"Alec thinks it's time we made a start." "This is the second field telephone we've seen this week." "So, you're not the only one who knows how to do it." "The only other one I know is Greg." "You're so arrogant." "Why do you always assume it's only you and Greg who can do anything?" "Come on, if we're going to get to Cumberland today, we must make a start." "Where the hell are they now?" "Hubert's gone shooting." "Charles went to look at that telephone shelter we spotted," "Jenny's gone to find him." "We should've left hours ago." "Well, if we're just going to follow these pylons we're never going to see anything else." "We don't need to see anything else." "Well, we could stay here for 24 hours, see who mans that phone." "We're supposed to be going to Scotland, aren't we?" "To get the power switched on." "Well, if we're going to be distracted by every single thing that we notice on the way..." "What's that over there?" "Where's it come from?" "Blown off one of the pylons." "Don't know which one." "Here." "The same thing's written on a bridge over there." "And I found a note stuffed in an empty milk bottle." "There." ""Message for Charles V." ""Greg is at Felbridge Army Camp, East Riding." "He needs you urgently."" "It doesn't say anything about Felbridge." "We have to go to Marley first." "Oh, hey, Captain, that's 20 mile!" "So, it's a long walk." "Well, I don't know if my feet will last that long." "All the more pickings for me." "Well, you don't even know what we're gonna find at this camp." "Look, from what I heard that blackguard Preston going on about, it'll be worth a few blisters." "Who wrote it?" "Somebody living around here, I suppose." "Has to be." "Someone who knew we were coming this way." "Aye, either up the river so we'd see it on the bridge or across the fields so we'd see it on a pylon." "Now, where is Felbridge?" "East Riding?" "Agnes must be with him." "CHARLES:" "No, Agnes is in Sloton Spencer where I left her." "Yes, but weeks ago." "You told her we were going to Scotland." "She must have found Greg and told him." "How else could he know?" "Here it is, down below Bridlington, on the east coast." "Must be a hundred miles away." "Oh, he really is organised if he can send a message from a hundred miles away." "Well, I suggest we find whoever is in contact with him here." "Just so long as you don't expect me to go to Felbridge." "CHARLES:" "We'll be there the day after tomorrow, Jenny." "Yes, but by the time we get there, he'll be somewhere else." "He always is." "Well, then there's that telephone there as well." "Now, if Greg's fixed that..." "I'm sick and tired of hearing about this Greg character." "And I'm sick and tired of these everlasting changes of plan." "I just want to know what we're going to do, do it, and get home." "And so we'll get on, then." "You want to go?" "If you do." "You're outnumbered, Charles." "Maybe, but I am going to Felbridge, whether anyone wants to come or not." "And as the horses are saddled, I might as well go now." "Charles." "Charles." "Don't you even want to see him?" "Of course I do but..." "Do I have to persuade you?" "If not, I don't want to waste my time." "Listen, if I really thought he'd be there, I'd go." "Keep to the same route to Perthshire?" "I suppose so." "Good." "And if I don't catch up with you, Greg will." "(SCOFFS) That'll be the day." "Well, goodbye." "Goodbye, Charles." "Jenny, you take care." "You couldn't have gone anyway." "Your horse is lame." "We'll be here for a few days yet." "Anyone at home?" "(MIMICS CLUCKING)" "Kettle on the boil, nice warm fire." "Suit us nicely." "Depends who's living here." "Why don't you go and have a scout around?" "I'll see what the grub situation is." "Hey, whoever it is might have a gun." "Good." "We could do with a gun." "Hey!" "There's a big brass bed in here!" "Room for both of us?" "Or just me?" "Both of us." "Eh, that's if the owner doesn't mind." "I don't think the old woman will give us much trouble." "How do you know it's an old woman?" "Because she's on her way back now." "Take a look." "LES:" "They may have been here." "Yeah, I'll let you know for sure on tomorrow's call." "Okay." "Say the message has been taken away." "Right." "Well, I'll disconnect now." "We were hoping we'd see someone using that phone." "I'm Jenny Richards and this is Hubert." "There are two more friends of ours in a house down the