“I am a fool.”
“What I’ve always told you, dear.” Clarissa smiled at me. “I will say, though, that you are the only one of the lot who has acted for an impersonal reason, and certainly none of them understands you except me. I am on your side, in a way. Voluntary deaths don’t alarm me the way they do you but this obsession which Cave has of death being preferable to life may have ghastly consequences.”
“What can I do?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea. It’s enough that you were warned in advance.”
“What would you do?”
“Exactly what I’m going to do: pull out for good and take a long trip.”
“I mean if you were I.”
She sighed. “Save your life, if possible; that’s all you can do.”
“I have a few weapons, you know. I have the Journal and I’m a director. I have friends in every Center.” This was almost true. I had made a point of knowing as many Residents as possible. “I also have Iris and Cave on my side since I’m willing to do all I can to keep him alive, that he not become a supreme symbol.”
“I wish you luck,” Clarissa was most cynical. She rose. “Now that I’ve done my bit of informing, I’m off.”