Domain

'I wasn't talking about mob rule. What I'm referring to is group decision.'

There'll be time enough for that when the crisis has passed.'

This is a crisis that isn't going to pass.' Culver could feel his anger growing and he remembered Dealey urging him to leave Kate to the mercy of the rats in the tunnel. Throughout their ordeal, his priority had been one of self-preservation. We've all got a stake in this, Dealey, me, you - and those poor bastards outside that door. It's not for us to decide their future.'

‘You misunderstand us,' Bryce said placatingly. *We intend merely to plan, not decide. Our ideas will then be presented to everyone in this complex for discussion. Only after that will any decisions be made.'

Culver forced himself to relax. 'Okay, maybe I'm reading too much into this. It could be that yours is the only way, that we shall need some kind of order. But let me just say this: the time for power games is over.' With those words, he stared at Dealey, whose face was expressionless.

We can take it, then,' Dealey said, 'that you will support us.'

‘Ill do what I can to help everyone in the shelter.'

Dealey decided it would be pointless not to accept the rather ambiguous statement. He had hoped to find an ally in Culver, for any addition to their small nucleus of authority would help in the imbalance of numbers. If events had worked out as intended, many other 'outsiders'

would have reached the shelter, and this particular problem would never have arisen. He was disappointed, imagining that perhaps earlier circumstances might have created a bond between himself and Culver, but he could see that the pilot distrusted him. Culver was no fool.

'Very well,' he said, as if to dismiss the dispute. 'Before you arrived we were pinpointing the city's shelters and their linking tunnels. The other maps around the walls locate the country's thirteen sites for regional seats of government and various bunkers, most of which will have been immune from nuclear attack, provided there were no direct hits. The grids indicate the communications lines between RSGs and sub-RSGs.' Dealey pointed to a particular chart showing the southwest of England. 'Over there you can see the position of HQ UK Land Forces, operating from a vast bunker at Wilton, near Salisbury.'

'Is that where the government will operate from?' Culver was already beginning to be intrigued.

'Er, no. There are several locations for the National Seat of Government, Bath and Cheltenham to name just two.' He appeared hesitant, and Culver saw Bryce give a slight nod of his head. Dealey acknowledged and went on. 'Although the facts have been carefully kept from public attention, several more-than-educated guesses have been made concerning the whereabouts of the government's secret emergency bunker. Most have been correct, but none has understood the magnitude, or the complexity of such a shelter.'

Culver's voice was low. 'Where is it?'

Dr Reynolds struck a match and lit a cigarette that had danced lifelessly in her mouth for some time.

Farraday moved away from the desk and leaned against a wall, his arms unfolding, hands tucking into his trouser pockets. Bryce looked pleased, as though he personally had played some considerable part in the survival of his paymasters.

'Under the Victoria Embankment,' Dealey said mildly. 'Close to Parliament, and within easy reach by tunnel from the Palace, Downing Street, and all the government buildings packed into that rather small area of the city. The shelter itself stretches almost from the Parliament buildings to Charing Cross where another tunnel, one that runs parallel to the Charing Cross/Waterloo tube tunnel, crosses the Thames.'

There are two tunnels?'

Tes. The second, secret tunnel, is a bunker in itself, and provides a quick and safe means of crossing the river should the nearby bridges be destroyed or blocked.'

'How could such a place be kept quiet? How could it be built without people knowing?'

'Have you ever wondered why most of our cable tunnels and new Underground railway lines inevitably run over budget, and invariably take longer to build than planned? The Victoria and Jubilee lines are prime examples of excavations that have far exceeded their financial allocation and completion dates.'

‘You mean they were used to cover up work on secret sites?'

'Let's just say that room for more than just Underground railway lines was made. And all the construction workers -at least those employed on the more sensitive sites - were sworn to secrecy under the Official Secrets Act before they were assigned.'

'Even so, there must have been leaks.'

'Quite so, but the D Notice prevented any media exploitation.'

Culver released a short, sharp sigh.

'So the elite got themselves saved.'

'Not the elite, Culver,' Dealey said icily. 'Key personnel and certain ministers who are necessary to pick the country up off its knees after such a catastrophe. And members of the Royal Family, naturally.'

"Would they have had time to reach the shelter?'

'Such provisions are always made possible for Cabinet Ministers and the Royal Family in times of foreign aggression, no matter what particular location they happen to be in. From the headquarters itself an escape route stretches for miles underground. It emerges beneath Heathrow Airport. From there, one can escape to any part of the world.'

'Unless the airport has been destroyed,' said Clare Reynolds, cigarette smoke streaming from tight lips.

'In which case, transport can be provided to another part of the country,' Dealey replied. He tapped unconsciously on the desktop with his fingers. 'As yet, we have not been able to communicate with the Embankment headquarters, and it's vital we make contact soon. We intend to send out a small reconnaissance party to explore the conditions above us when the fallout level permits. We also need to evaluate the state of the tunnels, which may provide a safer route to the main government shelter.'

He stared directly at Culver. We hope you'll agree to be part of that reconnaissance group.'

'Are you hungry, Steve?'

'Since you mention it, yes, I am.' He grinned at Clare Reynolds, who had asked the question. 'In fact, I'm starving.'

'Good, that's how it should be. You'll be good as new in a day or two.' She nodded her head in the general direction of

the canteen. 'Let's get you something to eat, then I want you to rest for a while. No sense in overdoing things.'

She led the way, Kate and Culver following close behind. 'I could use a stiff drink after that long meeting,' she said, looking back at them over her shoulder. 'It's a pity the hard stuff is being rationed so frugally.'

'I could use a drink myself,' Culver agreed. 'I guess they didn't store much away down here, right?'

Wrong,' said Kate. There's plenty, but Dealey thinks it wise to keep it under lock and key. Too much firewater no good for natives.'

'He may have a point,' the doctor said. The natives are restless enough.'

'It's really that bad?'

'Not that bad, Steve, but it's not good. Dealey may be suffering under a slight persecution complex because most of the resentment is directed towards him as the token government man. But large though this complex is, there's a certain amount of claustrophobia prevailing, and that coupled with a general feeling of melancholia, even repressed hysteria, could lead to an explosive situation. Too much alcohol wouldn't help.'

Culver silently had to agree. The atmosphere in the shelter did somehow feel charged and he could understand Dealey's nervousness. He felt tired once more, the meeting they had just left draining much of the buoyancy he had felt earlier. Culver had been surprised at the elaborate contingency plans that were regularly scrutinized, amended, modified and put into action throughout the decades of the cold war and detente eras, a festering, unspoken conflict, insidious in its durability. Now it had ended, mass destruction the terminator.