Sixty Days to Live (12 page)

Meanwhile, at the sight of Lavina, Derek had caught his breath.

‘What is it?’ She laughed, as she saw him staring at her. ‘Has marriage changed me so much that you don’t recognise me any more?’

‘No—oh, no!’ he muttered hastily. ‘But you’re looking twice as beautiful.’

Lavina accepted the compliment and knew the reason for it. Her nails were enamelled bright red again and her golden hair was done with her usual meticulous care; but her eyebrows were now brown instead of black, she had given up using kohl on her eyelids, her lashes were suitably darkened but not heavy with mascara and she was wearing only a moderate amount of lipstick.

The change was due to Sam’s gentle insistence, that being so
blessed with natural loveliness, her slavish adherence to the heavy make-up favoured by less fortunate women only detracted from her looks. She had not really believed that, but to please him she had cut it down while she was abroad; and now, Derek’s bewildered admiration at last convinced her Sam had been right.

As Hemmingway had remained in London, Derek took Sam and Lavina over the Ark and explained its workings to them. Its interior mechanism was not yet completed, but he said that the engineers hoped to launch it on the 20th.

‘The sooner the better,’ Sam remarked. ‘We’re passing now through the calm before the storm because the bulk of the people still have no idea what we may be in for. I doubt if the Government can hold up the facts much longer, though, and once the cat’s out of the bag the work-people may throw their hand in.’

After drinks in the house Oliver took them out on to the terrace. It was nearing sundown and, as the weather was fine, he was able to promise them their first view of the comet.

As it was now sufficiently near to be discernible to the human eye, diagrams of the section of the heavens in which it appeared were being printed in all the papers and, just after sunset, they had no difficulty in picking it out as a faint new star low on the horizon.

When Lavina remarked how tiny it seemed for such a terrible menace, Oliver chuckled and, promising a surprise, led them over to his telescope.

In turn they lay back in an adjustable chair like those found in dentists’ surgeries and focused the eye-piece above them according to Oliver’s instructions. The powerful lenses in the big tube seemed to bring the comet right down on top of them. It appeared as a huge, reddish mass which wobbled slightly at the edges. Oliver said that was to be accounted for by great waves of flame, hundreds of miles long, flickering out from its circumference, and that its tail was not visible owing to the fact that it was heading almost directly for the earth.

Sam had just had his turn of gazing at this terror of the heavens when Margery came out of the house and called to him.

‘Sam, you’re wanted on the telephone.’

He left the group by the telescope and went inside. When he returned a few minutes later his face was grave.

‘Hemmingway promised to ring me here if anything fresh was decided at this evening’s Cabinet Meeting,’ he said slowly. ‘It’s just been announced that the Prime Minister is to broadcast to-morrow night, and, according to Hemmingway, he intends to tell the nation the whole truth.’

‘In that case I think the time has come when we should release our prisoner,’ Gervaise suggested. ‘By Jove!’ Sam swung round. ‘I’d almost forgotten all about him. How’s poor old Finkie been taking his captivity?’

‘He was a little troublesome at first. He tried to batter his bedroom door down with some of the furniture; but the doors here are old and solid and I’d taken the precaution of putting extra bolts on. I had to tell him that, unless he stopped that sort of thing, I should be compelled to put him on bread and water. He’s been very little trouble since.’

‘I wonder he hasn’t gone mad from boredom,’ Lavina said. ‘Just fancy, he’s been cooped up with not a soul to talk to all these weeks while Sam and I were enjoying ourselves in France.’

Gervaise shrugged. ‘It hasn’t been quite as bad as that. I dislike the fellow so much that I really couldn’t bring myself to exchange more than the necessary civilities with him, but Roy is more broad-minded—or shall we say charitable. Since Fink-Drummond settled down, Roy has spent quite a lot of time with him.’

‘Yes. He’s not at all a bad sort, really,’ said Roy, ‘and extraordinarily interesting to talk to. Whenever the weather isn’t very good and I’m a bit bored myself, I go up and sit with him.’

