He began to sneak food out of the mess hall and cache it in his room.
He was within a day and a night of attempting his break when Phipps sent for him. He considered not showing up but decided that it would be less suspicion-arousing to comply.
Sit down,” Phipps began. “Cigarette? No—I forgot. What have you been doing with yourself lately? Keeping busy?”
“Not a darn thing to do!”
“Sorry. Mr. Harvey, have you given any thought to what sort of a world we will have when this is over?”
“Well, no, not exactly.” He had thought about it, but his own imaginings were too poorly worked out for him to care to express them. As for himself, someday the war would be over—he supposed—and then he would carry out his long-postponed intention of seeking out his parents. After that, well…
“What sort of world would you like it to be?”
“Uh? Well, I don’t know.” Don pondered. “I guess I’m not what you call ‘politically minded.’ I don’t much care how they run it—except, well, there ought to be a sort of looseness about it. You know—a man ought to be able to do what he wants to, if he can, and not be pushed around.”
Phipps nodded. “You and I have more in common than you may have thought. I’m not a purist in political theory myself. Any government that gets to be too big and too successful gets to be a nuisance. The Federation got that way—it started out decently enough—and now it has to be trimmed down to size. So that the citizens can enjoy some looseness. ”
Don said, “Maybe the dragons have the right idea—no organization bigger than a family.”
Phipps shook his head. “What’s right for dragons is not right for us. Anyhow, families can be just as oppressive as government—take a look at the youngsters around here; five hundred years or so to look forward to before they can sneeze without permission. I asked your opinion because I don’t know the answer myself—and I’ve studied the dynamics of history longer than you’ve been alive. All I know is that we are about to turn loose into the world forces the outcome of which I cannot guess.”
Don looked startled. “We’ve got space travel now; I don’t see what important difference it will make to make it faster. As for the other gimmick, it seems to me a swell idea to be able to put a lid on a city so that it can’t be atom-bombed.”
“Granted. But that is just the beginning. I’ve been making a list of some of the things that will come about—I think. In the first place you vastly underestimate the importance of speeding up transportation. As for the other possibilities, I’m stumped. I’m too old and my imagination needs greasing. But here’s one for a starter: we might be able to move water, lots of water, significant amounts, from here to Mars.” His brow wrinkled. “We might even be able to move planets themselves.”
Don looked up suddenly. Somewhere he had heard almost those same words… the memory evaded him.
“But never mind,” Phipps went on. “I was just trying to get a younger, fresher viewpoint. You might think about it. Those laboratory laddies won’t, that’s sure. These physicists—they produce wonders but they never know what other wonders their wonders will beget.” He paused and added, “We are resetting the clock, but we don’t know what time it will be.”
When he added nothing more Don decided with relief that the interview was over and started to get up. “No, no, don’t go,” Phipps put in. “I had another matter on my mind. You’ve been getting ready to leave, haven’t you?”
Don stuttered and stammered. “What gave you that idea?”
“I’m right. Some morning we would wake up and find your bed empty. Then I’d be put to a lot of trouble when effort can’t be spared to try to find you and bring you back.”
Don relaxed. “Conrad snitched to you,” he said bitterly.
“Conrad? No. I doubt if the good doctor ever notices anything larger than an electron. No, credit me with some sense. My business is people. True, I did badly with you when you first arrived—but I still plead that I was bone weary. Tiredness is a mild insanity. The point is: you’re leaving and I can’t stop you. I know dragons well enough to know that Sir Isaac wouldn’t let me if you wanted to go. You’re ‘his’ confounded ‘egg’! But I can’t let you go; the reasons are just as compelling as before. So—rather than let you go, I’d have to try to kill you.”