Wade was relaxing in the little room she had been sleeping in, watching the rain.
"Hey, Wade. I've got some news for you," shouted Stevie as he climbed the stairs. "Can I come in?" he asked as he reached the top.
"Sure," replied Wade.
"A friend of yours is coming to stay," grinned Stevie.
"Who?"
"Quinn Mallory. Apparently he's going to help our guys with the bomb."
"Bomb? What bomb? Why is Quinn coming here?"
"You should ask Joe about the bomb," replied Stevie, referring to his housemate, "he actually works with them from time to time."
"But Quinn."
"We're hoping he'll be able to sort out some of the stuff our guys are struggling with." Stevie looked at her, questioning her attitude. "I thought you'd be pleased."
"Quinn building an atom bomb? That's how all this trouble started in the
first place," groaned Wade, ignoring Stevie's confused look.
When Quinn finally arrived, late the following day, Wade waited to meet him with
a man called Jason, who was apparently the leader of a group of researchers
working on the bomb, or so Joe had told her. Wade didn't get much chance
to speak to Quinn then, Jason was too keen to get to work, but she did get a
moment with him just as they left. She came away from their meeting no
less worried, it seemed that Quinn was as unwilling as ever to think about the
lasting consequences of any scientific discovery he might make.
Caroline marvelled at the emptiness of her house. After two weeks of Quinn, Wade and Remmy living with her, she had grown to appreciate the quiet. With Remmy still working nights, the house was empty in the evening. As Caroline began to doze off slightly, the phone rang, waking her suddenly.
"Hello. Who is it, please?"
"You don't recognise me, even after all our time together? I'm hurt Caroline."
"Adam. What do you want?"
"Well, I came upon some rather interesting information regarding a young man named Quinn Mallory the other day. Official records say he's been incarcerated for treason for around a year, but certain sources say otherwise. The word is, he's been staying with you."
"The word's wrong. Come and look for yourself if you want."
"No need, I know you got him out of the way. The question is, what about the other guy? The one who so generously saved you from me all that time ago. What's his name now.?"
"Adam." began Caroline, before realising that he had hung up. She replaced
the phone receiver, and sat watching her hands shake for several minutes.
It seemed unlikely anything would ever return to normal, the trouble had truly
begun.
Remmy entered the church for his third afternoon of work with the Reverend. He had begun to try and help the Reverend speed up the process of reclaiming the country.
"Hey Remmy," called the Reverend. "I think I got some news for you."
"Yeah? What?"
"It seems you were right. More than half my congregation agree that things are getting out of hand here. Others may simply have been too frightened to agree, not everyone believes that even I can be trusted with such a secret."
"So where does that leave us?"
"Let's just say that resistance will be minimal when things finally get that far, but you should still be careful. Don't ever mention Max either, that's asking for trouble."
"So what can I do? There has to be something I can do," asked Remmy, hopefully.
"Well, you could join the underground I suppose. They're always after new recruits. At least then you'd know what you were dealing with, but on the other hand. I'm sure you could make more difference round here with your talents. You're good with people, there isn't as much use for that in the underground as there is here."
Remmy chuckled, "sure. I'm not sure I fancied being a Commando anyway, and after the trouble Wade had."
"The girl? She was with you? I couldn't believe how that turned out, they're not usually so resistant, and yet they assumed that she was an enemy. I have no idea why. I don't suppose that attack afterwards looked too good either." The Reverend shook his head. "She is all right, isn't she?"
"She's fine, Rev. It wasn't your fault." Remmy patted his
shoulder. "It wasn't your fault."
"So?" Maggie asked her double. "This plan, what is it?"
"I've spoken to Wilkins before, he's a bright man. He's willing to co-ordinate with the military in a joint attack. We need him, and we need to have him without anyone being aware."
"Oh yeah? And who out of this bunch is going to be in this joint attack? Last count pretty much everyone came down on the wrong side," objected Maggie.
"That's my problem. Look, Wilkins need never know that you're not me. All you have to do is break him out and persuade someone to take his place for a while. The guards don't know his face, no one'll know Wilkins is gone til Rickman gets to him. That gives us plenty of time."
"So while you co-ordinate the military objectors, you want me to find some guy to sit in a cell in Wilkins' place, and meanwhile get Wilkins to get the underground ready," stated Maggie sarcastically.
"That's right," replied her double.
"No problem," groaned Maggie.
"Good," said her double as she left the room.
Maggie pinched her nose, trying to imagine who she could possibly persuade to
take Wilkins' place.
Caroline kicked the cupboard door shut, hurting her toes in the process. "Ow! Why will nothing go right!" she yelled.
Remmy shot into the kitchen to see what all the noise was about. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"
"Don't call me that!"
"OK, Caroline," amended Remmy smoothly.
"And don't look so smug," she added.
"What is the matter, Caroline? What's going on?" asked Remmy, genuinely concerned by her odd behaviour.
"It's none.," began Caroline. Then she stopped. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"What's wrong?" repeated Remmy.
"It's." Caroline began to cry quietly on Remmy's shoulder.
Remmy put his arms round her and waited until she felt she could explain,
wondering what sort of pressure it would take to reduce this normally strong,
determined woman to tears. He was a little puzzled, things had been far
quieter this week than before, with Quinn and Wade gone, but he waited
patiently.
Max gazed at the ceiling of his cell. He had had a lot of time to think during his incarceration. As the days had worn into weeks, he had finally resigned himself to the possibility that the others would be unable to rescue him. They had managed some miraculous feats, but sometimes such things would be impossible.
