* * * * *
That next week, I transported all of the volplas out to the oak woods.
There were a hundred and seven men, women and children. With no design
on my part, they tended to segregate into groups consisting of four to
eight couples together with the current children of the women. Within
these groups, the adults were promiscuous, but apparently not outside
the group. The group thus had the appearance of a super-family and the
males indulged and cared for all the children without reference to
actual parenthood.
By the end of the week, these super-families were scattered over
about four square miles of the ranch. They had found a new delicacy,
sparrows, and hunted them easily as they roosted at night. I had taught
the volplas to use the fire drill and they were already utilizing the
local grasses, vines and brush to build marvelously contrived tree
houses in which the young, and sometimes the adults, slept through
midday and midnight.
The afternoon my family returned home, I had a crew of workmen out
tearing down the animal rooms and lab building. The caretakers
had anesthetized all the experimental mutants, and the metabolic
accelerator and other lab equipment was being dismantled. I wanted
nothing around that might connect the sudden appearance of the volplas
with my property. It was already apparent that it would take the
volplas only a few more weeks to learn their means of survival and
develop an embryonic culture of their own. Then they could leave my
ranch and the fun would be on.
My wife got out of the car and looked around at the workmen hurrying
about the disemboweled buildings and she said, "What on Earth is going
on here?"
"I've finished my work and we no longer need the buildings. I'm going
to write a paper about my results."
My wife looked at me appraisingly and shook her head. "I thought you
meant it. But you really ought to. It would be your first."