Edward Llewellyn - [Douglas Convolution 03]

by Prelude to Chaos (epub)

  “There will be work for all, good wages for all, rewards for all. And all of us must join together in this great and humane effort. We cannot allow the private interests of selfish groups, whether they be those of capital, or labor, or selfelected elites, to interfere with our common effort.”

  I didn’t like the sound of “self-elected elites” nor, judging by her frown, did Judith.

  Randolph continued to exhort us to unite in productivity, to create surpluses for which the Administration would provide a market. Vast storage depots were already being erected. Supply bases on which we ourselves could draw later when the productivity of an aging population started to fall. Supplies which future generations of Americans would surely need.

  He finished with a word from those Americans, about eighty-five percent of the population, who were either pure consumers or whose jobs had no possible relevance to future needs. He urged them to shift to vital industries, to learn new skills, even at the cost of some personal privation. “My Administration will supply without charge the equipment and materials so that every American can preserve those possessions for which he or she has no pressing present use, but which will be of great use in the low-production phase ahead. Each one of you can make your own personal gift to the future, secure in the knowledge that some future American will accept your gift with gratitude.”

  It began to dawn on me what Randolph was attempting; he was trying to give meaning to lives that would seem increasingly pointless as people aged and their civilization decayed. To inspire every individual to commence some task which would occupy him or her during the bleak days ahead. It was not the speech of a posturing politician but the attempt of a President to give leadership to his people.

  Randolph was doing his best, and was doubtless getting his message across to millions. But Grainer would have done it better; not perhaps in his words but by his acts. And certain of Randolph’s statements stirred the strings of my memory; remarks I had heard Arnold Grainer make some six years before.

  Suddenly the situation, came into focus. Grainer had known! He had known then what was about to happen now. Back in 2020 he had known. That was why he had plunged into politics, had fought to win a presidency he had never enjoyed.

  Had he been a secret disciple of the Teacher? Or had he had access to the same knowledge that had set the Teacher off to preach withdrawal from the Affluence to his privileged followers? Whatever the truth, Arnold Grainer had fought to gain the power that would let him work for the well-being of the many rather than the survival of a believing elite. He was not here to complete it because he had been murdered to serve Gerald Futrell’s ambition!

  I began to shake with fury at the immensity of Futrell’s treason, so that Judith laid her hand on mine to calm me. By the time I had regained control of my emotions the President had finished and the commentators had started.

  They were switched off abruptly and Deacon Anslinger appeared on the screens, explaining what the President had really meant, and how it was going to affect the situation in Sherando. From now on Anslinger would be dominant on the Council, and soon his rigorous recommendations would become the Settlement’s way of life. I got to my feet and pushed my way to the door; I had to get out into the fresh night air and decide what I myself must do.

  Judith had come out after me and for a few minutes we were alone on the plaza. I wiped my forehead. ‘They’re switching to a war economy. Self-elected elites and other minorities are going to get stomped. Especially if they’ve got something the majority wants—like kids and fertile girls. The storm’s coming. And now it has Presidential approval to blow!”

  She glanced at me. “The Teacher warned us. That’s why we’ve been gathering in these Settlements.”

  “Judy—you’d better get out of this one!”

  She bit her lip and whispered, “Gavin, I must talk to you ulone. But where?”

  I must talk to her too! I thought for a moment. “Tomorrow morning I’ll be checking stores in the Depot. Go to the side door at ten and tap three times. The Depot’s verboten to everybody except myself and Anslinger, so don’t let anybody see you. The door’s down that alley which leads to the warehouse where they store old agricultural machinery. Know it? Then if Fm alone I’ll let you in. If I don’t it means Anslin-ger’s with me, so beat it fast”

  “Thanks! I’ll be there.” She pressed my hand and slipped away into the crowd pouring down the steps from the General Assembly.

  Why did I feel protective? She was an eminently self-sufficient person and under most circumstances probably better able to look after herself than I was. But the circumstances in Sherando, in North America, in the whole damned worlds, were abnormal. And while sitting beside her during the President’s speech I had been aware of her isolation among these Believers and of the tension building up within her. Judith’s superficial calm hid a wildness which, I sensed, made her capable of doing almost anything. She was on the verge of doing Something wild.

  The Depot was a stone building, half sunk into the ground, and looked almost as if it had been designed as an ammunition store. Without windows and with only a few scattered light bulbs it was a gloomy place. As I waited for Judith the next morning I heard a motorcycle turn down the alley and go on past into the warehouse at the end. Apparently the rider had not spotted her, for a few minutes later there were three quick taps on the side door. I went to open it.

  Judith slipped in from the sunlight and stood looking around into the gloom. “What is all this stuff?” she asked. “Sufficient weaponry to arm a brigade.”

  “Whaf s it doing here?”

  “Ostensibly, the Army’s stockpiling it for our descendents. So they can start blowing each other apart again. I think it’s really for use by Sherando if it’s attacked. Somebody up there in Washington likes us!”

  She pointed to a stack of blue-white ammunition carriers. “What’s in those things?”

  “CBW agents.”

  “What agents?’8

  “Chemical Biological Warfare agents. Those containers are mixed HCN and nerve gas.”

