Lucifer's Hammer

“They still can’t get to us,” Christopher insisted. “Understand, I’ve nothing against getting the United States going again. But I want to know the cost. Will they tell us to pay taxes?”

Jellison nodded. “Good question.” He looked around him. “Whatever happens, it can wait till spring, can’t it? Either we’ll be out of the woods by then, or we’ll be dead. Al says we won’t be dead.”

There were nods and murmurs of agreement.

“Now,” Jellison said. “I asked Harvey to come to this meeting because he has a proposal. Harvey has asked for another expedition Outside, to get more equipment that we’ll need for next spring.” He held up a paper that Harvey recognized as a list he and Brad Wagoner and Tim Hamner had prepared. “Mostly things we won’t need before spring.”

“But perishable, Senator,” Harvey said. “Electrical tools, transistors, components, electric motors… a lot of things that might still be useful even though they’ve been underwater. By spring they won’t be.”

“We lost four good men the last time we went Outside,” George Christopher said. “It’s bad out there.”

“Because we didn’t take enough men,” Harvey answered.

“We need to go in force. A big column won’t be attacked.” He was proud of his control: He didn’t think anyone would guess from his voice how the thought of going out of this valley terrified him. He glanced at Maureen. She knew. She wasn’t looking at him, but she knew.

“And will use a lot of gasoline,” AI Hardy said. “As well as throw work schedules off. And you still might have to fight.”

“Well, we take enough men, it might not be so bad,” George Christopher said. “But I’m not going out with just a couple of trucks anymore. Harvey’s right. If we go, we go with a lot of people. Ten trucks, fifty to a hundred men.”

“I suppose we have to think of these things,” Reverend Varley said. His voice was wistful and sad.

“Yes, sir.” Christopher was determined. “Reverend, I want peace as much as you do, but I don’t know how to get it. Don’t forget Deke’s neighbors. The ones that got eaten.”

Reverend Varley shuddered. “I hadn’t,” he said.

There was a pause, and Harvey jumped in. “Tim’s worked with the phone book and maps,” he said. “We’ve located a scuba shop. It shouldn’t be under more than ten feet of water. We could dive in there and get the scuba gear—”

“What are you going to use for air?” Steve Cox demanded.

“We can build a compressor,” Harvey said. “That’s not hard to design.”

“Might not be hard to design, but without electricity it’s going to be hard to build,” Joe Henderson said. He had owned the filling station in town, and was now helping Ray Christopher set up a blacksmith and mechanic shop.

“Let me name some other things we need,” Harvey said. “Machine tools. Lathes, drill presses, all kinds of tools, and we’ve located most of them — on the map, that is. And we’ll need them, one day.”

Henderson smiled wistfully. “I could sure use some good tools,” he said.

“Generator wire,” Harvey continued. “Bearings. Spare parts for our transport vehicles. Electrical wire.”

“Stop,” Henderson said. “I give up. Let’s go out.”

“Al, could we spare fifty men for a week?” Jellison asked.

Hardy looked unhappy. “Eileen?” he called. She came in from another room. “Get me those manpower trade-offs, please.”

“Right.” She flashed Harvey one of her sunburst smiles before she left. Eileen Hancock Hamner had been wrong: Good administrators were needed even after Hammerfall. Al Hardy often told the Senator that she was the most useful person in the Stronghold. Strong backs, farmers, riflemen, even mechanics and engineers weren’t so hard to find; but someone who could coordinate all that effort was worth her weight in gold.

Or in black pepper. Hardy scowled. He didn’t like this expedition; it was an u

“While she’s getting that,” Chief Hartman said, “let me put in a nickel’s worth. We can spare fifty men for a week if nobody comes after us while they’re gone. Fifty men and rifles is a big part of our strength, Senator. I’d like to be sure nobody’s going to attack us before I go along with sending that many out at once.”

“I can go along with that,” Mayor Seitz said. “And maybe we send a patrol out through Trouble Pass before we go. Just to see if anybody’s coming that way.”

“Harry’s due back from a sweep in a day or so,” Senator Jellison said. “And Deke’s coming within the hour. We’ll find out what things are like Outside before we make any final decisions. George, you got anything to say about this?”

Christopher shook his head. “Either way suits me. If things aren’t too bad out there, if there’s nobody just waiting for us to send out a big party so they can jump us, then sure, we can go.” He fell silent and stared at the wall, and they all knew what he was thinking. George Christopher didn’t want to know what went on Outside. No one else did either. It just made things harder, to know of the chaos and death and starvation a few miles away while they were safe in their valley.

Eileen came back with papers. Hardy studied them for awhile. “It all depends on what you find,” he said. “We need more fields cleared. We haven’t got enough land cleared to plant all the winter seed. On the other hand, if you can find more materials to make greenhouses out of, we won’t need so much land planted for the winter. Same for fertilizer and animal feed, if you can get those. Then there’s the gasoline. …”

It was gasoline and man-hours against a return that could only be guessed at. So they guessed, and they talked it around, and presently Senator Jellison said, “Harvey, you’re proposing that we take a risk. Granted it’s a risk with a high payoff, and we don’t lose much, but it’s still a risk — and at the moment we don’t need risks to stay alive.”

“Yes, that’s about the size of it,” Harvey said. “I think it’s worth it, but I can’t guarantee it.” He stopped for a moment and looked around the room. He liked these people. Even George Christopher was an honest man and a good one to have on your side if there was trouble. “Look, if it was left to me I’d stay here forever. You can’t imagine how good it felt to get into this valley, to feel safe after what we saw in Los Angeles. If I had my druthers I’d never leave this valley again. But — we do have to look ahead. Hardy says we’ll get through the winter, and if he says so, we will. But after winter there’s spring, and the winter after that, and more years — years and years — and maybe it’s worth some effort right now to make those future years easier.”

“Sure, provided it don’t cost so much there aren’t any more years,” Mayor Seitz said. He laughed. “You know, I was talking to that lady head doctor. Doc Ruth says it’s a ‘survivor syndrome.’ Everybody who lives through Hammerfall gets changed by it. Some go completely nuts, and life isn’t worth a damn to them, they’ll do anything. But most get like us, so cautious we jump at our shadows. I know I’m that way. I don’t want to take any chances at all. Still, Harvey’s got a point. There is a lot of stuff out there we could use. Maybe we’ll even find Harv’s—”

“Blue van!” cried at least four men, and Hardy winced. Randall might have stopped talking about the blue van, but nobody else had. Black pepper, spices, beef jerky, pemmican, ca

Presently Senator Jellison ended the meeting. “It’s obvious we can’t decide anything until Deke gets here to tell us what things are like out there. Let’s wait for him.”