Jefferson Highe

“ The line flickered in the water and then was still. He would have a lot of time for this kind of life, he thought, if his theory were correct. He watched a flight of leaves dapple the pool with the insignia of autumn. He was not sure he wanted to spend a lifetime fishing.
Suddenly the pool exploded into motion, the water frothed and flashed white and the line in his hand sang like a piano wire. Automatically, he jerked his line and began to reel in, at the same time his mind was telling him no line of its weight could long hold what he had hooked. ”

“ When you are a teacher, you expect kids to play pranks. But with tigers—and worse?
Standing braced—or, as it seemed to him, crucified—against the length of the blackboard, John Ward tried to calculate his chances of heading off the impending riot. ”

“ I think the Outspacers are school-teachers."
Ann got briskly to her feet. "I think," she said, "that we'll take your temperature and see if perhaps you shouldn't be in bed."
"Wait, Ann, I'm serious. I know it sounds crazy, but it isn't. Think of it this way—here's a race, obviously humanoid, on another star system. For some reason, overpopulation or whatever, they have to find room on another planet. Let's assume they're a highly civilized race—they'd have to be to have interstellar travel—so, of course, they can't simply take over Earth in an act of aggression. ”

“ Then the Saucers disappeared for almost two and a half centuries and the number decreased. Now, since the Outspacers are once more evident, the number of foundlings has increased very greatly."
"And your other geniuses? All foundlings?"
"Not all. But that doesn't mean anything—plenty of foundlings are adopted. And who knows which child is an adopted one?"
Ann Ward sat down again. "You're quite serious about this, John?"
"There's no way of being sure, but I am convinced."
"It's frightening."
"Is Bobby frightening? In all the time I've been tutoring him, has he ever been out of line?" ”

“ Bobby didn't look at him now. "Anyway, it'd be snitching."
"I'm not asking you to tell."
"Gee, I'm sorry," Bobby said. "I wanted to tell you in the yard. I knew there was going to be a rumble, but I couldn't snitch."
"No, of course not." Ward shooed him off. "Go write your poem."
"But tigers!" Ann said. "Why tigers, John?"
"I suppose they were convenient."
"Tigers are never convenient."
He crossed the room, picked up the phone and dialed. After a brief conversation, he turned back to her. "Well, now we know where they came from," he said. "The zoo. Disappeared for about half an hour. ”

“ These children are geniuses. When they grow up, they are naturally the leaders of the world's governments and they're in a position to allow the Outspacers to live with us on Earth. To live peacefully with us, whereas now, if the Outspacers were to try to live here, it would mean war."
"And you think Bobby is one of these—these seedlings?"
"Maybe. He's unbelievingly intelligent. And he's a foundling."
"What has that to do with it?"
"I've looked up the statistics on foundlings. When the Saucers first began to appear, back in the 20th Century, the number of foundlings began to increase. ”

“ He was a tired teacher, glad to be going home after a hard day in the school. He hoped that no one had been hurt by the tigers.
John Ward pushed the papers across his desk, reached for his pipe and sighed. "Well, that does it, Bobby," he said.
He looked at the red-headed six-year-old boy sitting in the too-big chair across from him. Bobby was a small boy with a freckled face and skinned knees. He sat in the big chair with his feet sticking straight out in front of him and played with a slide rule. ”

“ Allenby, we could go a lot faster if we were to screen them. If they were all like young Tomkins, we'd be doing very well. But as long as we have people like young Cress or Hodge or Rottke—well, it's hard to do anything with them. They go straight from school into their fathers' firms—after all, if you're guaranteed a business success in life, you don't struggle to learn. ”

“ There's Danny, remember, and William Tender—and Bobby said he couldn't teleport big stuff."
"Well?"
John Ward had to confide his theory. He felt that he had to tell Ann everything, all the speculation and suspicion he'd carried around with him for so long.
"I think we're being invaded," he said.
Ann looked at him steadily for a moment. "You mean the Outspacers?"
"Yes—but not in the way you're thinking. It's been reported that the Saucers are Russian or Argentine or Brazilian or Chinese—that's what we're told. But that's simply Pretend War propaganda and almost no one believes it any longer. ”

“ The boys he'd left behind knew how to protect themselves.
They were all there—Dr. Allenby, McCarthy the psych man, Laura Ames the pretty gym teacher, Foster, Jensen—all of them. So it had been general then, not just his group which had rioted. He knew it was all the more serious now, because it had not been limited to one outbreak.
"You, too, Ward?" Dr. Allenby said sadly. He was a short, slender man with white hair and a white mustache. He helped Ward up from where he had fallen at the foot of the escape slide. "What was it in your classroom this time?"
"Tigers," Ward said. ”

“ Allenby waved him to silence. "But your way has been tried long enough. How long is it since Los Angeles Day, when the U.N. buildings were bombed and burned by the original 3R Party in order to get rid of Unesco? Two hundred forty-three years next June, isn't it? And your Party had had all that time to get education back on what it calls a sane program. Now nobody is educated."
"It takes time to undo the damage of progressive education," McCarthy said. "Besides, a lot of that junk—reading, writing—as I've often told Ward—"
"All right," Ward broke in. ”

“ They stick together like—like kids, I guess. Tell me, why is it that the smart ones don't discriminate? They'd as soon play with morons like Hodge or Cress as with the brainy ones."
"Democratic, I guess," Ann said. ”

“ He stuffed it into his pocket and glanced around at the walls of the room. Pictures of athletes, mostly, and a couple of pin-ups. In a drawer, under some clothing, a French post card. He examined some of the objects on the dresser.
Then he was looking stupidly at his hand. He was holding a piece of string with a ring attached to it. And, just as certainly, there was something attached to the other end. Or it had been. But there was nothing he could see now. He pulled on the string and it tightened. Yes, there was a drag on the other end, but there was nothing he could see ... or feel. ”