第47节

t, upright and

true. With courage and hard work there was no limit to what a man

could do, or how far he could go." He turned his gaze onto Steve.

'Those good ole boys built it up just fine. They blazed trails, put

down railroad tracks and highways, built cities out there on the

grass.

Built 'em of brick and stone, pine and cedar, glass and steel. Look

out of the window there -I' Steve followed the P-G's outflung arm.

Through the windows set in the curved wall behind the desk, he could

see a great sweep of green grass, burgeoning willows, silver-trunked

larches, and in the middle distance, a white timbered steep-roofed

building with a pointed tower topped by a cross.

'You know what that is?" cried Jefferson. 'A picture of part of this

country as it used to be. New Hampshire...

in the spring. All over America a man could look out of his window

onto views as good as that! Green grass, green trees, green hills

-just like it says in the song. And one day, it will be green again.

Our forefathers fought wild beast and nature for every inch of it so as

to be able to hand it on to future generations. It was worth fighting

for then and it's worth fighting for now - to win it back again. The

Mutes shattered those dreams, turned 'em into a nightmare, robbed our

forefathers of that bright tomorrow. It's up to us - to me, and Ben

here, to young, gifted men like you, and every able-bodied Tracker, to

do what we can to put the Federation back where it belongs." The P-G

pointed to the ornate, moulded ceiling. 'llp there in the blue-sky

world. What we've managed to do down here within the earthshield is

nothing to what we'll accomplish when the overground is ours again!"

He raised his right hand, made a fist and brought it down sharply on

the arm of his rocker. 'That's my one regret, Steven. The fact that I

won't be around on that evening when there'll be fires again all over

America. Not flames and smoke in the sky from the burning cities, but

here -' The P-G gestured towards the blazing logs, '- in the hearth, in

the homes of the brave.

But you. you might see that day or, at the very least, join with us in

helping to bring it nearer. My whole life has been spent working

towards that one goal. So has Ben's, and the rest of the Family. Are

you prepared to dedicate your life to making it happen, Steven?"

Steve squared his shoulders. 'Mr President sir, - up to now I've

always tried to do my duty as best as I know how. I'm ready to do

whatever you ask of me, sir."

Jefferson gave a satisfied nod. 'Good, good, that's what I like to

hear." He looked across at Karlstrom. 'I like this boy, Ben. He

speaks my kind of language." The P-G turned back to Steve and fixed

him with a penetrating gaze. 'Do you trust me, Steven?"

'Absolutely, 100 per cent, Mr President sir."

'Enough to talk to me about Mute magic?" Jefferson kept his eyes on

Steve, studying his reaction. 'You don't look surprised."

Steve caught the laugh in his throat and managed to turn it into a

strangled cough. 'llh, Mr President sir, after five months out there

with the Mutes it's, well - kinda hard to be surprised at anything.

When the President of the Board of Assessors cut me off as I began to

tell her about the Talisman Prophecy it was obvious that I wasn't the

only one who knew about it. But since the rest of the Board were being

kept in the dark it could only mean that Other people, in more senior

positions, were taking it seriously.

And if they felt'that way about the Prophecy then it followed that they

took the same view of Mute magic. The threat to the Federation

contained in the Prophecy is so serious that one of those people had to

be you, sir."

Jefferson chuckled and slapped the arm of his rocker.

'I don't think you need worry, Ben. This boy's going to do just

fine."

He returned to Steve. 'You're right, of course. But it has been

necessary to deny the existence of Mute magic in order to maintain

field discipline among wagon-train and way-station crews - and the

morale of Trackers in general. From a study of the records I know that

it was a hard decision for my predecessors to take but they believed

that the only way to crush all doubt and rumour was to back that ruling

with the force of law. And so any public discussion of Mute magic

became a Code One offence."