Leo Frankowski

contacted this group two hours ago, it didn’t look too serious. I didn’t
check up on them again until ten minutes ago. I wish I could tell her I was sorry.
    Claymore here. And why did they use such
an ineffi cient method of killing her?
    Gamma 5723 here.
Someday, Claymore, we’ll sit around the barracks and have a long talk.
Right now I have work to do. Gamma 5723 out.
    The dirt was too
shallow for burial, so Claymore re— stacked the woodpile into a rectangle seven
feet by fourteen by five feet high and dragged the seven bodies to the top of it. He found
a glass jug of kerosene and some matches in the house, said the ritual prayers
that humans were fond of, and lit it afire.
    Whoever is on duty
at the Central Coordination Unit. Claymore here.
    Dirk here for the CCU. Shoot.
    Claymore here. Don’t
say that. I did and I was. I’ve been in action that resulted in a bullet
breaking my right arm. Request permission to return to Life Valley for R and R.
    There was a
three-second delay.
    Dirk here.
Permission granted. The luck you’ve had. You’re out of action for a month losing
your bird, and now, thirty minutes after getting to your duty station, you’re coming back again.
    Claymore here. Those are the breaks.
    Dirk here. Well, if
you’re still punning, you can’t be too bad off. I’ll tell Ishtar you’re coming.
Dirk out.
     
    Others were not as bad off. The farmers
lost their ma chinery and most of their
houses, but they were traditionally
self-reliant. In the northern hemisphere, the crops were ready for harvest. For the first time in many years,
there was a surplus of eager, if unskilled, labor.
    In general, the less
technically advanced were the least affected. The few remaining Eskimos were annoyed when their outboard
motors, snowmobiles, and rifles were eaten, but the old ones knew how to do
without such things. They
taught the younger men, and gained considerable prestige and security.
    Except for Hawaii and
other islands with military bases,
the Pacific was not plagued with the metal-eating larvae. On the Marshall out-islands, the people listened to their
radios with detached interest. The troubles of the outside world provided a useful source of gossip, nothing more. Little had ever been done to them, and less
for them. Bare-breasted native girls danced, laughing, at the usual ceremonies.
    Throughout the
underdeveloped world, crowded masses trudged on in despair, as they had done for a hundred years. Yet, in many, there was a
glow of hope. They had been promised enough food for all. If that was true, it was indeed a blessing, because no one
could remember a time when there had been enough for everyone.
    In the American west,
many American Indians were happy. Organized, intelligent, and poor, but with
plenty of
land, they had wholeheartedly accepted the tree houses as soon as the seeds had become
available. Over half the American Indian population already lived in tree houses, so the larvae
did not cause them extreme inconveniences.
    The old chiefs, the
wise men, the men of power were smugly contented. As they had so often
predicted, the insanities of the white man had finally caught up with him. They had even
heard one of them admit as much on the radio, and in their own language. Before
the radios went silent, the old ways would return, and perhaps even the buffalo.
    The young men were
not content, but eager. They remembered the old stories, and told them to each
other. The time of defeat and drudgery and shame was over. There would again be
a time when skill and courage and honor counted.
    Russia went the way
of Europe and North America, with a breakdown of communications and central authority. From her
crumbling cities came the long lines of refugees. Her countryside, too, was in a
difficult position, as the workers on the large collective farms did not have the
tradition of self-reliance that kept farmers in other parts of the world
relatively unaffected.
    China was in
relatively good shape. The large population was dispersed, and not far from food
supplies. In sixty years the farms had only been lightly mechanized; that work was wasted, but
survival was not a serious problem.
    Japan’s problems were
most serious. Tree houses had never really caught on there, and most of its food had been brought to her
ports on ships that were no more. The Japanese could only hope that the voice
on the radio had told the truth.
    From Life Valley, one
million LDUs, their language lessons completed, trotted