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As Tessa and Sam entered and closed the door behind thelad to see you!" His sht, broad, warenuine sods, with too s to count

Moose returned Sa Shaddack’s house on the north point, but before returning to headquarters to coordinate the assign sent to him from New Wave, Loman Watkins stopped at his home on Iceberry Way, on the north side of town It was a modest, two-story, three-bedroom, Monterey-style house, white with pale-blue tri conifers

He stood for athe place He had loved it as if it were a castle, but he could not find that love in himself now He remembered much happiness related to the house, to his family, but he could not feel the raced life in that dwelling, but now the laughter had faded until recollection of it was too faint even to induce a smile in remembrance Besides, these days, his smiles were all counterfeit, with no huhter and joy had been a part of his life as late as this past August It had all seeped away only within the past couple of e Yet it seemed an ancient memory

Funny

Actually, not so funny at all

When he went inside he found the first floor dark and silent A vague, stale odor lingered in the deserted rooms

He clihted, second-floor hallway he saw a soft glow along the bottom of the closed door to Denny’s bedroo at his desk, in front of the computer The PC had an oversize screen, and currently that was the only light in the room

Denny did not look up froer a child; therefore, he had been converted with his h the Change He o inches taller than his dad and better looking He’d always done well in school, and on IQ tests he’d scored so high it spooked Loman a bit to think his kid was that smart He had always been proud of Denny Now, at his son’s side, staring down at him, Loman tried to resurrect that pride but could not find it Denny had not fallen fro to earn his father’s disapproval But pride, like so her consciousness of the New People and interfered with their e, Denny had been a computer fanatic, one of those kids who called themselves hackers, to whoaence and high-tech experience were put to use by New Wave He was provided with a more powerful home terminal and a modem link to the superco to Denny’s description, incorporated four thousand h-speed processing units which, for reasons Loh perhaps that was its name because all research at New Wave made heavy use of the machine and therefore revolved around it As Loman stood beside his son, voluminous data flickered across the terraphs, and charts appeared and disappeared at such speed that only one of the New People, with sohtened concentration, could extractfrom them

In fact Loone the training that Denny had received from New Wave Besides, he’d had neither the time nor the need to learn to fully focus his neers of concentration

But Denny absorbed the rushing waves of data, staring blankly at the screen, no frown lines in his brow, his face co converted, the boy was as much a solidstate electronic entity as he was flesh and blood, and that new part of him related to the computer with an intimacy that exceeded any man-machine relationship any of the Old People had ever known

Lo about the Moonhawk Project Ultiroup at New Wave that was endlessly refining the software and hardware related to the project, working to eneration of New People superior to--and more efficient than--the one before it

An endless river of data washed across the screen

Denny stared unblinkingly for so long that tears would have formed in his eyes if he had been one of the Old People

The light of the ever- data danced on the walls and sent a continuous blur of shadows chasing around the room

Loman put one hand on the boy’s shoulder

Denny did not look up or in any way respond His lips began to , but heto hielistica link that would connect a coically iing real and artificial intelligence Lo was either wise or desirable, and Shaddack had said, "The New People are a bridge between man and machine, Loe, become one with the machines, because only then will mankind be completely efficient, completely in control"

"Denny," Loman said softly

The boy did not respond

At last Loman left the room

Across the hall and at the end of it was theon the bed, in the dark

Of course, since the Change, she could never be entirely blinded by a ht had ihtless room, she could see--as Loman could--the shapes of the furniture and soht world was no longer black but darkish gray

He sat on the edge of the

He put one hand on her head and stroked her long auburn hair He touched her face and found her cheeks ith tears, a detail that even his i, and that jolted him because he had never seen one of the New People cry

His heartbeat accelerated, and a brief but wonderful thrill of hope throbbed through hi of emotions was a transient condition

"What is it?" he asked "What’re you crying about?"

"I’ht her to tears, fear and the desolation associated with it, and he already knew those feelings were a part of this brave neorld, those and no other

"Afraid of what?"

"I can’t sleep," Grace said

"But you don’t need to sleep"

"Don’t I?"

"None of us needs to sleep any e, men and wo strictly a biological mechanism, was terribly inefficient Downtie of the day, to deal with the toxic substances absorbed from the external world and the toxics created internally But in the New People, every bodily process and function was superbly regulated Nature’s work had been highly refined Every organ, every syste less waste, casting off waste faster than before, cleansing and rejuvenating itself every hour of the day Grace knew that as well as he did

"I long for sleep," she said

"All you’re feeling is the pull of habit"