Bass's face was indeed thinner. Thinner face, small scar that hadn't
been there before, curl that curled wrong--what did it mean?
Suddenly she realized the image on the Wall wasn't Bass. She corrected
herself. He was a different Bass. He wasn't the one she had shot, but
his almost identical double.
She stared at her daughter, who looked more like Kippie each time she
assumed another of her characteristics or poses. There were hundreds
of young people wanting to be Bass or Kippie, hundreds of young men
combing their hair the way Bass did, smiling as he did, learning to use
their eyes as he did. And if the time should come when a new Bass was
needed, there he was, hundreds of him.
She frowned. Undoubtedly they had several doubles waiting conveniently
nearby to perform if something should happen to one of the stars.
* * * * *
She felt a choking in her throat. It would be as impossible to kill all
the Basses and Kippies as it would be to break every Wall in the world.
There was no way to get rid of them, no way to make people listen to
what was happening. No way to prevent humanity from watching itself to
extinction.
As they grew older, she guessed, the actors would grow older too.
Gradually Bass would be thirty, then thirty-five, and Lester and the
others would age too. But no one would notice; everyone would be aging
at the same rate.
But some day someone would notice. Some day all the Lesters would
die, and there would be no more Lester to smile at Alice and look
thoughtful. And people would look around and see that her daughter,
Kathryn, was the youngest person in the world.
But by then even Kathryn would be past the child-bearing age.
Stunned, she sat down beside Dell. He squeezed her hand. She looked up
at the Wall, into Bass's penetrating dark eyes. His eyes were so deep,
she thought. His hands were strong, and his face was intelligent. How
could she ever have hated him?
"Where've you been, baby?" Dell asked.
She shook her head irritably. "Be quiet," she said. "Can't you see he's
going to kiss her?"
Perhaps she should change her name to Alice. Then they'd have Kippie,
Alice and Lester. All they needed was a Bass, and they would be almost
like a real family.
It would be so easy to forget this way, looking deep into Bass's dark
eyes.