Smith noticed: "Hey, I need this sergeant to be poor and in need of a generous enlistment bonus. Don't lead him astray!"

"Sorry, dear." But Underhill did not seem apologetic. "It's been a long time, Hrunkner. I wish we'd seen more of you these last years. You remember back then, my big, ah—"

"Screwball idea of the moment?"

"Yes, exactly!"

"I remember just before we buttoned up in that Tiefer animal deepness, you were mumbling about this being the last Dark that civilization would ever sleep through. In the hospital afterwards, you were still going on about it. You should be a science-fiction writer, Sherkaner."

Underhill waved a hand airily, as if acknowledging a compliment. "Actually, it's been done in fiction. But truly, Hrunk, ours is the first era where we can make it happen."

Hrunkner shrugged. He had walked in the Great Dark; it still made him queasy. "I'm sure there will be lots more Deep Dark expeditions, larger and better equipped than ours. It's an exciting idea, and I'm sure the Gen—Major Smith also has all sorts of plans. I could even imagine significant battles in the middle of the Dark."

"This is a new age, Hrunk. Look at what science is doing all around us."

They rounded the last curve of dry roadway and plowed into a solid wall of hot rain, the storm they had seen from the north. Smith was not caught by surprise. They had their windows rolled almost all the way up, and the auto was doing only twenty miles per hour when they were enveloped. Still, the driving conditions were suddenly ghastly, the windows fogging almost too fast for the car's blowers, the rain so thick that even with the deep-red rain lights they could barely see the edge of the roadway. The rain that spattered past the chinks in the windows was hot as a baby's spit. Behind them, two pairs of deep-reds loomed in the darkness, Smith's security people pulling closer.

It took a forcible effort to bring his attention back from the storm outside and remember what Underhill had been saying. "I know about the ‘Age of Science,' Sherk. That's been my edge in the construction business. By the last Waning we had radio, aircraft, telephones, sound recording. Even during the build-back since the New Sun, that progress has continued. Your auto is an incredible improvement over that Relmeitch you had before the Dark—and that was an expensive vehicle for its time." And someday, Unnerby wanted to learn just how Sherkaner had obtained it on a grad student's stipend. "Without a doubt, this is the most exciting era I could ever hope to live in. Aircraft will soon break the sound barrier. The Crown is building a national highway system. You wouldn't be behind that, would you, Major?"

Victory smiled. "No need. There are plenty of people in Quartermaster who are. And the highway system would happen without any government help at all. But this way, we retain control."

"So. Big things are happening. In thirty years—by the next Dark—I wouldn't be surprised if there is worldwide air traffic, picturing telephones, maybe even rocket-borne relays that orbit the world the way the world orbits the sun. If we can avoid another war, I'm going to have the time of my life. But your idea that our entire civilization will sustain itself right through the Dark—pardon me, old Corporal, but I don't think you've worked out the numbers. To do that we'd essentially have to recreate the sun. Do you have any idea of the energy involved? I remember what it took to support our diggers after Dark during the War. We used more fuel in those operations than in all the rest of the War put together."

Ha! For once, Sherkaner Underhill didn't have a ready reply. Then he realized that Sherk was waiting for the General to speak. After a moment, Victory Smith raised a hand. "Until now everything has been very sociable, Sergeant. I know, you've learned some things that enemies might make use of—clearly you've guessed my present job."

"Yes. And congratulations, ma'am. Next to Strut Greenval, you're the best that ever had that job."

"Why...thank you, Hrunkner. But my point is that Sherkaner's idle talk has moved us to the heart of why I asked you to take a thirty-day recruitment. What you're going to hear now is explicitly Strategic Secret."

"Yes, ma'am." He hadn't expected the mission brief to sneak up on him like this. Outside, the storm roared louder. Smith was pushing along at barely twenty miles per hour even on the straightaway. During the early years of a New Sun, even overcast days were dangerously bright, but this storm was so deep that the sky had darkened down to a murky twilight. The wind picked at the auto, trying to pry it off the road. The inside of the cab was like a steam bath.

Smith waved for Sherkaner to continue. Underhill leaned back in his perch and raised his voice to be heard over the growing storm. "As it happens, I have ‘worked out the numbers.' After the War, I peddled my ideas around a number of Victory's colleagues. That nearly ruined her promotion. Those cobbers can do the numbers almost as well as you. But things have changed."

"Correction," said Smith. "Thingsmay change." The wind slid them toward a drop-off that Unnerby could barely see. Smith downshifted, forced the auto back toward the middle of the road.

"You see," continued Underhill, undistracted, "there really are power sources that could support civilization through the Dark. You said we'd have to create our own sun. That's close, even if no one knows how the sun works. But there's theoretical and practical evidence of the power of the atom."

A few minutes earlier, Unnerby would have laughed. Even now, he couldn't keep the scorn out of his voice. "Radioactivity? You're going to keep us warm with tons of refined radium?" Maybe the great secret was that the Crown's high command was readingAmazing Science.

Such incredulity rolled off Underhill's back as smoothly as ever. "There are several possibilities. If they are pursued with imagination, I have no doubt that I will have the numbers on my side by the time of the next Waning."

And the General said, "Just so you understand, Sergeant. Ido have doubts. But this is something we can't afford to overlook. Even if the scheme doesn't work, thefailure could be a weapon a thousand times deadlier than anything in the Great War."

"Deadlier than poison gas in a deepness?" Suddenly the storm outside didn't seem as dark as what Victory Smith was saying.

He realized that for an instant all her attention was upon him. "Yes, Sergeant, worse than that. Our largest cities could be destroyed in a matter of hours."

Underhill almost bounced off his perch. "Worst case! Worst case! That's all you military types ever think about. Look, Unnerby. If we work at this over the next thirty years, we'll likely have power sources that can keep buried cities—not deepnesses, but waking cities—going right through the Dark. We can keep roadways clear of ice and airsnow—and by the middle years of the Dark, they'll stay that way. Surface transport could be much easier than it is during much of the Bright Times." He waved at the hissing rain beyond the sports car's windows.

"Yeah, and I suppose air transport will be likewise simplified,"withall the air lying frozen on the ground. But Unnerby's sarcasm sounded faint even to himself.Yes, with a power source, maybe we could do it.

Unnerby's change of heart must have shown; Underhill smiled. "You do see! Fifty years from now we'll look back at these times and wonder why it wasn't obvious. The Dark is actually a more benign phase than most any other time."

"Yeah." He shivered. Some would call it sacrilege, but—"Yeah, it would be something marvelous. You haven't convinced me it can be done."

"If it can be done at all, it will be very hard," said Smith. "We have about thirty years left before the next Dark. We've got some physicists who think that—in theory—atomic power can work. But God Below, it wasn't till 58//10 that they even knew about atoms! I've sold the High Command on this; considering the investment, I'll surely be out of a job if it fizzles. But you know—sorry, Sherkaner—I rather hope it doesn't work at all."