The president nodded with a quiet smile. "I'm willing to have a little upset and anger. Go on."
"Our allies will try to talk us out of it, of course."
"Wait a minute. There's an assumption that needs to be cleaned up here. We're not giving anyone any forewarning. Not even our allies."
The secretary of state looked unhappy. "I don't know how they'll handle it."
"I'll handle that," said the president. She pointed to her press secretary. "Here's how we'll work it. I'll tape the speech as soon as it's ready. The speech will go on the air as soon as the bombs go off. At the same time, I'll want a conference call with the heads of as many friendly governments as we can get on the line. We'll put diplomatic notes on the network to everyone else. In other words, everybody finds out at the same time. I don't want it on the air anywhere until the planes have dropped their load. Assume that they have video set and picate terminals in those worm camps." There was silence.
"Is that understood?" Nods.
"Good." The president turned back to her secretary of state. "Will there be any diplomatic problems that you can't handle?"
"No, Madam President, there won't. I would like to add something though. There are probably quite a few governments on this planet who are just waiting for someone else to take the first step and use nuclear weapons. They may put on a show of complaining at first, but eventually, they'll be using their own bombs on their own invaders. I just want to acknowledge your courage in willing to be first."
"It's not courage, Anne. It's terror, but thanks anyway." The president smiled gently.
The secretary of state sat down.
"All right, we know the military can do the job. The plan can be implemented at any moment. We've looked at the consequences. Again. We've been looking at them for weeks. We're willing to trade our present problems for those problems. Is there anything we've failed to consider?"
Dr. Zymph spoke up. "Yes. It won't work." Everyone looked at her.
She said, "Oh, you'll wipe out the biggest camps, but I suspect we'll just have bigger camps to deal with in a year. Two years ago, we thought we'd turned the corner on the gastropedes. We were finding fewer and fewer nests. Suddenly, this year there are thousands of nests. Six months ago, we started to see incredible infestation. It took a very short time for them to begin gathering together and building cities. They're a very fast-paced ecology. The energy flow-through is incredible. The use of nuclear weapons will destroy their current infestations. But it won't handle the problem. We still don't know where the gastropedes are coming from. We could be back at this same point in six months. We cannot continue to bomb them every time they build up."
The president looked unhappy. "Will it buy us time, Moyra?"
Dr. Zymph nodded. "Yes, a little. But it's an unsatisfactory solution."
"I grant you that," said the president. "But it's the least unsatisfactory of all of our unsatisfactory solutions, right now." Dr. Zymph nodded her agreement. "Madam President, may I suggest that we look beyond this moment? We need to up the level of our commitment by several orders of magnitude. We've been putting a series of coordinated proposals on your desk for three weeks now-"
"I've seen them." The president held up a hand. "But this session is about the decision to go in with the nukes. Friday's session will be about our next steps. Can you wait until then?" Dr. Zymph nodded. She sat down.
The president said, "We'll take a fifteen-minute break. Then we'll reconvene."
60
The Cookie-Jar Stare
"It's not who wins or loses that counts-it's who keeps score."
- SOLOMON SHORT
The president disappeared into a waiting room with her aides, her press secretary, and the bald man who looked so familiar. I was inxore certain than ever that I knew him from somewhere.
The Japanese lady motioned to Lizard and she went over to whisper quietly with her. The rest of the meeting was breaking up into small conferences.
For some reason, I wandered over to say hello to Foreman. "You probably don't remember me," I began.
"McCarthy, James Earl-no, Edward," he said. He extended a hand. "You're looking . . . feral." He studied me with narrowed eyes. "Are you all right?"
"No," I said, truthfully.
Somebody touched Foreman's arm then. He held up a hand to stay that person. He looked at me. "Will you come see me?" There was something about the way he said it.
"Uh, why?"
"I want to train you."
"In what?"
"Will you come and see me?"
I thought about it. "All right."
"Good. Thank you." He turned to the waiting questioner, forgetting me completely.
What did he want, I wondered. I remembered my last conversation with him-a peripatetic affair. He had been trying to determine if I was fit to be turned loose upon the planet.
I wandered around the room, eavesdropping on other people's conversations.
Two naval officers were arguing quietly. " . . . looks to me like she's already made her decision."
"I don't think so. You don't know the old lady. She's playing devil's advocate. She takes the position and then challenges you to talk her out of it. My guess is that she doesn't want to go nuclear, but she doesn't see any alternative. She's letting us look for a good reason not to."
"Well, I can think of one," said the taller of the two. "It looks like defeat."
"That falls in the area of public relations. It can also be made to look like victory. I'll give the old witch credit. She makes her decisions by logistics, not politics." He turned to his colleague quietly to the wall. "You'd better get on the phone and alert your staff. If we take the Hawaii option, there'll be a lot of extra work for the Navy."
The stocky man nodded. He turned and left the room quietly. I found myself moving up behind Lizard. She was with the Japanese lady and the dark fellow. The Japanese lady noticed me with a polite nod. She looked at Lizard. "Your young man has come a long way since the last time we were all in the same room."
Lizard said, "I think so." She said to me, "Jim, I don't think you've ever been formally introduced. This is Madam Shibano, and this is Dr. Rico. Madam Shibano and Dr. Rico are two of the three civilian managing directors of the Agency."
"Dr. Foreman is the third?"
"Yes, he is," said Madam Shibano. She extended her hand. "I'm glad you have rejoined us, James. It will be good to have you on the team again."
"Well, I'm not so sure I . . ." Lizard touched my arm gently. A warning, "-uh, I mean, thank you."
Madam Shibano smiled. "James. You make a difference. That is why you are here today."
An officer came up to the group then. "Madam Shibano? Dr. Rico? The president would like to see you now."
"Thank you," she said. Before leaving, she looked to Lizard. "Elizabeth," she said, looking directly at her. "This is a very important meeting."
"I know," said Lizard. "You can count on me." Then she added, "And McCarthy as well."
"Good. Thank you."
After they left, I turned to Lizard. "What was that all 'about?"
"You're my worm expert."
"So?"
"The president hasn't made her decision yet. The video is pretty convincing, but . . . well, she doesn't want to use nuclear weapons on the continental United States. She's desperately looking for an alternative."
"Is there one?"