‘Isn’t that a bit risky? He might have taken you by surprise one day and laid you out. Then, if he’d got the key off you, he could quite easily have escaped.’

Roy laughed. ‘No fear of that. Uncle Gervaise locked the two of us in each time I decided to spend an hour or two in his room.’

‘It’s too late for him to do any damage to the Government now, as the Prime Minister’s going to tell the country the truth tomorrow night,’ said Sam thoughtfully, ‘but I don’t think we should release him yet. We shall have quite enough on our hands
during the coming week without the additional bother he’d be certain to cause us if we freed him.’

‘But are we justified in detaining him any longer now that he can’t harm the nation?’ asked Gervaise doubtfully.

‘Perhaps not,’ Sam smiled, ‘but I think we will, all the same.’

Gervaise still looked a little dubious, but at that moment Margery came out again and called them all in to supper, which Derek had been helping her to lay. It was a cold meal and they waited on themselves, but, the comet temporarily forgotten, they laughed a lot and it was late when Sam and Lavina got back to London.

On the following morning the comet was front-page news again, and large headlines informed the world that the Heads of Governments were to make a statement about it that evening to their respective peoples.

When evening came the streets of London were almost deserted. Everyone who was not actively employed upon some unescapable duty was listening-in to a radio set.

The Premier opened with a brief résumé of the new spirit of conciliation and friendship which had entered into international relations during recent weeks, and went on to say that the reason for this was that all Governments had received reports from their official astronomers that a comet, of which mention had been made in the Press during the last few days, was approaching the earth. They were unable to disguise from themselves that such a visitation might cause disturbances of a serious nature and had therefore co-operated to prevent the premature spreading of any, possibly baseless, alarm.

There were, however, certain eminent astronomers who considered that there was a far greater danger than that arising through panic on the comet’s passing close to the earth, since these gentlemen believed that it might actually come into collision with us. Governments had therefore found themselves in a somewhat difficult situation.

If these eminent astronomers proved wrong in their calculations—and many of his colleagues were with him in thinking that they might well be so—any official statement based upon their findings might have caused the most appalling fears to destroy the mental balance of innumerable people; and when the comet did not hit us after all, that distress and terror, affecting
perhaps millions of lives, would have been brought about without any justifiable cause.

On the other hand, by suppressing all news of the possible danger, Governments took the risk of being abused afterwards for having concealed the truth and for not having taken such precautions as might be possible to protect those for whom they were responsible.

For his own part, he had cheerfully taken that risk, and the Heads of foreign Governments had done likewise, since it was so very evident that, if the comet was about to come into collision with us, no human ingenuity could prevent its doing so; whereas, if it passed us by, an immense amount of distress would have been averted by concealing the danger.

If the worst happened, he went on, even the most eminent astronomers were far from agreeing as to what the effect would be. Some thought such a calamity might bring about the end of the world, but he considered that to be exaggerated pessimism. Others declared that it would only affect one portion of the earth’s surface and, if this were the case, arrangements had already been entered into between Governments for immediate succour to be sent to the afflicted area. Other astronomers, again, postulated that, owing to the apparent size of the comet, a good half of the earth’s surface would be bombarded for the space of an hour or so by a great hail of meteorites. In this latter case the danger could be regarded as no greater than that of a brief although severe enemy air attack, and as in no sense so dreadful as a European war.

Many of the Heads of foreign Governments had held the view that, in order to minimise apprehension to the shortest possible space of time, no statement of the full possibilities should be made until the last moment; but here they had met with opposition from the heads of their respective Churches.

These gentlemen felt it their duty to take the gloomiest view and had urged upon their Governments the necessity for giving their peoples at least a week to prepare themselves spiritually for the ending of the world, or possible death if they happened to be in an area seriously afflicted by the comet.

