'Of course not,' he said. 'I know we must try to have children, even if we seem doomed not to.'

'The doctors say there's nothing physically wrong with either of us,' she said for perhaps the thousandth time in the past five years. 'So, one of us must be thinking against reality, denying with his body the true future. And I know that it can't be me. It couldn't be!'

' "The dark self hides overmuch from the bright self," ' said Hal, quoting The Western Talmud. ' "Thej Backrunner in us trips us, and we know it not." '

There was nothing that so infuriated Mary, herself always quoting, as to have Hal do the same. But now, instead of beginning a tirade, she cried, 'Hal, I'm scared! Do you realize that in another year our time will be up? That we'll go before the Uzzites for another test? And, if we fail, if they find out that one of us is denying the future to our children. . . they made it clear what would happen!'

Artificial insemination by a donor was adultery. Cloning had been forbidden by Sigmen because it was an abomination.

For the first time that evening, Hal felt a sympathy with her. He knew the same terror that was making her body quiver and shake the bed.

But he could not allow her to know it, for then she would break up completely, as she had several times in the past. He would be all night putting the pieces back together and making them stick.

'I don't think there is too much to worry about,' he said. 'After all, we are highly respected and much needed professionals. They're not about to waste our education and talents by sending us to H. I think that if you don't get pregnant, they'll give us an extension. After all, they do have precedent and authority. The Forerunner himself said that every case should be considered in its context, not judged by an absolute rule. And we–'