road." "Is Charles Vaughan one of them?" "Yes, he got a message to go to Felbridge." "Yes, I left it for him." "My name is Norton, Les Norton." "All we need is a bite to eat, Mrs Hicks." "And somewhere to bed down for the night." "Now, you don't mind sleeping by the Rayburn for once, do you, so Mitch and I can have the bed?" "We've travelled 40 miles today." "Can't go another step." "Me feet are killing me." "And if you knew his feet." "Show her." "Shall I?" "Yeah." "Show her your horrible blisters." "I must ask you to leave." "Now, that's not very hospitable." "Well, where are you trying to get to?" "The coast." "Felbridge." "Another 15 miles yet." "Oh, is it the army camp you want?" "What do you know about that place?" "Well, why are you trying to get there?" "That depends what you have to tell us about it." "Now, what goes on at Felbridge camp?" "(HORSE APPROACHING)" "I've had a message from Greg Preston." "I'm Charles Vaughan." "Oh, yes, you're expected." "Just ride in." "You'll find Agnes in HQ." "Agnes Carlsson?" "The white building at the end on the right." "She's been hoping you'd come for the last week." "AGNES:" "How many copies can you make?" "JOE:" "As many as there's paper to print them on." "Takes time, of course." "She's only a hand press." "Charles!" "Oh, Charles, I'm glad to see you." "You got our message, I was giving up." "Have you come alone?" "Yes." "Joe, meet Charles Vaughan." "Hello." "Joe and his wife were living here when my father and I arrived." "Your father?" "Yes, all those months ago." "We landed just down the coast from here." "This is where we got the balloon." "Army transport depot." "Military fence all round, water, even our own generator." "And Joe and his wife have everything we need to live on." "Cows, pigs, chickens, vegetables." "You'll be wanting something yourself, I reckon?" "I'll tell Alice." "Oh, don't worry." "I'm not starving." "Shall I be running this off, then?" "No, not just yet." "Thanks, Joe." "Joe used to be a printer." "Greg got him an old hand press." "We can publish a newspaper now." "Where Jenny?" "Where Greg?" "About 30 miles from here." "But he told me to come here." "Urgently, he said." "Yes, he told me to send a message." "I guessed which way you were going if you were following the electricity lines." "What is Greg doing 30 miles from here when he wants to see me urgently?" "It's always the same!" "He's got smallpox." "And it was Preston gave it to me." "Mitch wasn't there." "He found me in a ditch after I got out." "Rattling on, he was, about that camp at Felbridge." "I was delirious." "But it was information that I received from Preston when he had the fever." ""Gold," he kept saying." "Now, is there gold at Felbridge camp?" "(SCOFFS) Who wants gold, anyway?" "He kept jabbering away to that girl of his." "And he tricked me and my team into going to Cawston Farm." "I was the only one that got out alive." "It was me that looked after you." "Yeah." "Now, Mrs Hicks, you'd like to cook us a good dinner, wouldn't you?" "I wouldn't say no to a nice roast chicken." "Who are you both?" "He's called Mitch." "You can call me the Captain." "Mason and his friends would have polluted the whole country if they'd had the chance." "He was after my father's notebooks, tried to murder Greg." "Kidnapped me, even threatened to torture me." "How did you get away?" "Oh, Greg took them with him to Dr Adams' place so they'd all catch smallpox too, along with their friend, the Captain." "Unfortunately, he got away." "Greg." "Will he recover?" "I hope so." "Now, let me show you around the camp." "To hell with the camp, I want to see Greg." "If he gets well, he'll join us." "There's nothing we can do." "But we can go to him." "Where is this Dr Adams' place?" "The whole place is in quarantine, with two men who shoot anyone leaving." "Well, this Captain got away, and you." "I seem to be immune." "I don't know why." "That brucellosis I caught, maybe." "Why did you leave Greg?" "He ordered me to." "To carry on his work." "What do you think Greg's been doing while you and Jenny and your new friends have been pushing off to Scotland?" "There." "Twenty-eight different communities." "Positions marked and details of each listed here." "Roads that are safe for travellers, phone links, railways." "Greg has been making your country into a nation again." "LES:" "Aye, he was round here a couple of