Before I could speak, Richards mind-linked with me. I was briefly startled until I realised that of course he could not have escaped the virus. I would have to get used to mind-linking with everyone. I wondered what particular uses Richards made of his new ability.
“You’re looking well.”
“Can’t complain. This resort may be lacking in facilities but at least I had some privacy. Since you didn’t send an email or ask the saurians to link us I gather this is particularly important.”
“Yes. I’ve come to ask you to reappear.”
“In public?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t that a little risky?”
“Yes. But we think that the risk is now worth it. We have been taking constant samplings of public opinion and it is clear that the mood has been swinging in your favour. Most people are actually quite grateful for what you’ve done, they were just outraged that it was done without consulting them.”
“That would have been one consultation which would never have led to agreement.”
“I know. For what it’s worth, I think you made the right decision.”
“It must have made your job easier.”
“Easier to detect traitors, much harder to suborn the opposition. Spying is dying out.”
“James Bond must be rotating in his grave.”
“More likely to be shaken than stirred.”
I was momentarily astonished that Richards had actually cracked a joke, then focused on what he wasn’t saying. I noted that he had already mastered a fair degree of mental control which enabled him to mask his emotions to some extent, an achievement which did not surprise me at all. “There has just got to be something specific that you want me back for.”
He didn’t even bother to pretend polite embarrassment. “Yes, your perception of our devious plots is as sharp as ever. We believe that it’s time we came off the defensive over your actions, and started to emphasise the positive.”
“Who benefits from that?”
“Need you ask? The government, of course. The world is going through some fundamental changes at the moment, and the saurians are the key to making the most of the opportunities which these are throwing up. The technical knowledge they have supplied us with is already transforming international economics and politics, with the oil-producing states rapidly losing influence even though it will be some time before we can do without them. However, the saurians undoubtedly have much more to offer, and to take full advantage of that we need to rehabilitate them in the public mind – and that inevitably means you as well.”
There wasn’t much point in debating the issue since my life on the island was dependent on Richards’ goodwill, so I picked up my computer – my only possession – and boarded the helicopter. This took us to Benbecula airport where a twin-jet BAE 125 was waiting to transport us to London.
The Churchill Auditorium of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Whitehall was packed with some seven hundred journalists from around the world. Floodlights glared for the benefit of the massed ranks of TV cameras and a dense forest of microphones sprouted from the edge of the long table on the stage, behind which I sat.
It had been three weeks since I had returned to London, to live in a discreet apartment buried within one of the more inaccessible parts of the Whitehall complex. My reappearance had been announced but I had been kept out of the public view while I was “working closely with the kangasaurs to bring the maximum benefits of their technology to mankind”. A press conference had been promised in due course and, following a steady trickle of news releases about my untiring efforts on behalf of humanity, it had been decided that now was a good time.
The atmosphere was very different from previous events I had attended. Now, everyone in the room could mind-link, and the buzz of excited emotions was palpable. I picked up surprisingly little hostility from the journalists, and reflected that their jobs had been made very much easier by their ability to detect the truth. It had been evident from the on-line news service I had studied over the past few months that the news media had delighted in revisiting old issues left unresolved, tracking down those accused but not convicted of wrongdoings ranging from major crimes to D-list infidelities. At first, hardly a day had passed without some new revelations, the media confidently making accusations free of the threat of libel, knowing them to be true and easily provable should their targets be rash enough to take them to court. More recently, the flood of stories had died down as both criminal behaviour and indiscretions had largely ceased, so my reappearance was a boon. I scanned the minds in the room and wondered what the collective noun was for journalists: a frenzy?
I shielded my mind in the way the saurians had taught me. I could not lie without that being detected, but I blocked out the many eager attempts to mind-link. The situation was a curious one for me: I had agreed to wear a head-net for the benefit of the small number of viewers with the equipment to receive mental transmissions, but the interview would necessarily use audible speech.
The chairman sitting beside me – a well-known TV interviewer with the forceful personality needed to manage the event – banged a gavel and the process began.
The first question was predictable: ‘Where is Freya?’
‘She is no longer involved with me and wishes to live her own life away from the public gaze. I have not spoken with her for months.’
‘Do you know where she is?’
‘Approximately but not exactly. I have no intention of saying more on that subject, so you had better ask about other matters.’
‘How do you feel about the cost of the changes you have forced on humanity? The civil disturbances and deaths, especially in Africa?’
‘I regret them very much. But I firmly believe that the course of action I took was the right one for the future of humanity. Without it, we were heading for complete disaster. Now, we stand a chance – but only if we choose to take it.’
‘Do you really think that mind-linking will make that much difference in dealing with the huge problems facing mankind?’
‘Yes. The ability to understand other people’s point of view will make it much easier to resolve conflicts and disagreements in the future – and humanity will need to cooperate closely in order to find a new and more sustainable way of living. There are already signs that this is happening in many countries on a small, local scale.’
‘The contraceptive element of the kangasaur virus will take decades to have any effect on the global population. In fact, the improvements to health and longevity also caused by the virus will only make this problem worse. This does nothing to solve the immediate problem of overpopulation, does it? ’