  “Nerve gas!” Her hand went to her mouth.

  “Pre-1990 chemicals, so they don’t break your Teacher’s prohibition. But over there,” I pointed to a stack of containers checkered red and yellow, “is something new. I don’t know what it does, but I’ll bet it’s something horrible!”

  “How could they allow such chemicals into a Settlement?” “Judy!” I caught her shoulder and turned her to face me. “When things go sour, weapon-prohibitions aren’t worth a damn. Anyway, you didn’t come here to talk about how Sherando’s sliding into heresy!”

  “No.” She studied my face. “I came to tell you that yesterday Anslinger warned me to get married—or take the consequences.”

  I looked at her, then said gently, “You’re the only single woman in Sherando over sixteen. You’ve got to marry someone if you’re going to stay here. I admit I came at you like a patronizing fool. Now I’m asking you like a humble suitor. Please marry me.”

  “Gavin—I can’t!” She looked away from me. “Not now, at any rate.”

  I sighed. “Then they won’t let you stay.”

  “They won’t let me go!” She gave a short laugh. “I’m a valuable item on the Sherando inventory.”

  “I know you’re a good surgeon, but—”

  “I’m not valuable because I’m a surgeon. I’m valuable because I’m a woman. A fertile woman. Anslinger’s demanding that I marry and start breeding. The bastard’s after my genes!”

  “How do you know you’re fertile?” I saw her expression. “Scrub that question! Tell Anslinger to stuff it. I’ll speak to him. If he insists—he can’t stop you leaving. This is still a free country.”

  “Free for some people perhaps. But not for us!” She turned to look at me. “Anslinger has found out who we are. He wants to keep us in Sherando. Me to breed. You to fight. If we bolt he’ll sic the Feds onto us. He’s hand-in-glove with the local cops. He’ll probably make
a deal with them to bring us back to Sherando after they’ve caught us. He as good as told me so yesterday.”

  “Judith—we. can leave any time. Who’s to stop us?”

  “Leave? On what? With what? To go where?”

  I hesitated. I had not thought about leaving after Anslinger 116

  lmd asked me to stay, and so I had never considered how I might. Now that Judith had made me think about it I saw the problems of trying to escape without transportation, ID’s, or credit cards.

  “Ever hear of a place called Jonestown?” Judith asked suddenly.

  “Vaguely. Wasn’t that some settlement where they all killed themselves on orders from a religious maniac called Jones? Back in the seventies?”

  “They started out as religious idealists; poor people trying to build a better life for themselves. Some of them turned into devils. All of them acted like sheep. They killed each other, and then killed themselves. Jones became a sadistica! brute. Anslinger’s starting down the same evil pathway. Oh, he’s not a madman like Jones. He’s very sane. As sane as the Puritans who hung witches in Salem.”

  I stared at her. “Judith that’s balls! This isn’t a collection of huts on the edge of the jungle.” I remembered the terrible pictures I had seen in the encyclopedia as a boy, and gestured toward the stone building around us. It might not be beautiful but it was solid. “We’re not trying to scratch a living from a rain forest. This place has lasted thirty years. It’s well established. It’s prosperous and strong. It’ll be even stronger when I’ve finished the fortifications. The people here may be zealots, but they’re not superstitious fools. The Elders aren’t religious maniacs.”

  “The Elders are a bunch of elderly fumblers who follow Anslinger because they can’t see where to go and they won’t see where they’re going! They’ve been under his thumb ever since the first mob attack on a Settlement scared hell out of them.” She paused, breathing quickly. “Sherando was founded by genuine Believers. They built it up. They made it what it is today. They’re still Believers, but they’re confused and frightened. When Anslinger talks about austerity, about the need for discipline, all that fascist crap, they think he’s talking good sense. He’s roused the Puritan in them. And that’s not what the Teacher taught.”

  “I’ve never been able to work out what the Teacher actually taught—or teaches.” I was trying to cool her down by shifting the subject “Is he still alive?”

  “He’s alive.” The glow that came into Judith’s face when she spoke of the founder of her religion was almost as disconcerting as the flush of anger when she spoke of how Anslinger was distorting his teaching. “He’s withdrawn to meditate.” She gripped my hand. “Gavin, if you’d heard him, then you’d believe as I do.”

  “Maybe.” What kind of man was this Teacher? A man whose name alone could change Judith from a sensible scientifically trained neurosurgeon into a gullible innocent? I had given up trying to show her the fallacies in the religious mishmash she called her faith. “I can’t fault Anslinger for putting some backbone into the Council. I know they’re moving toward a closed society. But that’s what they’ve got to become within the next few years. This is going to be a Settlement under siege. The sooner he can persuade people to think in terms of survival the better the chance they have of surviving.”

  “You think that’s how a society survives? By absolute obedience to whatever fanatic has grabbed control? Hard work and harsh discipline for anybody who dares to oppose the laws the leaders lay down?” She clenched her fists. “That’s what it turned into at Jonestown. Jones used to have anybody who didn’t obey his whims thrashed in public. That’s the spectacle Anslinger’s going to start here. And this morning he warned me I’ll be the first in line for a public flogging unless I marry fast. And marry him or you. He thinks him and you are my genetic match.”

