thought he could smell a distant bean field, but that was surely illusory; the flowers would have dropped by now, the beans would be in full pod.
Rolf moved up to stand beside him. “You and I have got to talk.”
“Then talk.”
“We can’t have two leaders of this expedition.”
“Expedition, is that what it is? Five ill-equipped fugitives with no clear idea where we’re going or what we’re going to do when we get there. It hardly requires a hierarchy of command. But if you get any satisfaction from calling yourself the leader, it doesn’t worry me as long as you don’t expect unquestioning obedience.”
“You were never part of us, never part of the group. You had your chance to join and turned it down. You’re only here because I sent for you.”
“I’m here because Julian sent for me. We’re stuck with each other. I can put up with you since I have no choice. I suggest that you exercise a similar tolerance.”
“I want to drive.” Then, as if he hadn’t made his meaning clear: “I want to take over the driving from now on.”
Theo laughed, his mirth spontaneous and genuine. “Julian’s child will be hailed as a miracle. You will be hailed as the father of that miracle. The new Adam, begetter of the new race, the saviour of mankind. That’s enough potential power for any man-more power, I suspect, than you’ll be able to cope with. And you’re worried that you’re not getting your share of the driving!”
Rolf paused before replying. “All right, we’ll make a pact. I may even be able to use you. The Warden thought you had something to offer. I shall want an adviser too.”
“I seem to be the universal confidant. You’ll probably find me as unsatisfactory as he did.” He was silent for a moment, then asked: “So you’re thinking of taking over?”
“Why not? If they want my sperm they’ll have to take me. They can’t have one without the other. I could do the job as well as he does.”
“I thought that your group were arguing that he does it badly, that he’s a merciless tyrant. So you’re proposing to replace one dictatorship with another. Benevolent this time, I suppose. Most tyrants begin that way.”
Rolf didn’t reply. Theo thought: We’re alone. It may be the only chance I have to talk to him without the others being present. He said: “Look, I still feel that we should telephone the Warden, get Julian the care she needs. You know it’s the only sensible course.”
“And you know she can’t cope with that. She’ll be all right. Childbirth is a natural process, isn’t it? She’s got a midwife.”
“Who hasn’t delivered a baby for twenty-five years. And there’s always the chance of complications.”
“There won’t be any complications. Miriam isn’t worried. Anyway, she’ll be in greater danger from complications, physical or mental, if she’s forced into hospital. She’s terrified of the Warden, she thinks he’s evil. He killed Miriam’s brother and he’s probably killing Gascoigne now. She’s terrified that he’ll harm her baby.”
“That’s ridiculous! Neither of you can believe that. It’s the last thing he’ll want to do. Once he gets possession of the child his power will be immensely increased, not just in Britain, all over the world.”
“Not his power, mine. I’m not worried about her safety. The Council won’t harm her, or the baby. But it will be me, not Xan Lyppiatt, who presents my child to the world, and then we’ll see who’s Warden of England.”
“So what are your plans?”
“How do you mean?” Rolf’s voice was suspicious.
“Well, you must have some idea what you plan to do if you manage to wrest power away from the Warden.”
“It won’t be a question of wresting it away, the people will give it to me. They’ll have to if they want Britain repopulated.”
“Oh, I see. The people will give it to you. Well, you’re probably right. What then?”
“I shall appoint my own Council but without Xan Lyppiatt as a member. Lyppiatt’s had his share of power.”
“Presumably you’ll do something about pacifying the Isle of Man.”
“That’s hardly a high priority. The country won’t exactly thank me for releasing a gang of criminal psychopaths on them. I’ll wait until they reduce themselves by natural wastage. That problem will solve itself.”
Theo said: “I imagine that’s Lyppiatt’s idea, too. It won’t please Miriam.”
“I don’t have to please Miriam. She has her job to do and when that’s done she’ll be appropriately rewarded.”
“And the Sojourners? Are you planning better treatment for them or will you put a stop to all immigration of young foreigners? After all, their own countries need them.”
“I’ll control it and see that the ones we do let in get fair and firm treatment.”
“I imagine that’s what the Warden thinks he’s doing. What about the Quietus?”
“I shan’t interfere with people’s liberty to kill themselves in the way they find most convenient.”
“The Warden of England would agree.”
Rolf said: “What I can do and he can’t is to father the new race. We’ve already got details of all healthy females in the thirty-to-fifty age group on the computer. There’ll be tremendous competition for fertile sperm. Obviously there’s a danger in interbreeding. That’s why we have got to select very carefully for superb physical health and high intelligence.”
“The Warden of England would approve. That was his plan.”
“But he hasn’t got the sperm, I have.”
Theo said: “There’s one thing you haven’t apparently considered. It will depend on what she gives birth to, won’t it? The child will have to be normal and healthy. Suppose she’s carrying a monster?”
“Why should he be a monster? Why shouldn’t he be normal, my child and hers?”
The moment of vulnerability, of shared confidence, the secret fear at last acknowledged and given voice, provoked in Theo a second of sympathy. It wasn’t enough to make him like his companion; it was enough to prevent him speaking what was in his mind: “It may be luckier for you if the child is abnormal, deformed, an idiot, a monster. If he’s healthy you’ll be a breeding, experimental animal for the rest of your life. You don’t imagine the Warden will give up his power, even to the father of the new race? They may need your sperm, but they can get possession of enough of that to populate England and half the world, and then decide that you’re expendable. Once the Warden sees you as a threat that’s probably what will happen.”
But he didn’t speak.
Three figures appeared out of the darkness, Luke first, behind him Miriam and Julian, holding hands, walking carefully over the humpy verge. Rolf got in behind the wheel.
“All right,” he said, “let’s get moving. From now on, I’m doing the driving.”
As soon as the car jolted forward Theo knew that Rolf would drive too fast. He glanced at him, wondering if he dared risk a warning, hoping that the surface would improve and make it unnecessary. In the bleaching beam of the headlights the pustulous road looked as eerie and alien as a moon landscape, at once close yet mysteriously remote and perpetual. Rolf was gazing through the windscreen with the
