And if the oppressed came together, if they rallied around a common cause – here, now, was one of the impossible pivot points Griffin had spoken of so often. Here was their chance to push history off its course.
The first ceasefire offer came in from London an hour later: RESUME BABEL SERVICES. FULL AMNESTY EVEN FOR SWIFT AND DESGRAVES STOP. OTHERWISE PRISON STOP.
‘Those are very bad terms,’ said Yusuf.
‘They’re absurd terms,’ said Professor Chakravarti. ‘How ought we to respond?’
‘I think we don’t,’ said Victoire. ‘I think we let them sweat, that we just keep pushing them to the edge.’
‘But that’s dangerous,’ said Professor Craft. ‘They’ve opened up space for a dialogue, haven’t they? We can’t know how long it’ll stay open. Suppose we ignore them and it closes—’
‘There’s something else,’ Robin said sharply.
They watched the telegraph machine tap away in fearful, silent apprehension as Victoire took it down. ‘ARMY ON ITS WAY STOP,’ she read. ‘STAND DOWN STOP.’
‘Jesus Christ,’ said Juliana.
‘But what good does that do them?’ Robin asked. ‘They can’t get through the wards—’
‘We have to assume they can,’ Professor Chakravarti said grimly. ‘At least, that they will. We have to assume Jerome’s helping them.’
This set off a round of frightened babbling.
‘We’ve got to talk to them,’ said Professor Craft. ‘We’ll lose the window of negotiation—’
Said Ibrahim, ‘Suppose they put us all in prison, though—’
‘Not if we surrender—’ Juliana began.
And Victoire, firm, vehement: ‘We can’t surrender. We’ll have gained nothing—’
‘Hold on.’ Robin raised his voice over the din. ‘No – this threat, the Army – it all means it’s working, don’t you see? It means they’re scared. On the first day they still thought they could order us around. But they’ve felt the consequences now. They’re terrified. Which means if we can just hold on for a bit, if we can just keep this up, we’ll win.’