"I don"t know. I"m not sure I give a d.a.m.n."
Deering continued to look out the window. "The gray nation, the mixed nation, this America; they have some promise of the light, have they not?"
"Some."
"But this black nation, this nation of robots, there is no chance of of light there?"
"Not under their present leaders. If they should win the war the planet would be set back five hundred years."
Deering shook his head, and turned to face me sadly. "It would be worse than that. If they should win this war shaping up, there would be no planet for them to rule."
I stared at him, not believing, still so bound up in my trip I couldn"t believe his words. _Love,--faith, fear, Jean_--were running through my mind. And Jean...?
Deering answered everything for me. "We can"t take the chance," he said.
"We will abolish the planet. The a.s.sembly so decided this morning."