When Kilgore appeared, the casual, relaxed demeanor I'd seen during his other addresses was gone. He was seated in his office, clothed in the ceremonial robe of office. He looked up from a notebook. "My friends around the world," he said, "I have spent the last twelve hours in discussion with the chief executives of each of the Coalition states, and with other principals. You have probably already heard the news reports, so let me tell you what we know, and what action we plan to take. "We are faced today with a somber reality. Let me begin by putting to rest the rumors that have been circulating in recent weeks of an imminent war with the Ashiyyur. We do not wish that to happen, and we have no reason to believe it will. "But we are facing an emergency of dire proportions. I learned yesterday that Callistra, the single star that has shone so brightly in our heavens for centuries, that will still be visible tonight, has nevertheless exploded in what scientists call a hypernova." He paused. Got up. Came closer to the viewer. Managed to look like a guy who had answers. "Callistra is a great distance from Salud Afar. But the explosion occurred during the time of the Third Union. The star that we still see each night in the sky has not existed for twelve centuries. "The explosion released bursts of gamma rays. These have been sprayed in all directions, and, unfortunately, we now know that one of them is headed our way. "What does this mean for Salud Afar? The situation is not good, but we can take action to protect ourselves. For one thing, it is still three years away. For another, our atmosphere will act as a shield to ward off the worst of the effects. Nevertheless, there will be some penetration. "We are working to secure assistance from the Confederacy. We've been constructing shelters against the possibility of a war with the Ashiyyur. These shelters will be used to protect us when the gamma rays arrive. But in fact a simple basement will suffice. The burst will require slightly more than three days to pass. We have already begun storing supplies against that time.
"In addition, we will evacuate many of our citizens, and we are working to find other solutions. "Now, I must be honest with you. When the burst has passed, we will not be able simply to return to the land. It will probably not be possible, for many years, to do any farming. To compensate, we will be expanding our synthetic food capabilities. We are taking other steps as well to protect ourselves. But our greatest need at the moment is for everyone to remain calm. If we see this through together, if we unite in the cause of our common safety, we have nothing to fear."
Kilgore continued another three or four minutes in that vein. He announced the formation of a global executive committee to oversee what he called global security strategy. (That sounded as if the Thunderbolt were merely something to be gotten through. A severe storm, perhaps, or an incursion by foreign spies.) He promised to report regularly on what the committee was doing, and told us that while it wasn't going to be easy, he knew that the people of the world would rise to the occasion. "Let us then go forward together. Let our response in the trying days ahead become our legacy to our sons and daughters. And if Salud Afar endures for a million years, they will say this was her finest hour."
Then he was gone. "You know," said Alex, "the guy read the book after all." "Which book?" He looked at me and shook his head. "Let it go, Chase."
I was due at Global to do my interview with Peifer. When I went up to the roof to get a taxi, a small crowd had gathered, and they were talking in hushed voices about the end of the world. "The Administrator said it's going to happen." "That can't be right. What the hell's he know?" "-Never got it straight before-" "-All going to die-" "-Crazy-" "-We're going to my cousin's. Voka's. He's in a safe place away from here-" Down in the street it sounded as if people were yelling at one another. Twenty minutes later I arrived at Global. It's a ground-level pad, and the same thing was happening. Everybody was scared, and nobody was talking about anything else. Peifer was waiting for me in the executive offices. Staff members were running around, peering into displays, talking into their links. "Looks busy," I said. "You kidding? This is the biggest story ever. Why the hell didn't you and Alex tell me what you were onto?" "We didn't know. I didn't know until I looked up and saw that empty sky." "Empty sky? What empty sky? "From the asteroid." He escorted me to his office. Somebody came in and took pictures. Lots of pictures. Most of them had me standing, looking up at the Lantner monument and the sky beyond. "You know," he said, "when the critical information comes from looking up and seeing nothing , it really doesn't work well for pictures." "I'll try to do better next time, Rob." "You should have brought Alex along," he said. "You didn't ask." "I didn't know we were looking at anything like this. I thought it was about corruption. I thought the bastards knew a major downturn was coming, and they were in collusion with-" He stopped and stared at me. "Never mind. I've got a few questions for you." "What kind of reaction is the Administrator getting?" "Right now," he said, "they want to hang him." "I'm sorry to hear it." "He deserves what he gets. He stood by and let his friends run things. As long as you were loyal to the bastard, you couldn't do anything wrong. Anyhow, I wouldn't be surprised if he was privy to it from the
beginning." Somebody knocked on the door. He said, "Come in." A middle-aged woman, looking frazzled. "Rob," she said, "check the stream." Peifer turned on the HV. It was tuned to Global. We got pictures of a riot in a time zone on the far side of the planet. "-And several hundred arrested." The voice was a baritone. "It started in midafternoon, more than an hour before the Administrator spoke. So far, there are seventeen known dead, and forty or fifty known injured, John."