“You know, my husband had come already twice at night and found us sitting at the table. I mean to say that we weren’t sleeping. That is a bit odd, you must admit.”
“I’m aware of that ma’am. But I cannot leave first. I simply cannot. Until you go to bed.”
“That is why this is how we will do it from now on: I will be in my nightgown, and you will be dressed. When we hear the elevator, we will have enough time to run to our rooms in the darkness. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“And if Peter wakes up, we will hear the door to his room. I will run to my quarters and tell my son that I was in the kitchen, that I was getting something from the freezer. Some meat. To defrost it for lunch tomorrow. That I suddenly woke up and remembered it. That’s a logical explanation, isn’t it?”
Pascal occasionally moved his cheek across her hair.
“This cover means a lot to you, sir?” Manami asked after a while.
“A lot. It means a lot to me. You know, that day, when I was preparing to go into the square… I wondered… why isn’t there something…”
“What?”
“A room… our room… and now… it exists.”
Chapter 98
“Why won’t you have dinner with us tonight, Julius,” Manami asked her husband from the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”
“I can’t Manami, really. I don’t have time. I came just for a bit… to tell you something.”
“Julius!” Manami raised her voice and looked at her husband, who was sitting at the table and holding Eir in his lap. She gestured towards Peter, who was sitting with his back towards her.
“Don’t worry, Manami. Everything is alright, just… obligations are piling up. I won’t be able to keep it up like this. I mean, I’ve been coming almost every day. And I actually have to go to our house. The house is being guarded by inspectors as though my family was in it. I have to stay the night there sometimes. Noah will provide and bring food for you from now on.”
“Noah? Does he know that we are here?” Manami was surprised.
“Noah is great, Pascal!” Peter shouted out. “Colonel! He has a black belt in karate! He taught me a kata!”
“Alright, Peter, alright…” said Seneca. “I had to tell someone, Manami. I can’t provide for you on my own and lock the office. It’s too intense. Do you understand? I have to be available, to make decisions at every moment. A huge number of people are calling, coming… day and night… events are sudden, unpredictable…”
“I understand, Julius, it’s clear to me. Does Noah also know about Mr. Alexander?”
“He does,” Seneca looked at Pascal. “I had to tell him everything, Alexander. He will bring you food, cosmetics… perhaps you will also need clothes. He will realize that there is also an adult male in the shelter.”
“Mr. Mayor, please, don’t trouble yourself with that. You know best who you can trust.”
“I have absolute trust in Noah, especially now that…”
“Julius!” Manami was afraid that Seneca would mention the death of Noah’s parents in front of Peter.
“Peter,” Seneca turned towards his son. “You won’t see Noah. He will just bring the supplies down to the corridor and immediately return to my office. And mother will distribute them later.”
“Why?” Peter was disappointed.
“Noah doesn’t have time. He is now head of my personal security. He has to be with me at all times. Those are the Inspectorate rules.”
“That’s great, dad! That Noah is protecting you!”
“It is,” said Seneca. He got up, kissed Eir and put her on the floor. The little girl ran off to the armchair full of toys.
“Peter, help Eir get up,” Manami said.
“I have to go,” Seneca said goodbye. “Son, you just keep on studying.”
He stroked Peter on the head and started towards the door. Then he remembered something and turned towards them.
“Alexander, do you know who turned up at my office yesterday?” Seneca smiled.
“Who?” Pascal wondered.
“Your assistant, Miss Van Andel.”
“Svetlana?” Pascal shouted.
“Yes. She left your staff a day earlier. That’s what Raul told me.”
“Yes, she did. But I thought that she had left Megapolis.”
“She didn’t. She’s here. We also thought that she had left… I was just telling my wife that Miss Van Andel was wrong…” Seneca looked at Peter. “If you understand what I mean?”
“Yes… I understand,” said Pascal. “Why did she come to you?”
“To ask for a job. She has no income.”
“And?” Pascal asked.
“I immediately gave her a job in my secretariat. Miss Van Andel is educated and a very capable young woman. That is the impression I got when you came to our house. I need associates. It is especially important that I can have full confidence in her. That is of the utmost importance at times like these.”
“It is. I’m glad for Svetlana, I truly am. You won’t regret it, Mr. Mayor. Svetlana is exceptional,” said Pascal.
Chapter 99
“Did you watch the evening news, Grasshopper?” Erivan asked as soon as the Grasshopper picked up.
“Yes, Mr. President. You were fantastic.”
“Hm? Was I?” Erivan chirped. “Here, I’m playing back the recording. I can’t stop. And the hand on the back? What do you think?”
“Unique.”
“And one foot a bit back, straight, sharp like a sword, a?”
“Phenomenal.”
“The most phenomenal, Grasshopper! Had I not stuck it out, the spotlight would not have shined on the boot.”
“No, it surely wouldn’t.”
“And like this it gleams!”
“It gleams.”
“You’re not exactly thrilled?”
“Of course I am. I watched it many times.”
“Really?”
“Of course… Nevertheless, I’m watching events in different cities. Everywhere… across the Earth. I’m zooming in the images from our satellites…”
“Why?”
“Because such things interest me. I zoom in on people’s faces. It’s a pity I don’t have audio.”
“You are a strange one, Grasshopper.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“What? You have a proposal?”
“No, no… I see… in one city Consumers and Non-Consumers are mixed together.”
“Yes, that’s the case in most cities.”
“They’ve set up barricades in the middle of some street.”
“Yes, they’re doing that everywhere. The city is split into the Consumer and Non-Consumer part, and each flees to their own.”
“I see. But not everyone makes it across. In this street, the one I mentioned, they fell a man behind the barricades, and they’re kicking him. And he hasn’t moved in a while. He’s probably dead.”
“What does that have to do with me on the news?” Erivan was curious.
“And behind the other barricades, on the same street, in the same city, the same picture. They are kicking another man. The only difference is the clothes. Ones have t-shirts with vertical stripes, and the others have t-shirts with horizontal stripes. Then I thought how lucky these people are today that they can clearly differentiate between themselves. The seasons have provided people with uniforms, already in this initial phase of the war. For all of them. There will be no civilians in this war, Mr. President.”
“Excuse me?” Erivan asked without any interest, stopping the recording at the moment when he banged his fist on the map and looked at the camera.