“Mr. Christopher, I will come directly to the point. There is nothing I can do to save your friends from exile. Even as Minister of Finance, I am powerless to stop this cruel and degrading action.” He hesitated a moment, then added, “At this time.”
Lou felt his innards tighten. “What do you mean?”
“I am totally against this decision to exile the geneticists,” Bernard said, his voice firm. “There are a few others on the Council of Ministers who agree with me. We do not have sufficient power to reverse the decision of the Council, but we will not sit by idly and watch this happen without taking steps to correct the situation.”
“But, I don’t see…”
“How can you see? No one is certain of anything at this point in time. Except for this: I am certain that a few of my fellow Ministers will work together to free your comrades and bring justice out of this exilement.”
Lou nodded.
“Now then, as a more concrete action, I am prepared to offer you an escape from exile.”
“Escape?”
“Reprieve, parole, whatever word you wish to use.”
“What do you mean?”
Smiling broadly now, Bernard said, “There is no way for me to save any of the geneticists or biochemists. Not now, at any rate. But you are not a geneticist nor a biochemist. I can take… eh, certain action, that will remove your name from the list of those who are to be exiled.”
“What? How…”
Bernard stopped him with an upthrust hand. “Never mind how. Believe me when I say that it can be done. You need not be exiled to the satellite station. There are a few others, also, who I can slip out of the lists and save.”
“But the geneticists?”
Shaking his head sadly, “Nothing can be done to save them, at present. Rest assured, they will be comfortable enough in the satellite. Physically, at least. And also be assured that powerful men, myself included, will be working night and day to rescue them and return them to their rightful places here on Earth.”
Lou sank back in his chair. His head was starting to spin. Everything was happening so fast.
“Now then,” Bernard went on, “you realize of course that your Institute has been permanently closed, as have all the leading genetics laboratories around the world. There are still plenty of geneticists and biochemists, plenty of working laboratories, left on our planet. But the best people, the leaders, the elite —they have been exiled. In this manner, the government hopes to stifle the progress of your science.”
“In the name of stability,” Lou muttered.
“Yes. You understand, I trust, that the government will not allow you to begin work at any of the genetics laboratories that have been left open. If they learn that you are working in this field, they will take you again and exile you. Or perhaps kill you.”
“But…”
The big smile returned, and somehow it began to look slightly wolfish to Lou. “Hear me out. I have taken the liberty of starting a small genetics laboratory of my own—safely tucked away from prying eyes. You and several others whom I am able to save from exile can work there. I will try to bring some of the best geneticists and biochemists available to work with you. They will not be the leaders of their fields, of course, but they will be the best of those who have escaped exilement. Your work can go on while we try to end the exile of your friends.”
Lou could hardly believe what he was hearing. “After all that’s happened over the past few days… it’s… well, meeting a sane man in the government is a jolt.”
Bernard laughed. “It is not so much that I am sane; I am unafraid. The others on the Council fear your science. They seek safety in stability and order. I welcome change. I welcome your science. Without progress, the world will sink into barbarism.”
For the first time since the marshal had arrested him, Lou felt himself really relaxing. He grinned at the Minister of Finance. “You don’t know how important those words are.”
Nodding, Bernard added, “I have also taken the liberty of bringing some of the equipment and animal stock from various laboratories to my new location. I understand one of your animals is a gorilla that can talk! Absolutely marvelous!”
“Big George,” Lou murmured. “He’s okay.”
“Yes, the gorilla is healthy.” Bernard seemed amused, “Apparently he was asking for you.”
Lou nodded.
“Now you must realize,” Bernard went on, hunching forward at the desk, his face grown serious, “that my laboratory is a private, even a secret affair. None of the other Ministers know about this. It is located on an island, and once you are safely there, you will not be allowed to leave. Until, that is, the entire business of the exile is settled.”
“But why secret?” Lou asked. “Why don’t you tell the world about the exile? Why keep everything hushed up? That’s just what the government wants.”
“My dear young friend, this is a very complicated business, and the stakes we are playing for are extremely high. If we make the smallest mistake, we will lose everything. You must trust me to do what is best. At the proper time, the world will learn what has happened, I assure you.”
“Well,” Lou said. “Okay, I guess you know more about this than I do.”
“Fine!” Bernard started beaming again. “Now, is there anything else you will need to continue your work? We have already dismantled your computer and are bringing it to the new laboratory.”
Before he realized what he was saying, Lou blurted, “There’s a computer programmer—her name’s Bonnie Sterne. She…”
“You want her at the new laboratory?”
“Yes, but she’s not one of the exiles. She’s in Albuquerque. And she might not want to come—”
Bernard waved his objections away. “She will come. I know women a little better than you do. If we tell her that you are safe and want her to be with you, she will come.”
Lou felt almost numb as he left Bernard’s office. The Norseman met him at the elevator again and guided him back to the waiting car. Lou felt as if his mind was somehow stuck in neutral gear. So much had happened. So much to absorb.
As he sat in the back seat of the car, driving through the chilling late afternoon rain, he tried to tell himself that he should feel happy. At least Bernard was on his side, on the side of justice and reason. Okay, so living on this island will be an exile of sorts, too. But at least you’ll be working, and Bonnie’ll be there. What more do you want?
But somehow it didn’t work. Lou didn’t feel happy at all, just vaguely uneasy, wary. And then he realized that he didn’t have the faintest idea of where they were driving him.
11
The new laboratory was on an island; all right. A Pacific island, Lou guessed, from the number of Orientals around the place. Most of the office people were Chinese or Malay. Half the computer programmers were Japanese.
Lou had been flown in the same day he had talked to Minister Bernard. They wasted no time. Anton Kon was on the plane with him, the only other passenger. Most of the trip was made at night, so neither Kori nor Lou could tell where they were going, except that they had been heading roughly southeastward when the sun set. The crew—two Arabic-looking pilots and a black engineer—said nothing to them.
Lou and Kon were separated at landing. A Chinese, about Lou’s own age, drove him in an open-topped turbowagon from the jet landing pad through a narrow dark road that seemed to be cut into a jungle. He pulled up at a plastic prefab dormitory building and showed Lou to a room on the ground floor. Not much furniture, but the bed was comfortable and Lou was asleep before he had even taken off his shoes.
The next morning, breakfast was brought to him by the same Chinese.
“The director of the laboratory asked me to convey his greetings to you,” he said “He requests that you enjoy yourself this morning in any way you desire. He will meet you here for lunch. At noon precisely.”