Chapter 23: Tin opener

Jamie felt his head swim with the implications of what Britain's Ambassador had just said. It took him some time before he could marshal his thoughts and respond to the figure he could see on his computer screen.

"Let me get this straight, you're saying that the surviving teenagers can just select someone to be the King of Scots and that person would legally be the King? The rest of the world would have to accept it? What kind of powers would such a person have?" he managed to get out at last.

"Indeed, yes that person would de facto be the monarch and the remaining governments would be legally bound to accept that at least. My staff tell me there are no grounds for a legal challenge. Whether they would go along with it in policy terms is another matter and that's what we're looking to test. As to powers, the constitutional monarch would have absolute powers to make the law of the land, carte blanche, so it would be quite a responsibility," Sir David replied.

"And you're suggesting that I should be this new monarch?" Jamie gasped.

"I don't see anyone else showing the initiative that you have so far, but if there are others that you feel would be more suited then I'll leave that up to you and the other survivors to decide. To vote, people need to be resident in Scotland, free and of sound mind," said the Ambassador.

"Sir David, I need some time to think about all this. To say I'm feeling a little bit numb would be an understatement. Can I continue to use this link to contact you?" Jamie asked.

"Of course. I won't remain here myself, but someone will always be here and they will be able to contact me immediately if you need me. Don't take too long Jamie, I really believe we need to do this if we are to have any chance of re-asserting diplomatic pressure on the governments of the US and Canada," he replied.

"I promise I won't dither. I'll get back to you today," said Jamie as he closed the connection.

He sat in the honeymoon suite for ten minutes just trying to gather himself before he went back downstairs to join Stuart and the girls. All of them could tell by his expression and body language that something had happened. It was his sister who enquired first.

"Something else has happened, what is it Jamie?" she asked.

Jamie seemed to come out of the daze he was in at her question and it was almost as if he was noticing for the first time that he had actually come downstairs and they were all in front of him. He looked back over his shoulder at the stairs as if to question why he couldn't remember walking down them and then looked back at his sister and the others again. At last he found his voice.

"I think we all need to take a seat before I tell you," he said.

His words had an ominous ring and the girls and Stuart began to look worried at whatever news he was about to share. They moved into the comfortable public room of the castle and each took a seat in the plush armchairs. Jamie told them of the conversation he had just had.

"I received a response to my e-mail from the British Ambassador to the United States. He invited me to join him in a web cam meeting," he said.

Laura, Stuart, Debbie and Christine still looked worried and were on the edge of their chairs.

"He advised me that the US State Department were refusing to even speak to him on the basis that he had no status. Apparently their view is that the UK has no government and therefore the diplomats have nobody to represent."

Jamie paused as if needing to gather himself to share this next part. He looked into the faces of the other four before continuing.

"Sir David said that his staff have been working hard to come up with a solution to the stance that the US government have taken. He believes they have found one. Apparently the Scots crown is almost unique in that it's not based on land ownership, but rather the support of the people. It's the 'King of Scots' not the 'King of Scotland'. The Ambassador told me that there are numerous precedents in our history where the people - well the lords actually - decided who the next King should be.

"In some cases there wasn't even a blood link to the previous King. The lords just selected the strongest amongst them; the one who they felt would be able to lead best. Sir David said that the survivors in Scotland could legally choose a King and simply appoint him and that would be binding.

"Once that's done, Scotland would have a constitutional monarch and therefore a government and the diplomats would be accredited again," Jamie said.

The others simply stared at him, mouths hanging open. It was Stuart who found his voice first.

"This is all a joke, right?" he asked.

"No joke. This person would really be the King and would have absolute power to determine the laws of the land," Jamie replied.

"And the Ambassador is suggesting we should do this? Is he suggesting who the King should be?" Laura asked.

Before Jamie could answer, Stuart spoke first.

"Well Jamie of course. Isn't that obvious? Who else is there?" he said.

"But what about the royal family?" Debbie asked.