  “Marry him? He’s married!”

  “Polygamy is about to be introduced. We’re diverting into the Mormon pattern. Along with a lot of other less pleasant things. Including capital punishment.”

  “Whip you? He wouldn’t dare! I’ll stomp the bastard if he tries-—”

  “Quit coming the heavy, Gavin!” Judith sighed. “Anslinger will have the mass of these decent people here behind him. All the women and most of the men would agree that I have to be brought into line. A fertile woman without children is an anathema. I’m going to have kids, all right. But at a time I choose and by a man of my own choosing.” She saw my face and touched my arm. “Don’t look so upset! I won’t be calling on you to make some grand gesture. I’m not planning to stay around to become Anslinger’s second wife—or his first victim.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Take off. I’ve been getting ready to go ever since I realized that Anslinger was taking over.”

  “Go where?”

  She shrugged. “I haven’t mentioned Sutton Harbor to anyone. And I asked you not to. Have you?”

  “Of course not!” I felt sick at the thought of Judith on the run, alone. She’d never reach Maine. “I’ll come with you.” “Like hell you will! I haven’t planned for a partner. Not on this escape!” She saw my hurt and gripped my hand. “Whatever I may have said in the past, you’re better off here. You’ve shown that you’re too cynical to be caught by Anslin-ger’s cant. And there will be fighting. However rotten the leadership—there are five thousand basically decent people here. They’ll need men like you when the fighting starts. If you help the Settlement survive you’ll be serving the Light in your own way.”

  “Damn the Light! It’s you 1 want. Okay—take off for Sutton Cove. But don’t be surprised if I turn up there later.” I caught her arm. “Judy, you’ll never make it alone!”

  She reacted like a goosed girl. I had said the wrong thing and she had interpreted it the wrong way. “I’ll be waiting for you—-but I won’t hold my breath!” She walked toward the side door. “Now let me out of this store of evil!”

  I followed her, protesting, careless of whoever might be watching us. Judy was about to do something desperate. I had either to stop her or go with her.

  She strode down the alley, her skirts swinging, her head held high. She was a stubborn, willful, crazy, arrogant bitch! She was exactly what Anslinger had described so well. Here I was, with an assured position in one of the few strongholds that were likely to survive the next few years. There she was, being followed by a man who loved her and could protect her. Once she had married me, nobody would dare to insult or threaten her.

  Instead, she was choosing to embark on a desperate journey across an unsettled countryside, swarming with thugs and rapists. And I was going to have to go with her, whether she wanted me or not. It was I, not her, who was still being hunted by the Feds. They didn’t give a damn about her by this time. I wished I felt the same way.

  ^ We reached the end of the alley, to where it opened onto the plaza. She had the sense to stop In the shadow of a building when a black limousine came through the main gates and turned toward the Council Chamber. “What Washington big-shot’s come to make a deal with Anslinger today?” she snarled.

  I was too worried about Judith to be interested in nervous politicos. “Judy!” I said, grabbing her arm. “For God’s sake show some sense! You can’t just walk off through the woods!”

  She shook off my hand. “I’m not an idiot, Gavin Knox. When I said I’ve been preparing to get out of this hell-hole I mean I’ve been preparing as carefully as I did when I got us out of the Pen. Worry about your soul! Not about my body.” “Damn my soul! How are you going to make a break?” “You’ll know after I’ve made it. I trust you, Gavin. But-—” She stopped, her hand to her mouth, staring across the plaza. “Oh God!”

  “What?” I turned to look.

  And I saw. Standing on the steps of the Council Chamber to greet the new arrival was Deacon Anslinger and a group of Elders. Getting from the limousine, glancing suddenly toward us, was Gerald Futrell.

  X

  I can’t remember
what I did when I saw Futrell. I can only remember a surge of hatred, a surge which swamped everything except the face of the man I meant to kill. Judith tells me that I reacted like an automaton; reaching for a gun that wasn’t there, standing rigid with one hand fumbling like a machine on automatic which has encountered some unprogrammed obstacle.

  She says that after a moment of confusion I knocked her aside as I swung around and went striding back down the alley. I remember an instant of savage frustration at finding myself unarmed facing my enemy, then the insistent need to get my gun and blow him apart. Judith says she followed me between the houses, through the hallway of the Bachelor Cloister, and up the stairs to my room. I have a vague image of her anguished face as I loaded the Luger and the Jeta. Of her hanging onto my arm. Of my saying, “That’s Futrell. I’ve got to kill him.”

  I remember her voice. “You can’t! Not here!”

  “He was brought here for me to kill.” None of this makes much sense to me now, but at the time my logic seemed as clear and sharp as the blade of a fighting knife.

  She slapped my face and I remember the shock. Like hitting a faulty video camera, her blow brought things back into focus. She was standing in the doorway, challenging me to push her aside. “They’ll kill youl”

  I answered slowly, reaching for my lost conviction. “That doesn’t matter. Just so long as I kill Futrell first.”

  “They’ll kill me! Doesn’t that matter either?”