The Cobblemere was a nondescript gray three-story structure set on a tree-lined avenue about two kilometers from the university. Corporate offices lined both sides of the street, along with the National Biolab Foundation. A small metal plate identified it as the COALITION RESEARCH AGENCY. I walked in the front door, strolled through an empty lobby, entered a corridor, and stopped outside an open office door. A desk lamp was on, but nobody was home. A tall, thin kid came out of an adjoining room, carrying a piece of electronic equipment. He stopped when he saw me. "Can I help you, ma'am?" "I'd like to see Dr. Wexler, please." "I'm sorry. He's not here at the moment. Would you care to leave a message?" "Sure," I said. "Tell him Kolpath is here. He has"-I glanced at the time-"an hour and fifty-seven minutes to get to me, or the gamma-ray story will go to every major media outlet on the planet." He looked puzzled. "Do you want me to write it down for you?" "Ma'am," he said, "you seem upset. May I suggest-?" "I suggest you get that message to him." I gave him my code. "Tell him to call." He stood with his mouth open, not sure what to do. I let the moment drag on and looked at the time again. "An hour and fifty- six minutes," I said. "What's your name?" "Eiglitz." "Mr. Eiglitz, I can assure you that Dr. Wexler will be extremely unhappy if he doesn't get that message promptly." He managed a rattled smile. "Yes, of course. I'll see what I can do." Another grin. "Why don't you wait here? Let me see what I can do. Please make yourself comfortable." He left the office, but moments later he was back. "I'm sorry," he said, "but you did say the name is-?" "Kolpath." I spelled it for him. "Of course." He hurried out. A few minutes later, an older man showed up. Tall, wide shoulders just starting to slump with age. Congenial features. Let's just take it easy attitude. "Ms. Kolpath," he said, "my name is Mark Hollinger. Can I help you?" His tone suggested he was speaking to a child. "Dr. Wexler is not here." "Thanks, Mr. Hollinger. You can see that Wexler gets my message. I think I'm done here." I turned around and started for the front door. Hollinger stayed with me. "I'm sorry. But he's really not available today. You're going to have to work through me." "Okay," I said. "Produce Alex." "Alex?" He tried to look puzzled. "Alex who?"
Hollinger asked me to be patient for a minute and went away. Eiglitz came back and tried to engage me
in conversation. Nice weather. He was sorry there was so much trouble. Could he get anything for me? Finally, a Wexler hologram appeared. "Chase," he said, mustering all his considerable charm. "I'm glad you came by. We've been looking all over for you."
"I know. Where's Alex?" Wexler glanced over at Eiglitz, who got up, left the room, and pulled the office door shut behind him.
"He's all right. He's been visiting with us."
"Let me see him."
"I can't at the moment. But I assure you he's fine. Listen, I understand-"
"This conversation goes no further until I see him. Where is he?"
"Chase, be reasonable. I'm not really in a position-"
"The Callistra story is an hour and a half from going to the world. Show me Alex."
"Chase- "
I stared back at him.
"We're trying to get to him now. But you have to give us some time. I don't know that I can manage it within the time frame."
I shrugged. "Then we don't have anything to talk about, I guess."
"No, wait. Listen, I'm telling you the truth."
"Wexler, why would I believe anything you have to say?"
"All right. I know none of this looks good from your perspective. I understand that. But you weren't hurt. And Alex hasn't been hurt. We were afraid you'd do exactly what you're about to do. I had no choice."
"I guess not. Can't sell off property if people know the world's coming to an end."
"Look, Chase, I hate doing this over an open circuit-"
"Sorry. It's all we've got."
"All right. Yes, I'll admit I moved some holdings. So did some others. I mean, who wouldn't? But that's not why we kept it quiet."
"Okay. I'll bite. Why'd you keep it quiet?"
"Because there are two billion people on this world. And there's no way we can save more than a handful."
"And not even those if you don't try."
"We're digging shelters for them."
"That's why you lied about the Mutes. And probably even put out the rumor about the rift."
"The rift?"
"Forget it. You're not that good an actor."
"Look. Chase. For God's sake. We were trying to save as many people as we could, and we needed a cover story. Something that wouldn't cause a worldwide panic." He stood for a long moment, facing me. He looked hesitant, but I watched him come to a decision. "Look, I know we could have handled this better. But the honest truth is, when Carpenter came to us with this story, and we checked it out and found it was true, we didn't know what to do."
"Who's Carpenter?"
"Rasul Carpenter. He's a physicist. Greene figured out what was happening. I assume you know that. She went to him for confirmation. He came to us." "You mean you ." "Yes. Me. Within a day we knew it was true. End of the world. How the hell was I supposed to deal with that? Sure we kept it quiet. And a few of us took advantage of the knowledge. Sell off and get your family out of town. What would you do differently?" "And you screwed up Vicki's head."
"We didn't know it would turn out the way it did. The doctors said it was just a matter of her getting past a bad memory."
"Did they know what the bad memory was?"
"One of them did. No way we could avoid that."
"So you set things up so you could dispose of your property, and take your family out, while everybody else got left."
"Chase, it would have been different had there been something we could do. But it's not like that. This thing is still three years away. But we're helpless. You go ahead and tell the media, and all you'll do is create worldwide panic. Salud Afar will become a living hell." He looked tired. Scared. "These people still have three years of their lives left. I don't know how much longer we can keep this quiet, but once it gets out, it's over. We'll have taken those years away. And we have nothing to offer in return. No vast fleet to take them somewhere else. No way to hide more than a handful of them."
"Where's Alex?"
"I've sent an agent to hook him up. But it'll take a while."
"Where is he?"
"In a place similar to Corvex. The place you managed to escape from. You were very clever about that, by the way." He paused, expecting a response. When he didn't get one, he continued: "He's on an island."
"How long's it going to take you to produce him?"
"An hour or so."
"I'll wait."
"Will you cancel the transmission?"