"They're all gone and the Ambassador's staff have told him whoever is selected as the next King doesn't need to be related to the old royal family anyway," Jamie replied.

"But, you can't be the King," Laura said hesitantly.

"Laura, you haven't been listening. Scotland's history shows us that the people can select whoever they want to be King. If the survivors choose to select Jamie then he will really be the King. I say we should go for it," said Stuart. "If it helps make the US release the expats and the submarine, I think it's worth a try."

"Stuart, don't be so hasty. Once this is done it will be binding," said Jamie.

"That's nothing to worry about. The King will only have absolute power so long as the people want him to. Remember your history Jamie, the parliamentarians took the King's powers away from him when they disagreed strongly enough. Being King will only grant you authority so long as the people are willing to follow you," Stuart replied.

Oddly this statement seemed to re-assure Jamie. The thought of the awesome responsibility of being King would bring had been a huge weight hanging over him. Stuart's words were a comfort as Jamie knew the other boy was absolutely right. It would be a simple matter for the survivors to dispose of any King who wasn't doing a good job. He shook his head as he realised he was actually thinking of going through with this crazy plan of the Ambassador's.

"We'll need to think of some way of communicating all this to the people at Fort William and Dreghorn and then actually have a vote of some kind," said Stuart, dropping into his organiser mode.

"There's something else I want to do before that," said Jamie.

"What?" Laura asked.

Jamie looked round at the other four once more and then told them what he had thought of doing.

"Fuck yes!" cried Stuart. "That's a great idea, let's get to it right now."

The girls looked much less enthusiastic, but Jamie saw his sister nod in agreement with his latest plan and he knew she was supporting his decision. What he was now suggesting helped put the dizzying thoughts of becoming King out of his mind and he grinned at Stuart as they both jumped up to seize the moment.

Hadij looked a mess. He and his team had been on board the submarine for five days now, five days on bare rations and without much in the way of personal hygiene. The last of the shore party had died from the virus the day before, without giving Hadij any clues as to how the nuclear missiles might be launched.

Losing the last seaman seemed to have drained something out of the fanatic and the angry phone call he had taken from Assam hadn't helped matters. He had found a small safe in the captain's cabin and his last hope was that there was something inside the safe that would give him the control over the missiles that he so badly wanted.

Part of Hadij's training at the remote camp in Pakistan had been on handling explosives and he had scoured the naval base for the materials to try and blast the small safe open so he could get at its contents. He had found what he needed and now he was just putting the finishing touches to the very small charges required to take the safe's door off of its mountings.

He retreated from the cabin and connected the wires to the trigger. He knew the trigger had sufficient power to activate the detonators and he took a breath before pressing the button.

Immediately Hadij knew something had gone wrong. The whole submarine shook violently and he was thrown off of his feet and into the bulkhead. He lay on the floor, his head ringing and watched as smoke and flames crept towards him. Still disorientated from the blast that had knocked him over, he tried to make sense of the fact that floor of the submarine seemed to suddenly be at an angle. He tried to push himself up and found it difficult to stand normally.

Hadij's senses began to recover from the shock and he realised the floor was indeed angling away from him. He couldn't understand why his little charges had had such a massive impact. As his hearing slowly began to return, he could swear that someone was playing 'Scotland the Brave' outside the submarine. He had just decided to go and investigate what was happening when another blast caught the sub and knocked him off of his feet once more.

Jamie raced the Lynx navy variant low over the Firth of Clyde towards the Faslane naval base. Beside him, Stuart could hardly keep still in his excitement and Jamie laughed at his friend's nervous antics.

The idea to attack the submarine had come to him when he had witnessed the impact the TOWs had had on the terrorists' jeeps. Stuart had shown just how accurate and devastating he could be and Jamie felt he would be more comfortable with the potential threat of the sub removed. He had spotted the navy version of the Lynx at the air base, with its torpedoes slung on its sides. It was perfect for an attack on the sub and he was delighted when Stuart confirmed he could arm the torpedoes and fire them.