months back." "Showed us how to get this place going." "What do you need bricks for?" "Must be plenty of houses round here empty." "Round here, yes." "But down at Derbyshire they want to build." "If we send them bricks, what they can send us." "Oh, I see." "All the way from Derbyshire?" "Comes up by train once a fortnight." "That's not Tom Walter's train, is it?" "You know Tom Walter?" "Yeah." "Hey, Tom, friends of yours here." "Yeah?" "I said I'd find them a horse." "One of theirs has gone lame." "Right." "Tom, what are you doing here?" "How's your mother?" "Oh, she's fine." "Steve and Owen?" "Yeah, they're okay." "What's been going on?" "AGNES:" "Tom got his train to Doncaster, managed to switch points so he could use the main line, north and south." "He's got another train running now, with help from a man at York called Albert Banks." "Albert's also got a lorry he runs on coal gas, along this road here to us." "Is it safe?" "Oh, Greg got people to patrol it." "And we can communicate to every known settlement, too." "From here, we can telephone a woman on the Humber, Mrs Hicks, who can call either Grimsby or Albert Banks at York." "Northwards, we have Nancy who is connected to Scarborough one way, and Les Norton up where you were." "It was Mr Norton who left that message for you." "Aye, to come here." "Why?" "To help form a government." "Government?" "It's about time, isn't it?" "Greg told me to send for everyone he trusts." "Tom should be here tomorrow." "He's up with Mr Norton at the moment, trading." "Does Tom know Greg's got smallpox?" "Yes." "But he's the only one who does, apart from you and me." "What's Greg doing at Felbridge?" "Trying to sort things out, get some kind of administration going." "I'm going down there myself tomorrow." "How?" "Train to York, then by road." "Perhaps I could come with you." "Oh, as long as Charles has gone I don't think you need bother, Jenny." "But I'd like to." "LES:" "Here, I found you a horse." "Thank you." "Hey, Les, before you send that wagon down to the station," "I'd like another 2,000 of them bricks." "In return for what?" "Petrol." "Petrol?" "Greg's got a million gallon." "What?" "In underground storage tanks at that army camp, and the equipment to pump it up." "Now, then, what would you want for 2,000 bricks?" "Hundred gallons suit you?" "You have 100 gallons of petrol with you?" "Not, but I'll give you a chit from Greg." "Eh?" "Here." ""I, Greg Preston, promise to pay the bearer on demand at Felbridge camp," ""100 gallons of petrol."" "His handwriting, his signature." "Isn't it, Jenny?" "You expect me to part with 2,000 bricks for a scrap of paper?" "A scrap of paper you could always use for other things, Les." "Like what?" "For anything you may want from me when the time comes." "More cheese, tools, cloth." "And you'll take that letter in exchange?" "If you'll take it now for these bricks." "It's money, isn't it?" "That's right." "We'll never expand trade till we bring it back." ""I, Greg Preston, promise to" ""pay the bearer, on demand..."" "Give that to me!" ""100 gallons of petrol."" "So that's what he's got there." "How much is there?" "Why don't you go and find out?" "Because I think you can save us the bother." "Well, what is it to you two, anyway?" "Petrol for engines, generators, machinery!" "And cars." "And if one had it all himself..." "No wonder he talks of it as gold." "What can you tell us about it, Mrs Hicks?" "I've never even been to Felbridge." "All I do is answer the phone for them." "Phone?" "What phone?" "Up on the hill." "That's where I was when you two broke in here." "Who do you speak to on the phone?" "Preston?" "Is he at Felbridge camp?" "I'm not sure." "Look, all I do is pass on messages to somebody at York and somebody else at Grimsby." "That's all I can tell you." "Aside from explaining how you got this note." "I mean, that didn't come by phone." "Who gave it to you?" "And why is Preston promising petrol?" "Why do you want to know?" "Because if petrol is going to be used again, then it's Preston that's got it all." "Well, my men didn't die of smallpox so this chappy who did for them can be king." "Now, come here." "(GASPS)" "Now, do you want to be around in the morning to say goodbye to us or do you want to say goodbye now?" "(SIGHS)" "She's not usually late." "Try again in five minutes, will you, Mike?" "What's this you've given Joe to