They encountered no more of the “sisters” and finally reached the top of the stairway. They emerged into the lowest level of the observatory. The fungus was everywhere, covering even the windows. A quick search revealed that the area was empty.
So were the next few levels. But when they entered the section that had once housed the rotating restaurant, they found themselves blinking in a blaze of bright light.
Warily they stepped into the circular room, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the unexpected brightness.
The second thing that surprised him was the total absence of fungus in the place. It was draped over the exteriors of the windows but there was none inside at all. The floor, ceiling, and various pieces of laboratory equipment scattered around were all pristine clean.
Then a voice said, from so close behind him he jumped, “Why on earth did you shave off all your hair, Barry? Being bald doesn’t suit you at all.”
It was Jane.
7
He turned, dreading what he was going to see.
But what he did see was totally unexpected.
Jane stood there exactly as he remembered her. She seemed completely untouched by the fungus. She was wearing a white lab coat, but her legs and feet were bare and there was not a single blemish on them. Her face and hands were unmarked too; in fact she appeared to be positively glowing with good health.
She advanced toward them with a welcoming smile and Wilson experienced a wave of unreality. It was as if he and Kimberley had dropped in to pay a social call, except that they were both naked, covered in soot and blood, and he was carrying a flame-thrower.
Jane stopped some feet away and ran a critical eye over both of them. She frowned slightly, then smiled again. “Who’s your friend, Barry?” she asked, gesturing at Kimberley. “She looks quite attractive under all that muck.”
Before he could answer Kimberley said, “My name is Kimberley Fairchild. We’ve met before, at the London University Conference two years ago.”
“Really?” There was no sign of recognition in her eyes as she again examined Kimberley’s body. Wilson realized she was looking for a sign of the fungus. She was obviously puzzled that there was none on either of them.
“Jane, where are Simon and Jessica?” he asked urgently. “Are they all right?”
“What? Oh, yes, they’re fine,” she said dismissively.
“Where are they? I want to see them.”
She ignored him. She was now sweeping her gaze up and down his body again. “How very strange that neither of you show any sign of the fungus. The odds against both of you having natural immunity must be very high. I don’t understand it.”
“We were taking drugs to protect ourselves. They seemed to have worked, so far,” he said. “Look, about the children—”
“Drugs? What drugs?” Jane’s eyes glittered brightly. It was the first firm indication of her state of mind. His hopes that the children might be safe after all began to plummet. He told her quickly about the Megacrine and the other drugs.
She smiled with what appeared to be relief. “Short term protection, possibly, but nothing more. You’ve both been lucky.”
“So have you. Unless you’re concealing it.”
“No. I am untouched too.” She opened the lab coat. She wore nothing underneath it. The rest of her body glowed with the same unnatural good health as her face. “I have been spared by the Earth Mother in order to finish my work. When it is complete I will gladly submit to her embrace.”
Wilson glanced at Kimberley, trying to give her a silent warning to let him do all the talking. Then, to Jane, he said, “Earth Mother?”
Jane gestured at the fungus clinging to the outside of the windows. “There is her blessed manifestation. All around you. We are in her womb.”
“Jane,” he said gently, “that stuff is poison. It’s killing people right across the country. It has to be stopped.”
She gave him a pitying look. “For a time, I didn’t understand, either. When it began I thought I’d done something terrible. But then the Earth Mother showed me the truth: that I was the instrument chosen by her to transform the world into her image. To bring about the end of man’s evil domination of the planet and allow the Earth Mother to regain what is rightfully hers.”
“Jane, the fungus is causing suffering wherever it spreads.”
“There is always pain at the time of birth. But once man has been cleansed from the world the Earth Mother will protect and sustain her children. We will become one with nature instead of fighting against her. There will be no more hunger or pain. We will be enfolded and nourished by her forever.”
“I see,” he said softly. It was hopeless. Unable to cope with the enormity of what she had unleashed, her mind had become completely unhinged. She had convinced herself that she had somehow achieved her original objective—that her fungus would end world hunger.
“And what is this work you mentioned that you had to finish?” he asked.
“I must find a way of overcoming the inhibiting factor that is preventing the fungi from sporing, and I must also alter the fungi so that the few unfortunate people who resist infection will be able to succumb to the Earth Mother’s embrace.”
He nodded, maintaining his outward calm while his blood turned to ice water. “And have you had any success yet?”
“I am close to solving the sporing problem, I feel sure of it.” She indicated a row of incubators that followed the curve of the outer wall. “And when I have succeeded I will take the new spores to the roof and release them into the air. They will also include the new genetic factor to enable the fungi to embrace the few who are naturally immune. That problem I have already solved, though I need to conduct further tests to be certain. But with the help of you two, the whole process will be speeded up.”
“Why do you think we would help you?”
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “That’s the reason you’re here. Why else would the Earth Mother have permitted you to reach here? If you weren’t under her protection my disciples would have killed you. She let you pass through their ranks unmolested.”
Wilson glanced down at the nozzle of the flame-thrower and then at the bloody spike Kimberley was holding. Jane had pointedly ignored both weapons. She refused to consider the possibility that they may have fought their way to her. Nothing could be allowed to shake her self-delusion of divinity. He decided the only course of action was to humor her, to let her keep believing that she was still in control of the situation, and that her followers were still alive.
He said, “And how could we help you?”
“I admit I was puzzled when you first entered. Because neither of you bear any sign of the Mother’s embrace. But now, of course, I understand why. One of you is obviously immune—a simple test will tell me which one. I need another immune specimen for the final series of tests. My other specimen is of no further use to me. His tissues have been exhausted.”
“What other specimen? Where is he?” demanded Wilson, looking around the room.
She ignored the question. “No doubt you will prove to be the immune one,” she continued, pointing at Kimberley. “Barry’s role will be to act as my assistant. After all, he was a mycologist.” She shook her head in wonder. “How truly wise is the Earth Mother, sending me a trained laboratory technician at the crucial moment. And how fitting her choice in you, Barry. Though a man, you will be instrumental in her ultimate victory. Your final actions will atone a little for all the terrible sins of your sex against her. Just as your son also helped atone for his maleness.”