father her child?

The thought struck like a snake. Before he could block it the fangs were deep, and the venom of adolescent jealousy raced from brain to endocrines to blood-stream, poisoning his whole nervous system.

It's a long life!

He resorted to the old antidote himself, despising his weakness as he breathed the words. They came out as a sigh. He discovered that he was searching his memory to determine whether he or Clifford could lay claim to Anne by seniority.

Seniority? What damned nonsense was that? Anne had traded back and forth between Clifford and him for at least 250 years—with uncounted, trivial alliances with how many other men?

But the others didn't count. It was he and Clifford whom Anne preferred, just as he and Clifford had discussed on countless occasions Anne's perpetual attraction to them both. Anne was Clifford's favorite, and he'd made no secret of it.

"Over here, Webb. We have it!" It was Porter, the head staff pathologist holding out a small vial of crimson-clear liquid. "This ferric-protein salt should cure our famous lady quite quickly. It played sudden hell in the culture."

"Oh, yes? Fine. Thank you, Porter. Thank you very much!"

The narrow-shouldered pathologist gave him a second look. "Certainly. Don't mention it." He paused then asked bluntly, "Did she name you for paternity?"

Webb managed to hold the vial steady to the light, but his voice was a shade too taut and high. "Not yet—that is, we haven't discussed it. It's a possibility, I suppose."

"I suppose," Porter mocked gently. "You with the highest genetic-desirability rating in the State, give or take a couple of counties."

Yes, there were a couple other males in Illinois with as high a genetic rating as Webb Fellow, and one of them was Clifford Ainsley.

The obvious question thrust itself upon Webb for the first time. Was that why Anne Tabor had seemed to concentrate her favors upon him and Clifford? Had she actually anticipated the eventuality of being chosen for motherhood, and had her criterion for male companionship been simply a high genetic rating?

It's a long life. Even with such unlikely odds against the contingency, he supposed any qualified 

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