print up?" "It reads like a royal proclamation." "To tell people what's happening, that's all." ""Trust Greg Preston." "Trust his petrol notes." ""Use then for trade." Petrol notes?" "What the hell are they?" "Money?" "Your Greg Preston wants to bring back money." "Well, it had its uses, I reckon." "How much did you ever see of it?" "Plenty." "Profits, wages, prices, dividends." "Money was the cause of everything that destroyed us." "It was the plague that destroyed us." "Society was rotten long before that." "Not in everyone's eyes." "Not in yours, maybe." "Two cars, nice house, holidays abroad," "hairdresser once a week." "You were one of the Haves with the big H." "And you, so inadequate you had to become a junkie." "One of the great unwashed Have Nots." "No wonder you're jealous of money." "Jealous, am I?" "I've decided to go, Alec." "God, I can see it all." "He's summoning the barons to court." "They'll make laws, raise taxes, great carve-up." "Just because some friend of theirs used a letter of Greg's to obtain some bricks, there's no need to see anything sinister in it." "You must be blind, then." "Any more than there's any need for you to go to him, Jenny." "I'm going to him because I have to." "It's as simple as that." "Do you know he's located nearly 30 different communities?" "8,000 people, Tom said." "Another 2,000 down south they haven't got round to yet." "Three railway lines open." "HUBERT:" "Sailing barges down the east coast." "Charles was right." "We must go to Felbridge." "Right, the horses." "The cables on these pylons are still dead, Jenny." "Greg hasn't switched on the electricity supply." "There was a generator at that brickyard." "Oh, generators, maybe, powered by windmills and like, but we've been following the national power lines, checking on each substation on the way, pulling the right switches, in the hope we can start up the hydroelectric plant in Scotland." "Yes, Greg may have someone on that already." "Then he'll have no need of me." "And in that case, I'd rather go to Scotland, anyway." "On your own?" "No, I'll carry on up north with Sam." "Is there nothing I can say or do to persuade you to come with me?" "Alec, I have to go to him." "Even if you're not coming, you must see that." "I do see one thing clearly now, you're still in love with him." "Barter is only good if the other person has what you need." "If not, then back you both go." "(SIGHS) Hmm." "How many of these things has Greg signed?" "Not enough." "Tom Walter's got three or four he's trying to get circulated." "So has Albert Banks at York and Mrs Hicks." "But what we have to decide now is whether we should print them." "Print them?" "Joe can do it on his press." "(CHARLES SIGHS)" "Agnes, the transport depot is not the only source of petrol in the country, you know, there are refineries near the coast." "Which we can always blow up." "What, create a monopoly here?" "Well, like the gold in Fort Knox." "And petrol is the gold now, Charles." "Is that why you wear a gun?" "Alice wants to know if these are all right." "Oh, but they are perfect." "Look, Charles, Greg's initials arranged as a monogram." "Yes, I know." "I saw it on the gate when I came in." "We've got it on a flag as well." "Which we can fly from the mast by HQ." "What, like Buckingham Palace?" "Tell Alice they're fine." "I want them to be worn by everyone we're going to rely on." "Oh, a palace guard now, is it?" "How can you have a society without law and order and people to enforce it?" "We were managing." "Were we?" "What about Brod, or Mason, or the Captain?" ""You can't have freedom without authority," Greg says." "And he's right." "Oh, I've got to see him." "No!" "You mustn't." "Well, why do you want to see him?" "To check up on everything I've told you?" "Why do you have to be so suspicious?" "(SIGHING) If he's dead, he's dead." "But if he's all right, then he'll come as soon as he's well enough to." "Every night I say to myself, if only he would come." "If only he would just walk in and take it all over." "(DOOR OPENING)" "(GASPS)" "Tom!" "You got here." "Albert brought me in his truck from York, with 2,000 bricks we've just taken to Yarmouth." "Good, they need them." "Excuse me, we're trying to get through to Mrs Hicks on the phone and she's not answering." "I'll be back in a minute." "Well, hello, Tom." "Charles." "Heard you were on your way here." "Oh, this