He surprised himself by how calm he was at the prospect of his own execution, but somehow seeing Bennish again had reminded him. He wished there was some way to tell the others that they should concentrate on saving Quinn from the general prison, rather than risk a trip into solitary for him. He also wished that he could tell them not to feel guilty. He remembered how they had felt about his double's death and prayed that they could take his more easily. It seemed just, somehow, for his life to be ended by Bennish, the protégé who he had always felt he had let down. He just hoped that some good might come of it.
"You, Max!" a familiar voice called to Max.
"Quinn?" asked Max. "What are you doing here?"
"When I found out who you were, I had to come and meet you," replied Quinn's double. "I want to know who the guy is who impersonated me. The one who was working with you."
To his initial relief, Max realised that this wasn't Quinn after all, it was his double. "Working with me? Doing what? I have done nothing," retorted Max, unsure precisely how to handle the young man's anger.
"Done nothing? You and that other guy ruined my life! I'm glad you're finally here to pay. But where is he? The one who looks like me. The one who ruined my experiments at home." The alternate Quinn's face began to grow red as he finally saw his opportunity to vent his pent up rage at the hand he had been dealt.
Max groaned inwardly, realising the effects of their Quinn's part in the launching of the atom bomb performed by his counterpart and Bennish. He considered sympathising, but knew that no words of apology could make up for what this Quinn had been through. Instead he gave Quinn a dose of realism. "Do you think I truly did what they accuse me of? Do you think they care? We are prisoners of necessity and your innocence is irrelevant. But we will not be prisoners forever. Governments such as this are rarely sustainable."
Quinn was silent. He heard the truth in Max' voice and was forced to reconsider some of his assumptions about the actions of Max and his impersonator. "So what did you do then? If you aren't Max, then how come you're so exactly like him?"
Max beamed, he had succeeded in arousing the young man's intellectual
curiosity. He cleared his throat and began to explain Sliding and what
little he knew of the events in which his double had participated three years
ago.
"Are you sure this Anne will be the right person to talk to?" Wade asked Stevie.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this? It is your friend you're causing trouble for," he replied.
"I'm sure."
"Then Anne is the person to talk to," confirmed Stevie. "She campaigns for all sorts of things."
"Lead on then," said Wade, gesturing for Stevie to knock on the door.
A tall, thin woman in her mid-twenties opened the door, and immediately recognised Stevie. She said nothing at first, observing them as far as Wade could tell, then she led them into the front room.
"Anne, this is Wade," began Stevie. "She has a concern you might be interested in."
Anne and Stevie both turned to Wade as she began to explain about the scientists' current attempts to create an atom bomb. Without ever specifically referencing her own home world, Wade clearly described the potential hazards of any nuclear industry. Both Anne and Stevie had seen a few, since Bennish's rise to power, but there were details which Wade could provide that they had yet to consider.
"It needs a name, something specific for people to get behind, but that is probably the most solid argument for a campaign I've heard in years," said Anne quietly.
"That's easy," smiled Wade, "it already has a name."
Stevie and Anne waited, surprised.
"CND," said Wade triumphantly.
Maggie and Remmy stood in the shadows by the wall of the military detention block.
"So what's the plan?" asked Remmy.
"We go in and order an early changing of the guards," hissed Maggie.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this, girl. How long do I have to get locked up for?"
"Shh, someone's coming," whispered Maggie, suddenly alert as a soldier walked past nearby.
"Oh great, so I could get locked up for something I did do," whined Remmy.
"You know we can pull this off, Rem," smiled Maggie, trying to reassure him.
"Sure," said Remmy.
"Now, it's time, come on," said Maggie, glancing at her watch.
"Now?" asked Remmy, hoping to delay the moment a little longer.
"Yes, now."
The two of them marched confidently into the building and found little difficulty in convincing the two guards to leave a little early. The guards were obviously bored and tired, and the opportunity to get relieved 15 minutes early unexpectedly, and by Captain Beckett herself, was hardly something they could refuse. Maggie and Rembrandt entered the cell block.
Remmy didn't see Wilkins for long, only while they exchanged clothes, but he was struck by how similar his path was to that of the Wilkins who had helped to rescue Remmy from the soviet Americans way back when they started Sliding. Remmy decided to consider this returning the favour. Wishing Wilkins luck, for everyone's sake, Remmy sat down on the hard bed where he expected to spend the next week or so. He turned to Maggie who had re-entered the cell.
"You'd better remember this, next Slide."
"I will, Remmy, don't worry. Good luck." Maggie silently pressed a key to the cell into his palm.
"I'm hoping luck has nothing to do with this," called Remmy, as he was left
alone in the cell.
Caroline glanced at her nails, noticing that for the first time in years she had been biting them. She shrugged mentally, on top of everything else, worrying about Remmy was too much to cope with without something giving. She got up to pour herself another glass of wine. The phone rang before she could even reach the cabinet.
"Hello?"
"Ah, Caroline, so glad you're at home, and after all those nice people left you too," said the voice.
"What do you want, Adam?"
"That's simple. I want him. Him or you, that's the choice."
"I don't know what you're." began Caroline.
"Oh, I think you do. That nice man who came to our party. The one who the neighbours have seen around so much in the last few weeks. Where is he?"
"I don't know where he is. He left," replied Caroline.
"I think you do know. My offer is simple. Give him to us and you'll be overlooked. Think about it."
Caroline slammed the phone down, unable to listen to any more. She was
cornered.
On to part 6