Benjamin was waiting for her outside the study. He presented her jacket and then his arm for her to hold.
They left her home office and turned onto Ballard Street. A few snowflakes drifted across her field of vision. Looking up, she could see a heavy, gray pallor to the sky. There could be a storm coming.
At Yorktown Hall she navigated carefully up the steps, with Benjamin offering his arm as a prop on every elevation. “Thank you, Benjamin,” she said. “Always so civil, you are.”
Yorktown Hall seemed jilted when she looked at it now. A patchwork of renovations had added a mixture of cement, brick and stone rooms to the right of the main building, making it look like the old building was undergoing a kind of uncontrolled masonry explosion. If she put up her right hand she could block out the new work and make it look like a fuzzy version of the original building.
This reluctance to accept change was just a fanciful regret, she mused. Yorktown needed to grow and thrive. Utility and function mattered more than symmetry or beauty.
“Still in the infirmary?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
When she arrived the patient was sitting up in his bed, reading a book. The infirmary was brightly lit, with a large window casting a friendly glow on the white linens. The book he was reading was called The Principles of Coding. It looked like it had just come off the press, virtually unread. And why would anyone read it? Coding was an arcane and abstract science, and hardly of interest to anyone in Yorktown. It was a strange choice, one that piqued Madison’s interest in their curious guest even more.
“Hello Owen, my name is Madison.” She hobbled up to the chair next to his bed and shook his hand.
“Hi,” he said, putting the book down. Faint spots could be seen dotting his cheeks. His leg was still heavily bandaged.
“Benjamin, you can leave us.”
Benjamin left the doorway. She knew he would be just outside the room, within earshot.
“Are you the leader here?” Owen asked.
“Yes, I’m the leader of Yorktown, until someone else is elected. Hopefully they will elect someone better soon. My hair can’t get any grayer.” She touched his arm and smiled congenially.
He nodded carefully. She continued, “first let me extend my apologies and condolences for what transpired at the tube the other day. You see, we were all bandits at one time, some of us more recently than others. As a result, many of us here in Yorktown have not yet shed the tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. But the lesson was learned, I assure you. We lost twenty-one men. I have already read three eulogies, and I’m in the midst of preparing another.”
She sat back and stretched her bad leg, while at the same time trying to gauge his expression. He seemed closed, hard to read. She said, “of course, Benjamin Franklin said to never ruin an apology with an excuse, and here I’ve done just that. Again, I’m sorry for the hardships of you and your friends. There really is no good excuse for what has befallen you.”
“I… I don’t think an apology is needed. Who are we to steal things from your land without asking?”
She smiled. “The who are we is a question I’m infinitely curious about, but before we get to that, may I ask, have you been treated well here?”
“Yes, I… very well. Good meals. Your physician, he comes often. My leg feels like it’s healing. I can’t complain. But I still don’t know much about what happened. Can you tell me more about how you found me? Benjamin said you found me in the Faraday cage, passed out?”
“Faraday cage? Ah yes, the cement bunker in the basement. That’s where we found you. It took us some time because we were distracted by all the Old World gadgets, but not too long, due to the rather obvious trail of blood.”
He nodded, and his eyes furrowed, as if grasping for his own recollection.
She put forward her first question carefully. It would be a good test of how forthcoming he was willing to be. “I’m curious Owen. How did you know where the access point was to the building? We’ve tried cutting the wall for years without success.”
Owen opened his mouth but nothing came out. Madison said, “I know, I know. Who are we? Why should you tell us? We have nothing to hide, I can assure you. We are a New Founder community formed some twenty years ago. We believe in the principles of the founding fathers of the Old World. For example, we believe all men are created equal. We believe a free people should be governed by law and not by the whims of men. We believe leaders should be elected by the people and act for the people.”
Owen was nodding in understanding.
“You know of the New Founders? Do you have some in your community, perhaps?”
“Yes. I know about the New Founders. Please continue.”
“There’s not much else to say. We’ve been growing for some time, now numbering about five thousand after absorbing the surrounding bandit tribes. At some point we wish to expand and share what we’ve learned with others. We bear no ill will toward anyone, despite what you might think after what happened. It was the result of some of the… lesser educated. I wasn’t consulted before the attack commenced. If I had been, I’m sure there would have been a different outcome.”
“So what about you?” she asked. “May I ask where you and your colleagues are from?” She already knew much about Owen from his talisman and the talismans of the other dead Seeville men, but she didn’t let on. It was important he chose to be forthcoming freely, without threat or coercion.
Owen was contemplative, so she added some vinegar to push his mind a little further. “Owen, I should add that we know the wound you had was not inflicted by us.”
Owen’s face showed some color, making his facial spots look more prominent. He threw up his hands. “I might as well,” he said.
Owen recounted a story of a long bike excursion from Seeville, a stop at the bike towers and then a subsequent jaunt to Yorktown at the request of agents of the railroad. He spoke of a treacherous turn of events, with him being stabbed by his colleagues and left for dead. He even conveyed his suspicions about his colleagues having a working smartphone that may have directed them where to cut through the wall.
It was a lavish tale. She suspected it was true, but she would need to verify certain aspects. The explanation made her feel somewhat less disappointed about her people attacking without provocation. Maybe her people did have a good nose for vermin after all.
Interestingly, this young man didn’t speak of this treachery with anger, but rather with a sort of matter-of-fact acceptance, and a simple cause-and-effect relationship. He said these people, whom he called railroad folks, stabbed him in the leg and left him for dead because they couldn’t have him know about the phone. One plus one equals two. Of everything she learned, it was this behavior that told her the most about Owen. This was a calculating young man who harbored no grudges.
“So you’re some sort of technical expert, then? You understand electronics?” she asked.
He frowned in confusion. “How could you know that?”
“I’m old, Owen, but not that old. There had to be a reason you were added to the expedition, and I don’t know many people who enjoy reading coding books.”
He smiled half-heartedly after glancing at the book on his bedside table. “I suppose I know a few things. But I’m not sure what good it will do me now.”
“I have a feeling you will be useful to us, if you want to stay.”
He looked into her eyes and then tilted his head, grimacing, as if it were some indecent proposal.
Most concerning about Owen’s story was the smartphone. Had they grown so irresponsible in Seeville? It brought flashbacks of the many warnings her uncle had given her when she was young. She would have to probe more about the phone sometime, but for now she needed to stay on track with her line of inquiry.