The Ultroom Error

THE ULTROOM ERROR

                           _by_ JERRY SOHL

     Smith admitted he had made an error involving a few
     murders--and a few thousand years. He was entitled to a
     sense of humor, though, even in the Ultroom!

       *       *       *       *       *

     _HB73782. Ultroom error. Tendal 13. Arvid 6. Kanad transfer
      out of 1609 complete, intact, but too near limit of 1,000
      days. Next Kanad transfer ready. 1951. Reginald, son of Mr.
      and Mrs. Martin Laughton, 3495 Orland Drive, Marionville,
      Illinois, U. S. A. Arrive his 378th day. TB73782._

Nancy Laughton sat on the blanket she had spread on the lawn in her
front yard, knitting a pair of booties for the PTA bazaar.
Occasionally she glanced at her son in the play pen, who was getting
his daily dose of sunshine. He was gurgling happily, examining a ball,
a cheese grater and a linen baby book, all with perfunctory interest.

When she looked up again she noticed a man walking by--except he
turned up the walk and crossed the lawn to her.

He was a little taller than her husband, had piercing blue eyes and a
rather amused set to his lips.

"Hello, Nancy," he said.

"Hello, Joe," she answered. It was her brother who lived in Kankakee.

"I'm going to take the baby for a while," he said.

"All right, Joe."

He reached into the pen, picked up the baby. As he did so the baby's
knees hit the side of the play pen and young Laughton let out a
scream--half from hurt and half from sudden lack of confidence in his
new handler. But this did not deter Joe. He started off with the
child.

Around the corner and after the man came a snarling mongrel dog, eyes
bright, teeth glinting in the sunlight. The man did not turn as the
dog threw himself at him, burying his teeth in his leg. Surprised, the
man dropped the screaming child on the lawn and turned to the dog. Joe
seemed off balance and he backed up confusedly in the face of the
snapping jaws. Then he suddenly turned and walked away, the dog at his
heels.

"I tell you, the man said he was my brother and he made me think he
was," Nancy told her husband for the tenth time. "I don't even have a
brother."

Martin Laughton sighed. "I can't understand why you believed him. It's
just--just plain nuts, Nancy!"

"Don't you think I know it?" Nancy said tearfully. "I feel like I'm
going crazy. I can't say I dreamt it because there was Reggie with his
bleeding knees, squalling for all he was worth on the grass--Oh, I
don't even want to think about it."

"We haven't lost Reggie, Nancy, remember that. Now why don't you try
to get some rest?"

"You--you don't believe me at all, do you, Martin?"

When her husband did not answer, her head sank to her arms on the
table and she sobbed.

"Nancy, for heaven's sake, of course I believe you. I'm trying to
think it out, that's all. We should have called the police."

Nancy shook her head in her arms. "They...

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