is Albert Banks from York." "Charles Vaughan." "Albert." "How do?" "Did you see Jenny?" "Mmm-hmm." "Have you told her how Greg is these days?" "I just told her what he'd been doing." "I hope he gets here soon." "People are suspicious about those petrol notes." "Eh, Tom?" "Oh, they'll come to accept them in the end." "Oh, he told Agnes they ought to be printed." "It's a wonder they don't put a picture of Greg on them." "TOM:" "A king's head?" "Why not?" "That's what he seems to be becoming these days, isn't it?" "King of England." "Who do you think should be king?" "MIKE:" "He's not here." "So I have been conned." "Mrs Hicks is still not answering the phone." "She must be ill." "This is Mr Norton." "He wants to see Greg." "Les Norton?" "Our contact up north?" "I'm afraid Greg is away." "Then I'll wait till he gets back." "Well, why do you want to see him?" ""On demand," it says, "at Felbridge camp," ""100 gallons of petrol."" "How do you want it?" "A couple of 50-gallon drums?" "I hope your horse can carry it." "Take Mr Norton to HQ." "We'll bring him the petrol there." "I got a couple accepted on the strength of Greg's promise, but if they can't find others to take them..." "Well, they'll presumably come here and be paid in cash." "Well, it's a devil of a way for most people, Tom." "Exactly, so rather than make the journey, they'll do everything they can to make people use their notes." "Yeah, and if they fail?" "I mean, they'll just tear them up." "They'll never trust Greg again." "Acceptance of a currency is the first step to unification, Albert." "(ALBERT GRUNTS)" "How much petrol is in that store?" "About 200 gallons." "And the rest?" "Underground." "Whereabouts?" "Where are the tanks?" "We know what we're doing, Charles." "Look, Agnes, why do you have to lie to me?" "Because I don't know if I can trust you yet." "Well, I do know that I can't trust you." "There is no million gallons, is there?" "There never was." "Looks deserted." "CAPTAIN:" "Yes." "(SNIFFING) Suits me." "Aye, but where's the petrol?" "Shall we find out?" "What, climb the fence?" "All we have to do is show the pass at the gate." "Real thing?" "Hmm." "How do you pump it up?" "Ordinary petrol pumps." "Powered by what?" "Electricity." "From our generator." "And a million gallons underground?" "It was a storage depot for the whole of Humberside." "Now then, how are we going to shift that lot for you?" "Can you put it on your truck, Albert?" "Aye, could do." "Right, then." "We'll stick it on the train at York." "Okay, Les?" "Just hand over that note and it's all yours." "Maybe I don't want it after all." "Eh?" "Or maybe I never did." "You see, I've been showing that note around back home." "And to folks I met on the way here, too." "I said I'd check it out for them." "See if it was all right, I mean." "If it is, I reckon other people will want to use them, too." "Makes life a lot easier, having money again." "Right, well, tell them then." "But if there's no petrol here after all..." "You've seen it for yourself." "Not a million gallons." "No, I want to see that petrol flow, Tom, for the good of all." "As long as he doesn't take the petrol away, there'll always be enough for anyone else who comes." "They're not all going to come at once." "It's fraud." "(CHUCKLES) What did it say on your old English bank notes?" ""I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of one pound", with a picture of the Queen." "Did she have enough gold for everyone in the Bank of England?" "The Queen's authority was enough to give a value to the note." "So is Greg's authority now." "That's all a currency needs." "To be honoured by someone who symbolises the nation itself." "Greg's to do that?" "It means we must fly this flag wherever we can." "Get that proclamation issued." "Show people where to trade, when to trade, what roads are safe." "Show people a central authority exists." "TOM:" "Les wants to see the petrol tanks." "They're underground." "The covers, then." "The pumps." "How you get it up." "Over there." "You'll find a brick bunker with steel doors." "All the pumping equipment's inside, but only Greg has the key." "He'll be back in a week or two if you'd like to wait." "No one else has the key for security reasons." "Well, that makes sense, when you think of what's there." "If it is there." "Greg will show you when he returns." "Well, rather than wait, I