In a way, I was relieved to be out of the turmoil, of the need to make hard, world-changing decisions. It was pleasant to be taxed only with deciding which fruit and nuts to eat that day. I was in contact with one or other of the saurians every day, but more for social reasons than anything else. Like me, they were waiting for the situation to settle down. My routine was broken only by a weekly food delivery: a small boat arrived and the pilot left a box on the beach, while I kept out of sight.
I switched on the computer again to check for messages. As usual, there were none. I hardly expected any, since the only people with my email address were Richards and Freya. At first, Freya had sent messages every day to tell me about her new life, but these tailed off after a while and I could read the signs plainly enough. She had become an exceptionally attractive young woman, and was no doubt not short of company. I was a reminder of the old days, of violence and terror and hate. She was too far away to mind-link directly, but could have done so via the saurians had she wished. She chose not to, and I gathered from Tertia that she rarely linked with the saurians these days. I wondered if she sometimes thought of me, in the dark of the night.
The next morning the westerly breeze had stiffened and the sea was being driven onto the beach in a rhythmical crash of breakers and hissing backwash. It was hard to imagine that spring was well on the way. It was two years, I realised, since the accident which had transformed me. I ran across the beach and into the water in my usual routine, swimming quickly out beyond the breakers to the swell beyond, before diving to the bottom and working my way around the familiar rocks. I tweaked the giant old lobster which lived under one of them, amused as always by a body language which seemed to indicate affronted dignity. A little further out I met some of the grey seals which were normally based on one of the rocky islets in the bay. They had got used to me, and gave me only a cursory once-over. I surfaced ready to swim back, and casually scanned the area.
My alertness rocketed up the scale as I sensed people approaching, fast. I turned quickly and saw the helicopter coming in low from the west, I guessed to avoid being spotted from the main island. I felt an old fury revive and my lips curl back in a savage rictus as I gathered my power and prepared to force the pilot to slam the helo into the sea. Just in time, I read her mood and realised that this was no killer, there were no fanatics on board. There was just a pilot, doing her job – and Richards.
I trod water for a few seconds, shocked by the instant surge of violent rage which had broken my usual calm. I had obviously been more affected by the past than I realised. I turned and swam back to shore, watching as the helo settled on the beach in front of the house, its rotor slowly winding down. By the time I walked through the tumbling surf, Richards was wandering about impatiently, coat collar turned up against the sharp wind, and the pilot was doing stretching exercises on the beach. She looked up as I approached, a moment of shock and understanding as she recognised me replaced by a flash of amusement. I was puzzled by her reaction until Richards saw me and registered embarrassment. Then I remembered that I was naked – there had been no point in wearing any clothes on my deserted island. I nodded to them, went into the house, pulled on some shorts, and went back out again to face them. The pilot was looking at me with a slight smile on her face. Judging by her speculative mood, I didn't think she was contemplating shoes and handbags.
Before I could speak, Richards mind-linked with me. I was briefly startled until I realised that of course he could not have escaped the virus. I would have to get used to mind-linking with everyone. I wondered what particular uses Richards made of his new ability.
"You're looking well."
"Can't complain. This resort may be lacking in facilities but at least I had some privacy. Since you didn't send an email or ask the saurians to link us I gather this is particularly important."
"Yes. I've come to ask you to reappear."
"In public?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that a little risky?"
"Yes. But we think that the risk is now worth it. We have been taking constant samplings of public opinion and it is clear that the mood has been swinging in your favour. Most people are actually quite grateful for what you've done, they were just outraged that it was done without consulting them."
"That would have been one consultation which would never have led to agreement."
"I know. For what it's worth, I think you made the right decision."
"It must have made your job easier."
"Easier to detect traitors, much harder to suborn the opposition. Spying is dying out."
"James Bond must be rotating in his grave."
"More likely to be shaken than stirred.'
I was momentarily astonished that Richards had actually cracked a joke, then focused on what he wasn't saying. I noted that he had already mastered a fair degree of mental control which enabled him to mask his emotions to some extent, an achievement which did not surprise me at all. "There has just got to be something specific that you want me back for."
He didn't even bother to pretend polite embarrassment. "Yes, your perception of our devious plots is as sharp as ever. We believe that it's time we came off the defensive over your actions, and started to emphasise the positive."
"Who benefits from that?"
"Need you ask? The government, of course. The world is going through some fundamental changes at the moment, and the saurians are the key to making the most of the opportunities which these are throwing up. The technical knowledge they have supplied us with is already transforming international economics and politics, with the oil-producing states rapidly losing influence even though it will be some time before we can do without them. However, the saurians undoubtedly have much more to offer, and to take full advantage of that we need to rehabilitate them in the public mind – and that inevitably means you as well."
