Sir Donald said, “But dammit, Colonel, they did join MAPIACCIND. They needn’t have done that.”
“Oh, quite. Yes. But if China had refused to join, it’d have put her in a difficult position from the propaganda viewpoint for one thing, and in the second place I believe they really only joined it when they found they couldn’t stop it being formed.” Gresham puffed a cloud of smoke into the air, thoughtfully, settled back in his chair as the smoke filtered into a bar of sunlight and wreathed like fog. “I look at it this way. The Chinese simply aren’t the sort of people who ever willingly join anything — unless there’s something very tangible in it for themselves alone. Remember, they never even went fully into the Russian camp, even when they were on friendly terms, even during the honeymoon period when the revolution first got properly under way after the War. They always held back, never wanted to be hobbled. And now, d’you see, after years and years of domination by the ‘foreign devils’ in one form or another — trade, Treaty Ports, Japan, what you like — they’ve begun to feel their own power and their own weight properly. Once John Chinaman’s ready and feels himself to be ready, he goes into action. Until then, he’ll wait, because he’s patient by nature. But when he is ready… Gresham made an expressive gesture with his pipe-stem. “See?”
Shaw asked, “You think he’s ready now?”
Gresham nodded. “Very possibly. More I think about it, more I think there’s probably quite a lot behind all this. They could easily be thinking along the lines of… well, as you suggested, mucking up REDCAP in some way.”
The Captain said doggedly, “I still don’t see where it would get them.”
Gresham’s bright eyes held a brief twinkle. He said jerkily, “Wishful thinking, Captain! Trying to persuade yourself against your better judgment. Look at it this way. China’s a nuclear Power and a big one. Probably the biggest of us all. You know they had a lot of Russian help before the split came — why, the Russians built their first heavy-water reactor for plutonium production in Pekin, just for research — that’s the one that started up in September 1958, and it’s just as big as some of the Harwell jobs. And we know for a fact that when the MAPIACCIND Agreement was signed, China had an enormous stockpile of H-bombs, long-range ballistic missiles, the lot. The whole lot.” He jabbed his pipe-stem at Shaw and Sir Donald. “Well now. All that’s tied up in MAPIACCIND, adapted to REDCAP. So the Chinese can’t use any of their new weapons.”
“Neither can anybody else,” Sir Donald pointed out.
“Ah, but there’s a difference. Just when the Chinese are feeling ready for the first time, they’re frustrated by this world agreement. My guess would be, they’ve got hold of Lubin, either willingly or unwillingly, to find out all they can about the backroom secrets of the organization and about REDCAP too—”
Shaw interrupted, “Lubin actually worked on the Russian end of fixing up REDCAP. I expect you knew that?”
Gresham nodded. “Yes, that’s quite true — he did. Well, d’you see, there it is. Lubin knows how REDCAP works. If they can get hold of it or put it out of action, just look at the world power they’ve got! At any rate, for a breathing-space. You see, all the other nations would still be hitched, as it were, to the REDCAP bandwagon. It takes a little time to re-adapt the stockpiles to individual and independent use, to throw-off the adaptors. If they get hold of REDCAP, MAPIACCIND’s done for. China would be left sitting pretty, all ready to blackmail the world, all ready to send the balloon up before anyone else is ready.”
“Do you think they’re actually preparing for that now?” Gresham shrugged. “It’s very likely, in the light of what you tell me about Lubin and those troop movements. Remember, China’s a big country and a difficult one for our inspection teams to keep fully covered and report back on, and the reports from there have never been very comprehensive. It’s always been my opinion that the teams could be easily bamboozled — and they could even be liquidated when convenient, if the Chinese are up to anything.” He shook his head, glanced up with a quick, bird-like movement. “Mind you, I’m not posing as an expert with any very special inside knowledge, that a lot of other people who know China well can’t be presumed to have. I’m just putting two and two together. Hope to God I’m wrong.”
There was a silence for some moments, and then Sir Donald asked: “Do you think the ship’s in danger?”
“Anything may happen, if what Shaw says is a fact, and all I’m saying is that I think it could be.” Gresham gnawed at his moustache for a moment, and a faraway look came into his eyes. “You can rely on me for any help you want, y’know.” He went on rather naively, “I’m awfully keen on this MAPIACCIND thing. It’s really a great concept, Shaw, a great concept. It’s really rather a hobby of mine, all this, if you can speak of such a terribly important thing as being a hobby. Peace is so awfully worth working for, giving one’s best for and — and all that.”
Obliquely Shaw studied the colonel’s face. There was a kind of inner light when he spoke of MAPIACCIND, and it was obvious it did lie very close to his heart. Perhaps, Shaw thought, the contrast between this and his previous life as a man of war had something to do with that. Anyway, he decided he liked the sandy little man; there was something immensely good and rather childlike about him, and Shaw rather liked the way he’d stopped suddenly and almost blushed when he thought he’d said too much about his private hopes and beliefs. Shaw said, “Well, let’s hope it won’t come to a complete destruction of MAPIACCIND, Colonel. It’s our job to prevent that anyway, if we can.” He turned to the Captain. “Now, sir. The ways and means. There’s not a lot I can do until some one shows himself, but there are one or two things I can get on with, with your permission.”
Sir Donald stubbed out his cigarette. “Go ahead, Shaw.”
“First, I’d like to go through all the passengers’ papers—
I believe there’s some form that has to be completed, isn’t there, with all their details?”
Sir Donald nodded. “There is. For Australian ports, there’s a damn great form called a P2, which has to be filled in with exhaustive details of every soul in the passenger list — including babies! There’s something similar for the en route disembarkations.”
“And a list of the crew?”
“Oh yes. Full details of all crew are required by the Australian immigration. I’ll see if the Purser’s got all the guif in yet, and I’ll let you know when it’s all ready.”
“Thank you, sir. And would it be possible for me to have a look at REDCAP?”
Sir Donald said, “Certainly, so far as I’m concerned. You’ll take him along, Colonel?”
“Yes, of course. After dinner do, Shaw?”
“That’s fine.”
Sir Donald said heavily, “And now, what about my ship? You’ve talked a lot about the possibility that REDCAP might be blown up. I think a thorough search ought to be made of the ship, just in case there’s some gadget planted somewhere.” Shaw hesitated, looked doubtful. He said, “I’d rather not, sir. Not yet, anyhow. Suppose we did search now, and found nothing — it’s early days yet. What’s to stop some one planting something afterwards, when they know the coast’s clear? A search would give them the tip right away. You see, I’ve got to find Lubin if he’s aboard, and I don’t want to scare the birds too soon.”