Macandal dropped from sight. Likewise did Kenneth Tannahill and a couple of house guests, but that was elsewhere, and he often goes out of town, is away much more than he is at home. No sensation in the news, not even Rosa’s disappearance. She’s obscure, few people really care about the patients in that hospital, nobody has claimed she was kidnapped or otherwise met foul play, and in fact none of the persons I’ve named are charged with anything.
“I thought that must be too good to be true, and Corinne ., informs me it is. She’s queried her connections— twice, was it?—from her hiding places. Ned Moriarty is still very interested. The FBI thinks the matter is worth looking into. Could possibly involve drugs or espionage or antics less spectacular but just as unlawful. Have you any later information, Corinne?”
Macandal shook her head. “No,” she replied quietly, “nor will I. Already I’ve put more strain on the honor of those men than I should have. I won’t call them again.”
“I’ve pipelines of my own, from Seattle,” Hanno said, “but using them gets dicier for every day that passes. Tan-nahill is associated with Tomek Enterprises. The FBI will at least be inquiring into that. They may decide there’s nothing to it, that Tomek’s friends have no idea why Tannahill vamoosed. However, they certainly will not if they discover that those friends showed some awareness of the situation earlier. I’d rather not take that risk. We’ve a plenty as is.”
He leaned forward, elbows on table. “In short,” he finished, “if we want to stay concealed, we’ll have to do a total job of it. Abandon everything as fast as possible, permanently. Including this ranch. Tomek brought Shan and Asagao over and installed them here. Somebody will come around to ask some questions. He’ll probably hear gossip about those visitors you had, so soon after the suspicious events. Once he gets descriptions of them, that’s all she wrote.”
Aliyat’s voice trembled a little. She could walk by now, within limits, and color was back in her face, but it would be a few weeks yet before her full recovery, in body or spirit. “Then we can’t go. We have to give up. Or else ... be poor again—homeless—no,”
Hanno smiled. “Have you forgotten what I’ve told you, or don’t you believe me?” he answered. “I’ve squirreled money and other reserves away, around a large part of the world, for close to a hundred years. I have places to live, excellent cover stories, all details taken care of. Yes, periodically checked and updated. We can disperse or we can go live together, as we individually choose, but we’ll be comfortable for at least the next fifty years, if this civilization lasts that long, and well prepared if it doesn’t. Meanwhile we can be laying the foundations of fresh careers.”
“Are you sure?”
“I know considerable about this myself,” Wanderer said.
“I am sure. If you’re afraid, Aliyat, why did you let us boost you out of that bed?”
Her eyes flickered. “I was dazed, didn’t know what to think, hardly could think. I had an idea of buying time.”
“That was my notion too,” Wanderer told the group. “I kept my mouth shut, like her, but today we must be honest.”
Despite their comradeship, Hanno was jolted. “Huh?” he exclaimed. “You mean we should turn ourselves in? Why?”
The response was grave: “If nothing else, I’ve heard Sam Giannotti on the subject. Once the world knows immortality is possible, they should be able to give it to everybody inside of—ten years? Twenty? Molecular biology’s already far along. Have we the right to sit on the knowledge? How many millions or billions would we condemn to unnecessary death?”
Hanno sensed the undertone and pounced. “You don’t sound too convinced.”
Wanderer grimaced like a man in pain. “I’m “not. I had to spell the issue out, but— Could Earth survive?” He waved at the living land around them. “How long before this would be under concrete, or polluted into an open sewer? Humans are already swamping in their own numbers. I wonder if it’s possible to escape the big dieback, or the extinction. We could hasten that day a lot.”
“They’d practice birth control, when they didn’t need children to carry on for them,” Macandal said.
“How many would?” Svoboda challenged. “Nor could the, the serum reach everybody at once. I foresee riots, revolutions, terror.”
“Must it be that bad?” Tu Shan asked. “People will know what to expect before it happens. They can prepare. I do not want to lose what we have here.”
“Nor forsake our children,” Asagao added.
“And what would become of the Unity?” Macandal put in. She turned to Aliyat. “You know what it means to you. Think of the whole membership, your brothers and sisters.”
The Syrian woman bit her lip before responding, “We’ve lost the Unity anyway, Corinne. If we came out in public, we couldn’t be the same to its people. We wouldn’t have time for them, either. And the whole world watching— No, the only way for the Unity to keep going, anything like what it was, is for us to disappear. If it’s as strong as we hope, it’ll find new leadership. If not, well, then it wasn’t that great after all.”
“So you want to hide, now you know you’ll be safe?”
“I didn’t say that. Uh, I don’t expect we’d have much in the way of legal problems. Even Hanno can probably pay fines, and make twice as much off lectures and a book and movie rights and endorsements and ... everything the biggest celebrities the world’ll ever see, short of the Second Coming, everything we’ll be offered.”
“Except peace.” Asagao’s voice came troubled. “No, I fear— Shan, my husband, I fear we would never again have freedom of the soul. Let us make provision for the children and then let us retire, retreat, and seek for tranquility and virtue.”
“I hate to lose this land,” Tu Shan protested.
“Aliyat’s right, you’d be hounded off it regardless,” Hanno warned. “Or taken into protective custody. You’ve lived sheltered lives, you two. You don’t know how many murderous types are out there. Lunatics, fanatics, the insanely jealous, the little snots who’ll kill just to get noticed at last. Until immortality was common, I suspect we’d still need a squad of bodyguards around the clock for decades, before we got taken for granted. No, let me show you some fresh countryside.”
He turned to Aliyat. “That kind of existence may look glamorous to you, my dear,” he continued. “Riches, high society, fame, fun. Maybe you wouldn’t mind the dangers, the need for guards—“ he chuckled—“provided they’re young, handsome, and virile, eh? But please think deeper. How much actual freedom would you have, how much real opportunity?”
“You spoke of finding meaning, purpose, in the Unity,” Svoboda said softly, to Aliyat and Macandal both. “Can we not win to it together, we seven? Can we not work secretly for what is good, and do it better than in a glare of light and storm of noise?”
Aliyat’s hand lay on the table. Macandal reached to take it in hers.
“Of course, if any of us wants to go out and reveal himself or herself, the rest of us have no way of preventing it,” Hanno said. “We can only ask that you give us time to get well hidden. For my part, I intend to; and I and whoever goes with me will not leave behind any clues to our whereabouts. For one thing, I don’t want to be around and visible when this country becomes the People’s Republic of America”
“I do not agree that is inevitable,” Macandal said. “We may be past that stage of history.”
“Maybe. I’ll keep my options open.”
“That would stick anybody who wanted to unmask with a problem,” Wanderer observed. “You’ve tucked away evidence that you’re an immortal, but how could we others prove we weren’t lying or crazy?”
“I think we could provide enough indications that the authorities would be willing to wait and see,” Macandal said meditatively.
Hanno nodded. “Also,” he admitted, “Sam Giannotti whom I’ve told you about, he’d doubtless feel released from his vow of silence, and he’s a respected man.”
“Might he talk if we all disappeared?” Svoboda wondered.
“No, in that case he’ll have nothing to back so wild a story, and better sense than to spread it. He’ll be heartbroken, poor decent fellow, but he’ll plug on with the research. I’ll try to arrange continued funding for the Rufus Lab, mainly for his sake.”
“Do you really mean to liquidate your companies?” Macandal asked. “You would lose ... what? Hundreds of millions of dollars?”
