But Mother Johnston had thrown together an appetizing breakfast for him. He let coffee restore his courage as Magee talked. It was, according to Fader, a serious situation. New America and the Free State had compromised their differences and had formed an alliance. They quite seriously proposed to break out of Coventry and attack the United States.
MacKinnon looked up at this. ‘That’s ridiculous, isn’t it? They would be outnumbered enormously. Besides, how about the Barrier?’
‘I don’t know-yet. But they have some reason to think that they can break through the Barrier . . . and there are rumors that whatever it is can be used as a weapon, too, so that a small army might be able to whip the whole United States.’
MacKinnon looked puzzled. ‘Well,’ he observed, ‘I haven’t any opinion of a weapon I know nothing about, but as to the Barrier . . . I’m not a mathematical physicist, but I was always told that it was theoretically impossible to break the Barrier-that it was just a nothingness that there was no way to touch. Of course, you can fly over it, but even that is supposed to be deadly to life.’
‘Suppose they had found some way to shield from the effects of the Barrier’s field?’ suggested Magee. ‘Anyhow, that’s not the point, for us. The point is: they’ve made this combine; the Free State supplies the techniques and most of the officers; and New America, with its bigger population, supplies most of the men. And that means to us that we don’t dare show our faces any place, or we are in the army before you can blink.
‘Which brings me to what I was going to suggest. I’m going to duck out of here as soon as it gets dark, and light out for the Gateway, before they send somebody after me who is bright enough to look under a table. I thought maybe you might want to come along.’
‘Back to the psychologists?’ MacKinnon was honestly aghast.
‘Sure-why not? What have you got to lose? This whole damn place is going to be just like the Free State in a couple of days-and a Joe of your temperament would be in hot water all the time. What’s so bad about a nice, quiet hospital room as a place to hide out until things quiet down? You don’t have to pay any attention to the psych boys-just make animal noises at ’em every time one sticks his nose into your room, until they get discouraged.’
Dave shook his head. ‘No,’ he said slowly, ‘I can’t do that.’
‘Then what will you do?’
‘I don’t know yet. Take to the hills I guess. Go to live with the Angels if it comes to a showdown. I wouldn’t mind them praying for my soul as long as they left my mind alone.’
They were each silent for a while. Magee was mildly annoyed at MacKinnon’s bullheaded stubbornness in the face of what seemed to him a reasonable offer. Dave continued busily to stow away grilled ham, while considering his position. He cut off another bite. ‘My, but this is good,’ he remarked, to break the awkward silence, ‘I don’t know when I’ve had anything taste so good-Say!’-
‘What?’ inquired Magee, looking up, and seeing the concern written on MacKinnon’s face.
‘This ham-is it synthetic, or is it real meat?’
‘Why, it’s real. What about it?’
Dave did not answer. He managed to reach the refreshing room before that which he had eaten departed from him.
Before he left, Magee gave Dave some money with which he could have purchased for him things that he would need in order to take to the hills. MacKinnon protested, but the Fader cut him short. ‘Quit being a damn fool, Dave. I can’t use New American money on the Outside, and you can’t stay alive in the hills without proper equipment. You lie doggo here for a few days while Al, or Molly, picks up what you need, and you’ll stand a chance-unless you’ll change your mind and come with me?’
Dave shook his head at this, and accepted the money.
It was lonely after Magee left. Mother Johnston and Dave were alone in the club, and the empty chairs reminded him depressingly of the men who had been impressed. He wished that Gramps or the one-handed man would show up. Even Alec, with his nasty temper, would have been company-he wondered if Alec had been punished for resisting the draft.