think I'll go to him." "Where is he?" "Norway." "Then I'll take my petrol and go home." "You'd be better off with a note." "If Greg said so, I'd believe him." "But you, Tom, or you, miss, who are you to tell me what's what?" "If Greg assures me that all this organisation you set up is really going to work, I'll be the first one to help him." "(HORSES APPROACHING)" "JENNY:" "Charles!" "The man at the gate says Greg isn't here." "Again." "You told me he was, Tom." "But I didn't tell you to come." "They say he's in Norway." "Norway?" "He's not!" "He's in a certain Dr Adams' place." "Cawston Farm?" "That Dr Adams?" "You know?" "Yes, Agnes told us about that ages ago." "Is that where he is?" "This time I will find him." "You can't, Jenny, he's got smallpox." "Charles!" "Just what kind of a state do you intend to set up, Agnes?" "If it's to be based on deceit." "Right, well, I'm going to load those barrels of petrol on your friend's truck." "At least I'll get out with what you owe me." ""On demand", it says." "Yes, well, uh, what's your name?" "Does that matter?" "It just says "Pay bearer" on the note." "You'd better see Miss Carlsson." "Blonde girl." "She's somewhere on the parade ground, I think." "Over there." "Thank you." "When did he get it?" "Soon after he tried to meet us at Swaffham." "Did he go to Sloton Spencer?" "I don't think so." "The children might have got it." "Well, we'll ask Agnes." "I don't want to talk to her." "Well, she's the only one who can tell you all about it." "She nursed him." "Nursed him?" "How far is it to Cawston Farm?" "Jenny..." "I have to go to him, Charles." "However ill he may be." "(SIGHING)" "Make sure no one leaves the camp." "How do I do that?" "You're supposed to be on guard, aren't you?" "What do you imagine that gun's for?" "I use this?" "If necessary." "Albert and Les can't start the truck." "Well, not for the moment, anyway." "Good." "Tell them to meet me in the council room," "I have some very important news for them." "They may not be interested." "Then you'd better have a gun, too." "(SCOFFS) If they want to go, we won't be able to stop them, Agnes." "You will." "Get a gun from the armoury." "CHARLES:" "Agnes!" "Jenny says she's going to find Greg and she's going now, and I'm going with her." "Then I don't suppose I'll see either of you ever again." "Please, bring her to the council room." "What about these two I let in just now?" "What two?" "There's no petrol in there." "And the old woman did say a million gallons." "Yeah, by that time she'd have said anything." "Feeling sorry for her, Mitch?" "There was no need to have done her in." "If we hadn't, she'd have telephoned as soon as we left." "So we could've cut the phone." "Do you want out of this, Mitch?" "(SIGHING) How are we going to lift a million gallons anyway?" "In buckets?" "We're not going to lift it." "We're going to do what Preston thinks he's done." "Take possession." "You'll get in to see him, but not out." "There are two men with rifles who shoot anyone leaving." "Well, we can talk to him from outside if necessary." "Come on, Charles, let's go." "What gives you the right to see him?" "Greg was terrified you'd try." "He needn't have worried, need he?" "If I'd known that he had smallpox..." "Oh, so he has to be dying, does he?" "Jenny is entitled to see him, Agnes." "Entitled?" "What as?" "His wife?" "You didn't even come to Swaffham that day." "Sent Charles instead." "You were off to Scotland with some new man in your life." "I love Greg." "Oh, now you say it." "I've always said it!" "Just because I haven't been with him, doesn't mean to say I don't love him." "Well, I, too, have always loved him." "(SIGHS) From the day he took off in the balloon, saw your great green country spread out below," "the day Greg came to life." "Understood what my father had in mind, saw what could be done." "You?" "Never even believed in him." "Perhaps if you hadn't been so busy believing in him, he'd have been able to find his way back to me." "Yes, I'm afraid he would have done." "To hold your hand, tell bedtime stories to the children, dangle the baby on his knee." "That's all you ever wanted of him." "You meant more to him than any of that!" "You, who gave him nothing!" "MITCH:" "Good afternoon." "Who are you?" "Friends of Greg Preston." "Well, you better see Agnes, Greg's away." "So, Agnes is here, is she?" "Well, what do you do