Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [176]
We can rebuild it, and this time we'll do it right. We'll spread beyond this one damned little ball, get human civilization out all through the solar system, to other stars even, so no one thing can knock us out again.
Sure we can. But how do we live long enough to start rebuilding? First things first, and right now the problem is getting this valley organized. Nobody's going to help. We have to do it ourselves. The only law and order will be what we can make, and the only safety Maureen and Charlotte and Jennifer will have is what we can put together. I used to be responsible to the people of the United States, and particularly to the people of California. Not anymore. Now it's my family, and how can I protect them?
That boils down to how do I keep this ranch? and maybe I can't do that, not without help. Whose help? George Christopher for one. George has a lot of friends. Between us we can do all right.
Arthur Jellison got wearily to his feet and blew out the kerosene lamp. In the sudden dark the pounding rain and crashing thunder sounded even louder. He could see his way to the bedroom through lightning flashes.
There was a light under Al Hardy's door; it went out after Hardy heard the Senator get into bed.
Sanctuary
God gives all men all earth to love,
But, since man's heart is small,
Ordains for each one spot shall prove,
Beloved over all.
Rudyard Kipling
Harvey Randall woke to strident sounds. Someone was screaming at him.
"Harvey! Help!"
Loretta? He sat up suddenly, and banged his head on something. He'd been asleep in the TravelAll, and the voice wasn't Loretta's. For a moment he was bewildered. What was nightmare, what was real?
"Harvey!" The shouting voice was real. And, oh, God, Loretta was dead.
It was raining, but there was no rain around the TravelAll. He opened the door and blinked in the dim light. His watch said 6:00. Morning or evening?
The TravelAll was parked under a rickety shed, no more than a roof with posts to hold it up. Marie Vance stood at the far end. Joanna was holding the shotgun on her. Mark was shouting and Marie was screaming for Harvey.
None of it made sense. Half-light, driving rain and howling wind, lightning and thunder, the screaming woman and Mark shouting and Joanna with the shotgun—dream or real? He made himself move toward the others. "What is this, Mark?"
Mark turned and saw him. His face lighted with a smile. That faded too, like Harvey's dream that it was a dream, like—
"Harvey! Tell him!" Marie shouted.
He shook the cobwebs from his head. They wouldn't go. "Mark?" he said.
Marie jerked like a puppet. Harvey stared in astonishment as she did it again. She seemed to be fighting an invisible enemy. Then, suddenly, she relaxed and her voice was calm, or nearly so. "Harvey Randall, it's time you woke up," she said. "Or don't you care about your son? You've buried Loretta, now think about Andy."
He heard himself speak. "What is all this?"
They both talked at once. The need for understanding, rather than any other emotion, made Harvey speak sharply. "One at a time! Mark, please. Let her talk."
"This—man wants to abandon our boys," Marie said.
"I don't. I'm trying to tell you—"
She cut Mark off. "The boys are in Sequoia. I told him that. Sequoia. But he keeps taking us west, and that's not the right way."
"All of you shut up!" Joanna shouted. There was an edge of hysteria in her voice, and it stopped Mark before he could say anything else. He'd never heard Joanna shout before. Not like that.
And she had the shotgun.
"Where are we going, Mark?" Harvey asked.
"To Sequoia," Mark said. "That's a big place, and she doesn't know where—"
"I do," Harvey said. "Where are we?"
"Simi Valley," Mark said. "Will you listen to me?"
"Yes. Talk."
"Harvey, he's—"
"Shut up, Marie!" Harvey made his voice deliberately brutal. It stopped her.
"Harv,