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Blackmore finished sipping his martini and looked around his oak paneled drawing room. They had an important decision to make, and he half listened to the discussion while he thought about the proposal. Finally he looked at Hoffstetter intently. “So, Bertrand,” he said, “you’re urging us to launch an immediate expedition to seize the mountain city. What do the rest of you think of that?”
Huxley was ready for the question. “I’m inclined to agree with him. The deserted city is well fortified and may hold knowledge that could be very useful to us. I don’t see the ape¬men as a problem. Sure, they overwhelmed a handful of explorers, but we have a technological advantage over the ape¬men, and with sufficient numbers we should easily prevail.”
Hobbs was agitated by Huxley’s response. “But what about the risks?” he asked. “Our supply line to this new city will be very long. We’ve only now built our first versions of the Viking longboat. What if the ape¬men defeat our expeditionary force?”
“We need to plan carefully,” responded Huxley, “but I think we could be ready in a month. We’ll send our twenty-five longboats upriver and establish a base, not on the mainland but on this island they talked about,” he said pointing to a newly drawn map on the wall. “The ape¬men have no watercraft, and our island is unassailable. From there we can fortify Fort Linderhof and make our push to the city when we’re strong enough. As far as supplies go, we have enough food here now, and we can set up a ferry service using the longboats so that supplies arrive every week.”
Blackmore leaned forward and made a steeple of his fingers. “I think the potential benefits outweigh the risks. There’s another reason I think this journey is worth the risk. We’re more intelligent than these brutes, but they have language and rudimentary organization. Just think of the resource they could be if we apply ourselves to controlling them or, shall we say, to domesticating them. They could take over many of our menial tasks, and they don’t have the intelligence to be a threat to us.”
His point had struck home. Everyone was nodding in agreement. “There’s another issue we need to think about,” he continued. “Albert Gleeson and Pamela Lowental have become celebrities because of their exploits in the city. Is this a problem for us?”
Lydia Pendergast’s eyes had hardened at Gleeson’s name. “I don’t think Lowental is a problem, but Gleeson is another story. He’s a schizophrenic, receiving messages from and talking to God. I don’t want a person like that gaining influence in Halcyon or participating in another of our expeditions.”
“But how can we legitimately deny him a role in this new expedition,” said Hobbs, “when he’s a hero? He has the allegiance of the expedition members.”
“I thought we might discredit Gleeson for abandoning Schuster,” said Pendergast, “but the facts weren’t on our side. Instead I think we should call Gleeson in for another interview and have Boyd from psychiatry listen to him. Boyd believes religion is a psychosis, and I’m sure he’d feel that he would be doing Gleeson and our society a great service by enrolling Gleeson in a treatment program so as to free him from this mental illness. If Boyd institutionalizes him, then we could, if we were asked, publicly lament the effects of post-traumatic stress syndrome on Gleeson while expressing our hope that Boyd will heal Halcyon’s hero.”
Blackmore smiled; he’d heard enough. The conversation had come around to the point he’d waited for, so he got up out of his chair. “We’ve decided then. Bertrand, you’ll propose to the senate that we launch this expeditionary force as soon as possible. The rest of us will support your proposal. I don’t fully trust Linder, so we’ll find a new leader. We’ll also work to cure Gleeson from his psychosis to our benefit and the benefit of our fragile society.” He said this last phrase with a sly smile.
Blackmore led the way to the dining hall for their meal together. Food always tasted better after a decision had been reached.