in this place?" "He makes money, by the look of it." "I try to, but it's only a hand press I've got through there." "It's difficult to get the notes identical." "So we're going to be rich again, are we?" "Buy anything we want." "Only if we have enough of these." "There's plenty here, Mitch." "I'll tell Agnes you want her." "No, don't let's interrupt your work." "We can find Agnes ourselves." "Anytime we like." "Of course he'd have come back to you sooner, if I'd let him." "You admit that?" "Which was more important?" "You or what he was trying to do for this country?" "If it hadn't been for his wanting to find you, we could have done so much more." "Then it wouldn't be in such danger of all collapsing now." "Still, that doesn't matter to you, does it?" "As long as you know he loves you." "(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)" "So what's this news you've got for us, then?" "That there is no petrol?" "That's not news." "The news is that..." "Oh, go on, miss." "There has to be a government." "A what?" "Some kind of authority." "That's why Charles and Tom are here, to discuss it." "Others will be arriving in a day or two, maybe even today, to form a council to decide how best to manage things." "But if you leave before they even get here, start telling people that Greg has smallpox, that there isn't enough petrol to back up those notes, then everything Greg started will collapse." "It's up the spout anyway if Greg's sick." "No!" "And if there's no petrol after all?" "Tell people that and they'll tear up those notes, it'll be back to barter." "Every man for himself." "Do you really want that?" "I just want to see Greg." "Now!" "Stop her, Tom." "Arrest me?" "What, in the name of Greg?" "AGNES:" "In the name of everything he stands for." "The safety of the state." "He hasn't been crowned king yet, Agnes." "Would you rather be king yourself?" "Nobody need be king." "All we want is a loose federation of communities peacefully trading with each other." "And who is going to keep the peace?" "Why do you assume they'd fight?" "The strongest take over the weakest." "Have it your way, Charles, and you'll all be so free that any unscrupulous gangster can prey on anyone he likes." "Then he becomes king." "CAPTAIN:" "And you reckon this money will catch on, do you?" "Agnes wants to put up posters about it." "Like that one." ""Trust Greg Preston"?" ""Trust his petrol notes, use it for trade," ""wear his badges," ""and trust the man with the GP badge." What's that?" "Must be these." "My wife's been making them." "To be worn by Preston's men?" "Coppers again, is he?" "Why don't you go and talk to Agnes about it, not me." "It's time we had peace again." "There are too many villains about." "They get away with murder." "Aye, burning houses, robbing old ladies." "Hey, this could be a job for you and me, Captain." "Get a few others together, give them badges, revolvers, then people will know they're protected again." "Aye, but what do we live on?" "Taxes." "People don't expect to be protected for nothing." "If they find their farms are raided too often, they'll be only too willing to pay." "Now, where did you get this gun from, Joe?" "Ask Agnes." "(CHUCKLING) Oh, yes." "(CLICKING)" "We will ask her." "I'm only asking you to stay a few days until the others arrive and some kind of council is set up." "You're not asking at all." "You're relying on Tom over there to keep us here by force." "Only if you won't see reason." "I'm not sure you have the right to do that, miss." "What right have any of you to go out of here and bring everything worthwhile to an end?" "Well, I'm not staying to be kept prisoner by you, Agnes." "Or you, Tom." "Agnes is right." "Authority is meaningless unless you can prove it has teeth." "Agnes!" "I've just made the morning phone call to Mrs Hicks and Flip Blythe answered." "He couldn't get through to her either yesterday, so he rode over to see if she was all right." "He found her tied up in her kitchen, with her throat cut." "AGNES:" "Now perhaps you see what I am talking about." "Uh, I told him he could have just cut the phone wires, but if you're Agnes, you'll probably know the Captain better than me." "He's got that fellow that prints the money." "He sent me to collect your guns, then you're to take me to the armoury." "Where is he?" "Look, nothing you can do to me is going to match what the Captain