ies and the fears, their attempts to destroy the
small kernel of scientific hope in their midst. They had forgotten
everything but the warming belief that perhaps the worst of the terror
was over and they had lived through it.

"I'm grateful," Professor Maddox was saying, "for the assistance you
have given this project, although you had no personal knowledge of what
it was meant to do. We asked for your faith and we asked for your
confidence that we knew what we were about, at a time when we did not
know it even for ourselves. We were nourished and cared for at your
expense in order that our work might go on. It would not have succeeded
without you."

Ken realized his father was not speaking ironically but meant just what
he said. And it was true.

The vengeful Meggs and the psychotic Granny Wicks had fought them and
incited others who were frightened beyond reason. Yet there had been
Hilliard and Johnson, the Council, and many others who had supported
them. There were those who had built the projector, even though at the
point of a gun, and at the threat of starvation. All of them together
had made the project possible.

It was a miniature of the rise of the whole human race, Ken supposed.
More like a single individual with a multitude of psychoses, hopes, and
geniuses, than a group of separate entities, they had come to this
point. In the same way, they would go on, trying to destroy the
weaknesses and multiply their strength.

* * * * *

By the middle of February the flu epidemic was over. Its toll had
leveled the population to a reasonable balance with the food supply.
Whether Mayor Hilliard's ironic suggestion reflected any real principle
or not, the situation had worked out in accord with his macabre
prediction.

Ken had explained the comet's daily infinitesimal retreat and there was
a kind of steady excitement in estimating how much it diminished each
day. Actually, a week's decrease was too small for the naked eye to
detect, but this did not matter.

Radio reports continued to tell of increased construction of projectors
throughout the world. Tests were showing they were effective beyond all
previous hopes.

The populace of Mayfield was enthusiastic about the construction of
additional units. Two more had been built, and three others were
planned. Serious attention had to be given now to the coming planting
season. Every square foot of available ground would have to be