There wasn't much point in debating the issue since my life on the island was dependent on Richards' goodwill, so I picked up my computer – my only possession – and boarded the helicopter. This took us to Benbecula airport where a twin-jet BAE 125 was waiting to transport us to London.
The Churchill Auditorium of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Whitehall was packed with some seven hundred journalists from around the world. Floodlights glared for the benefit of the massed ranks of TV cameras and a dense forest of microphones sprouted from the edge of the long table on the stage, behind which I sat.
It had been three weeks since I had returned to London, to live in a discreet apartment buried within one of the more inaccessible parts of the Whitehall complex. My reappearance had been announced but I had been kept out of the public view while I was "working closely with the kangasaurs to bring the maximum benefits of their technology to mankind". A press conference had been promised in due course and, following a steady trickle of news releases about my untiring efforts on behalf of humanity, it had been decided that now was a good time.
The atmosphere was very different from previous events I had attended. Now, everyone in the room could mind-link, and the buzz of excited emotions was palpable. I picked up surprisingly little hostility from the journalists, and reflected that their jobs had been made very much easier by their ability to detect the truth. It had been evident from the on-line news service I had studied over the past few months that the news media had delighted in revisiting old issues left unresolved, tracking down those accused but not convicted of wrongdoings ranging from major crimes to D-list infidelities. At first, hardly a day had passed without some new revelations, the media confidently making accusations free of the threat of libel, knowing them to be true and easily provable should their targets be rash enough to take them to court. More recently, the flood of stories had died down as both criminal behaviour and indiscretions had largely ceased, so my reappearance was a boon. I scanned the minds in the room and wondered what the collective noun was for journalists: a frenzy?
I shielded my mind in the way the saurians had taught
me. I could not lie without that being detected, but I blocked out the many eager attempts to mind-link. The situation was a curious one for me: I had agreed to wear a head-net for the benefit of the small number of viewers with the equipment to receive mental transmissions, but the interview would necessarily use audible speech.
The chairman sitting beside me – a well-known TV interviewer with the forceful personality needed to manage the event – banged a gavel and the process began.
The first question was predictable: 'Where is Freya?'
'She is no longer involved with me and wishes to live her own life away from the public gaze. I have not spoken with her for months.'
'Do you know where she is?'
'Approximately but not exactly. I have no intention of saying more on that subject, so you had better ask about other matters.'
'How do you feel about the cost of the changes you have forced on humanity? The civil disturbances and deaths, especially in Africa?'
'I regret them very much. But I firmly believe that the course of action I took was the right one for the future of humanity. Without it, we were heading for complete disaster. Now, we stand a chance – but only if we choose to take it.'
'Do you really think that mind-linking will make that much difference in dealing with the huge problems facing mankind?'
'Yes. The ability to understand other people's point of view will make it much easier to resolve conflicts and disagreements in the future – and humanity will need to cooperate closely in order to find a new and more sustainable way of living. There are already signs that this is happening in many countries on a small, local scale.'
'The contraceptive element of the kangasaur virus will take decades to have any effect on the global population. In fact, the improvements to health and longevity also caused by the virus will only make this problem worse. This does nothing to solve the immediate problem of overpopulation, does it? '
'True, but the saurian technology will provide cheap power and, with that, the possibility of cheap water to parts of the world affected by drought, so food supplies can be improved. I won't pretend that the problems have gone away though. I disagree when you talk about decades – I think it's more likely to be centuries before we achieve a stable and sustainable population. But the saurians are providing us with the means to struggle through to that point.'
'Do you think we have the international structures in place to deliver the benefits of these changes to the people who need them?'
'The structures are there; what we have to do is use them effectively.'
The conference went on in this vein for some time, until the chairman announced that he would take one more question.
'Cade, what are you going to do next?'
I thought about that one. 'I'm not sure. I'm no longer needed as a healer, and cooperation between human and saurian scientists is progressing rapidly without me. But I can hardly go back to living a normal life.' I grinned. 'Watch this space!'
Richards was waiting behind the stage. 'That went well enough,' he radiated controlled satisfaction. 'But a crowd of demonstrators is waiting outside. There are still many people who feel strongly about what you did. You'd better come this way.'
He led me down into the basement and past a maze of service ducts until he reached an unobtrusive doorway, which he unlocked before passing through. We entered a long tunnel.
'Aha! The legendary Whitehall tunnel complex!'
He snorted audibly. 'Consider yourself privileged.'
We surfaced in the building which housed my flat and, somewhat to my surprise, Richards stayed with me. In my rather gloomy accommodation, lit only by small windows overlooking an internal courtyard several stories below, he settled down in a government-issue armchair and steepled his hands, regarding me thoughtfully.
'That last question was apposite. What are you going to do next? You are still too controversial a figure to be out and about in public, and we can hardly disguise you.'
I shrugged. 'I'm really not sure. I don't seem to have a purpose at the moment, and I can't think of anything that I can usefully do. No doubt something will come up.'
