looked at his book and read from it in a monotone, enunciating
each word carefully as though it had no relationship to the other
words. "I am a human being and as long as I obey the six rules I shall
live forever."
"Very good, Paul. Now read the six rules."
Paul sniffled loudly and commenced reading again. "Rule one: I must
never go near fire or my clothing may catch aflame and burn me up. Rule
two: I must keep away from deep water or I may fall in and drown. Rule
three: I must stay away from high places or I may fall and dash my
brains out." He paused to sniffle and wipe his nose on his sleeve, then
sighed and continued dismally. "Rule four: I must never play with sharp
things or I may cut myself and bleed to death. Rule five: I must never
ride horses or I may fall off and break my neck." Paul paused, lowering
his book.
"And the sixth rule?" said Miss Terry. "Go ahead and read the sixth
rule."
Reluctantly Paul lifted his book. "Rule six: Starting when I'm
twenty-one I must take Dr. Peccary's Y Hormone once a week to keep me
young and healthy forever."
"Excellent, Paul!" said Miss Terry. "And which rule were you breaking
just now on the playground?"
"I was breaking Rule Three," Paul said, then quoted sadly, "I must stay
away from high places or I may fall and dash my brains out."
* * * * *
Dr. Peccary was on his feet stomping around in front of the computer.
"Sheer idiocy," he muttered. "He doesn't have any brains to dash out!
I'll admit that a computer with sufficient information about the state
of the world might be able to make accurate predictions of events a few
months or possibly a year into the future--but not one hundred years!
In that long an interval even the most trivial error could distort
every circuit in the machine." He jabbed a finger toward the screen
where Paul was seated at his desk again. "And that's what that picture
is--a distortion. I'm not going to let it influence me one bit in what
I intend to--" He broke off because of what was happening on the screen.
From somewhere outside the school building came the wail of a
deep-throated alarm. Both Miss Terry and Paul were on their feet and by
their expressions, terrified.
"The Atavars!" Paul cried, his entire body shaking.
"To the basement, Paul!" Miss Terry's face was blanched as she grasped
Paul's hand and headed toward the door. But halfway there, both came to
a halt, breathless and staring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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