The Long War

“More or less,” Thomas called over his shoulder as he drove. “I grew up in Australia, and I’ve always been fascinated by combers. Many of my family’s people went off to become combers themselves, you know, in stepwise versions of Oz. And I’m intrigued by natural steppers—like you, like Joshua, the whole phenomenon. Though I’m not one myself. I’m also interested in the whole question of how human civilization is going to be shaped by the Long Earth. I mean, it’s still only a single generation since Step Day; we’re only at the beginning. I had a hand in the concept design of Valhalla, of the city itself.”

Sally snorted. “‘Concept design!’”

Thomas was unperturbed. “The purest way of life in the Long Earth is the comber—the solitary individual, or maybe a family, a small cohesive group, just wandering, picking the lowest-hanging fruit. The Long Earth is so rich there’s no need to do anything else. But the point of Valhalla is that it’s a city, a genuine city with all the essential attributes of a Datum community, but sustained by combers…”

They were entering a more built-up area now, Joshua saw. He glimpsed a sign: DOWNTOWN FOUR. The buildings, of brick, concrete or timber, were low, squat, massively constructed, and set out in sprawling, empty plots: typical colony-world architecture. If this was a downtown it was definitely a High-Meggers downtown, full of room, with more of the feel of a suburban mall back on the Datum. There were few vehicles on the wide roads, most of them horse-drawn, and few pedestrians to be seen, with most of them wearing Steppers. This wasn’t a place you stayed put in for long.

But it was evidently a city in political ferment. Some of those big blank walls were adorned with posters and graffiti:

SUPPORT THE FOOTPRINT CONGRESS

NO TO DATUM TAXES!

And:

DOWN WITH COWLEY THE GENOCIDE

Thomas was still talking about combers and cities. “I’ve written a book on the subject,” he said now. “Combers, and a new theory of civilization.”

Helen frowned. “A book? Nobody reads books now. Or at least, not new books.”

Thomas, steering one-handed, tapped his forehead. “All in here. I travel the worlds and give readings.”

“A regular Johnny Shakespeare,” Sally said dismissively.

The cart pulled up outside a four-storey building with an expansive street-level frontage. Thomas said, “Here you go. The Healed Drum, the best hotel in Valhalla. You’re in there for three weeks if you need it.”

Sally scowled. “How long? Why? We’ve only come here to catch a twain down to the Datum.”

Joshua said gently, “Sally, Helen and I are here to look at a school for Dan.”

Dan’s little jaw dropped. “You’re sending me here? To school?”

Helen glared at Joshua. “Great way to break the news.”

“Sorry.”

She patted Dan’s arm. “Valhalla’s schools have got a reputation as the best in the High Meggers, Dan. It would be fun, and you’d learn so much new stuff. Things you could never learn at Hell-Knows-Where. But if you don’t want to be away from home—”

Dan scowled. “I’m not a little kid, Mom. Can I learn to be a twain driver here?”

Joshua laughed and tousled his hair. “You can be anything you want, kiddo. That’s the point.”

Helen said to Sally, “Also I need to see my father.”

Thomas nodded. “Jack Green! Fast becoming another hero. A founder of the Children of Freedom movement, now an organizer of the Footprint Congress which has attracted delegates from thousands of inhabited Americas—”

“He’s fast becoming a major embarrassment, is what he is,” Helen said sternly.

“This hanging around wasn’t part of the deal,” Sally snapped at Joshua. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Joshua shrugged. “Well, you didn’t wait to be consulted. Besides, how would you have reacted? Just like this, right?”

Sally picked up her pack. “I’m out of here.” She disappeared with a pop of displaced air.

Thomas sighed. “What a woman. I hope I have a chance to get her autograph. Come on, let’s get you checked in.”

9

In the morning, Bill went off for “a bit of an old explore on me own’, as he put it. Joshua made sure he had a cellphone so he could call for a ride back, if he got “incapable’.

Bill had gone by the time Thomas showed up to give Joshua, Helen and Dan a lift to Dan’s prospective school. This was in a different urban “hub” called Downtown Seven, on the other side of this intricately designed city. So they climbed into Thomas’s buggy once more, and set off across town.

The city had grown hugely since the last time Joshua had seen it. Valhalla, starting from a clean slate, was always intended to be more than just another city. It looked attractively different even in its basic layout, built on hexagonal plots that were spreading around the southern shore of the American Sea of this world, and cutting into the native forest. Many of the houses glittered with solar paint, but others had grass and other plants growing thick on their roofs, a natural thatch.