Richards nodded. 'No doubt. You still have talents beyond those of the rest of us, which could be useful from time to time.'
'In the meantime, I'd prefer to return to the Hebrides. It's a lot better than being cooped up in here, unable to go outside.'
He nodded again and stood up to leave. 'That won't be a problem, as long as you stay in touch. Before you go, your brother has asked to see you. Do you want to meet him?'
I sighed at the prospect of another fractious meeting, then realised that mind-linking might make a considerable difference. 'All right, I'll see him.'
Luke's mind reflected his wariness as he entered the flat and looked around. He was even thinner than before, looking gaunt and haggard. We linked tentatively, as if afraid of being burnt.
'You've gone down in the world since Long Island – this is a bit of a hole.'
I shrugged. 'Not as deep as some I've been in lately.'
We sat in armchairs facing each other, then tentatively strengthened the link. I felt the force of his convictions, but also his constant doubts about whether he was interpreting correctly what was needed of him, whether or not his actions were the right ones. I sensed from his emotions that he was finding something similar in my mind, although based on reason rather than religion. We simultaneously smiled wryly at each other.
'Any regrets?'
'Many, particularly on a personal level. But if time was rewound and I had to go through it all again, I can't see any major choices I would make differently.'
He nodded, slowly. 'I can see that. But then, I never doubted your sincerity. Only your judgment.'
'So, what do you think now?'
He sighed and leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes. 'You should have seen some of the things I saw. The people terrified into insanity and even suicide, believing that they had been taken over by evil spirits when their mind-links opened. Of course, I realised immediately what had happened, what you must have done. I tried to reassure them, but most of them were too distraught to understand. There was panic and chaos for weeks. Society broke down. Transport was disrupted, so food stopped arriving and people began to starve. Eventually the government got something organised but I don't know how many had died by then. It was a desperate situation, repeated in many parts of Africa.'
I felt his anguish, his frustration at being unable to convince the superstitious rural poor that they were not possessed by demons, his despair as they starved and he could do nothing to help. I impulsively opened my mind to him. 'This is why I did it!'
He absorbed the outpouring of emotions which suddenly burst from me, understood what I had experienced from the start: the shock and horror of my transformation, the love and grief for Sophie, the revelation of the saurians, the certainty of the destruction of human civilisation if we did not do something drastic – and the reasoning and emotions which lay behind my decision to ask the saurians to develop their virus and release it on our world. He looked at me sadly and nodded.
'I understand what you did. I appreciate that you felt you had no choice. Perhaps I would have felt compelled to do something similar, in your place.'
We sat and looked at each other for a while, feeling closer than we had ever been. We understood each other perfectly, sympathised with the problems the other had faced. There still remained, of course, the fundamental difference between us; Luke's religion, and my atheism. I was aware of the strength he gained from his faith, the way it drove him to spend his life trying to help others, while helping him cope with the desperate problems he experienced. He similarly acknowledged and accepted the logic of my position, my insistence on evidence and reason before reaching conclusions. He got up to leave, but this time there was no bitterness. We embraced, rather awkwardly.
'You might believe in science but, in a way, that is a kind of faith as well. A faith that logical deducti
on will always provide the answers.'
'Maybe. At the moment, it seems to be doing the job. Help is slowly being provided to Africa and wherever else it is needed. You look after their souls, and I'll try to help provide for their bodies.'
My island home was just as I left it. I waited for the noise of the receding helicopter to die away, savouring the peace and solitude. I walked into the low house, put my notebook on the table, and logged on out of habit. There was a message in my intray:
I've just seen your conference on TV. Well done, and thanks. All the best. F.
I slipped on my headnet to check with the saurians whether or not Freya had tried to make contact via them, but she hadn't.
In the next few days I settled back into my old routine. Spring was slow in establishing itself, the occasional sunny day alternating with Atlantic storms as the frontal systems swept north-east, lashing Scotland in passing. One morning, Secundo had some news for me:
'As you know, our scientists have been linking with yours over the past few months to research a wide range of issues. It seems that they work very well together – saurian knowledge and methodology combined with human inspiration and inventiveness. They have made a breakthrough which may be of interest; they have discovered the source of the energy transfer which occurs when a physical link is opened between our worlds, and have found a way to discharge this safely. They have just carried out the final tests, and will make an announcement soon. We can now open a portal through which people can pass. Would you like to visit us? We are ready for you now!'
"May be of interest", indeed! I sent a brief but emphatic affirmative, turned to the computer and sent an email to Richards (gone travelling, may be away for a while) and walked eagerly outside, unable to sit still. I felt no doubts, nothing but an adrenaline rush of excitement. The saurian world! The prospect brought a huge wave of relief, making me realise how trapped I felt on this human Earth, how limited were my options. I had never dreamed that I could be offered such a way out.
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