While practical considerations had, therefore, swayed the Governments to withhold this information concerning the more terrible eventualities which might have to be faced, the spiritual
could not be lightly disregarded, so it had been mutually agreed that the Heads of all Governments should make this announcement to-night.

In making it he could only stress the fact that, although the danger could not be ignored, whether it would be fatal to humanity, or even serious, was still highly problematical. Science had brought many benefits to mankind, but before each definite achievement it had made many blunders. Even to-day scientific theories were constantly being proved inaccurate as the result of further research. And if this were so with things which scientists could place under their microscopes or experiment on by trial and error, how much more was it true of theories about incalculably remote heavenly bodies rotating in space which, in itself, must for ever remain a problem insoluble to man.

Our knowledge of everything outside the confines of our own earth was still almost entirely theoretical. Therefore, the eminent astronomers might be completely wrong in their theories as to what would occur if the comet hit us. It might well be only a great mass of gas, small meteorites and dust, which would provide us with a splendid display of shooting stars but not damage us at all.

In any case, the Government had already taken such precautions as were possible by deciding that three days before the comet was due the schemes for the evacuation of women and children from the highly populated areas which had been worked out as a war measure, should be put into operation, thus ensuring that a minimum of life would be sacrificed should large meteorites fall upon cities causing fires and considerable destruction of property.

Finally, he begged that in the approaching crisis the nation would show that sense of order and discipline for which the British people had always been so remarkable. He and his colleagues would leave no stone unturned to protect the population and essential services from destruction. There need be no fear of any food shortage as their ample war reserves could be brought into use if required; but they must all be prepared to face whatever might befall them with that calm and courage which had ever marked the people of these Islands in great emergencies.

‘Damned good speech,’ said Sam, who had been listening-in
with Lavina and Hemmingway at St. James’s Square. ‘The old boy’s been clever, too. He’s drawn the teeth of the Opposition—who’ll naturally have a crack at him for having withheld the truth for so long—by throwing doubt on the astronomers’ infallibility; and he’s evaded criticism from the die-hards who think he ought to have concealed everything up to the last moment, by pushing the responsibility for telling the nation now on to the Archbishop.’

‘Yes,’ Lavina agreed. ‘And, although he told them the worst, he gilded the pill very prettily by as good as saying he didn’t think it would happen. I wonder how the public will take it?’

‘Fairly well, I should say,’ Hemmingway remarked. ‘His speech was by no means alarmist and it was very well timed. We’ve got five days to go, which leaves two days for people to make their arrangements before the evacuation starts. During the next forty-eight hours they’ll be kept pretty busy preparing for it. Let’s go up to the roof and have another look at the comet. It’s a nice night again and it must be visible just about now.’

The three of them went upstairs and stared towards the west at the heavenly terror which was rushing towards the earth. It was no longer a pin-point as it had been the night before, but the size of a major star, and in the clear summer night it winked at them, red and evil.

Lavina felt a strange tremor run through her and some instinct made her reach out to take Hemmingway’s arm; although Sam was standing equally near her on her other side. Next moment Hemmingway’s free hand had closed over hers, gripping it tightly, and they stood so until the comet had disappeared behind some chimney-pots, upon which, with a self-conscious glance, he released her hand and they drew quickly apart again.

Next morning Britain woke to find herself under martial law. The Government was taking no chances. There were troops in the streets, tanks parked in the Squares, and on the roof-tops machine-gun nests by which main thoroughfares and Government buildings could be covered.

The papers carried the Premier’s speech in full, but as practically everybody had heard it, their major news line was ‘MARTIAL LAW—MOBILISATION—PARTIAL MORATORIUM.’

Under their emergency powers the Government had introduced a Finance Bill by which all writs for debt were indefinitely
suspended, and during the ensuing week the banks were only allowed to pay out to their customers the average amount which they had drawn per week for the last three months. This ensured the payment of wages and that the public could secure cash for its necessities, but prevented a run on the banks which might have caused financial chaos. The Stock Exchange was closed by order and all dealings in shares forbidden.