will do to your friend." "Where are you taking me?" "Somewhere safe." "Don't worry, you'll come to no harm." "Agnes knows me, so she won't take risks." "He hasn't even told me where he's taking him." "He just said I've got exactly five minutes." "In fact, less than three now, for you to give me your guns or go out and look for him." "All right, there's seven of you here." "One of you might find him in just over two and a half minutes, but it's a big camp." "She knows I've nothing to fear from killing you." "Preston's police are not on the beat yet." "Is that all that would stop you?" "What else?" "Alice!" "(JOE GRUNTING)" "(EXCLAIMING) Get off!" "Here, you're the two..." "He has a gun." "So have I." "(HUBERT SCREAMING)" "My wife will be here in a jiffy, bringing the barrow back." "What's going on?" "Shut up." "You told your friend that when they handed over their guns, he was to let one off so you'd know." "So keep quiet and listen." "He's had more than five minutes by now." "Agnes knows I wouldn't hesitate." "If she had to choose between saving me and letting you take over, she won't hesitate, either." "Agnes is as hard as nails." "(GUNSHOT FIRES)" "Is she?" "Get up." "Go on, get up, both of you!" "(GUNSHOT)" "(GASPING)" "She's dead, he's killed her." "AGNES:" "Don't shoot, Hubert." "Have Tom take him to the guard room, lock him in the cell with the other one." "Lock him in the cell?" "What for?" "Move." "Why not put him on trial?" "Judge and jury." "Better to have shot them at once." "Why?" "Save ourselves the horror of having to pass judgement?" "Quick revenge in the heat of the moment, no questions ever asked, is that how it's going to be?" "No, Agnes is right." "If we're not going to have any law, we're no better than the Captain." "So who is going to judge them?" "Agnes in Greg's name, or Greg himself?" "Greg's dead." "He died some weeks ago, I buried him myself." "I'm sorry, I would have told you before." "I wanted to wait until the council was here." "It was bad enough everyone hearing he had smallpox." "But if they knew he was dead, I couldn't let that come out." "That's why I had to stop you going to him." "We'd have had to know sooner or later." "I would've told you when everyone was here." "So I could be sure he didn't die for nothing." "And he mustn't." "This must make no difference." "Dead?" "That just about wraps it up, then." "Come on, Albert, let's get this truck of yours moving." "At least we've got guns now to protect ourselves." "Look after number one, eh, is that it?" "Oh, Albert and I will survive." "CHARLES:" "Aye, but will others?" "Like that woman Mrs Hicks that got killed, or Joe's wife." "Nothing can be done without Greg." "He was the one person everyone trusted, admired, respected, depended upon." "He'd been everywhere." "But if he's under ground..." "It makes no difference." "ALBERT:" "No difference?" "No." "Council elected from each community can still act in his name." "What?" "Make out he's still alive?" "CHARLES:" "Aye, why not?" "If he provides the figurehead, the authority needed to uphold the law." "What law?" "There is no..." "No?" "(SCOFFS) Well, if you believe that, you might as well let those two in the guard house go." "All they ever believed in doing was looking after number one." "Where's Agnes?" "Why?" "There are people at the gate." "Someone from Peterborough, someone else from Lincoln, and a woman from Grimsby." "They say that they've been sent for, but after the last two I let in..." "Councillors gathering." "Oh, you can let them in." "Well, you want to join it?" "To decide what becomes of those killers?" "Aye, and what sort of world we want." "Alec and Sam are on their way to Scotland to get electricity onto the national grid again." "Would Greg have approved?" "If the council approves." "The council is Greg now." "You can't love a council." "Your friends going to Scotland must be told we have a government, Jenny." "Their loyalty must be ensured?" "Did he really often talk about me?" "Not something I'd have made up, is it?" "I loved him, too." "For all that he did for his country?" "For all he could have done, if it hadn't been for what he felt for you." "I'm not really so selfish, Agnes." "It's just that I don't have your strength." "You won't..." "I mean, you know, the council..." "Don't worry." "I would never let Greg down." "The King is dead." "Long live the King."