"But cars," said the President. "Why, for Christ's sake, cars?
Why not something really fanciful? Why not diamond necklaces?
cases of champagne? fur coats?"
"The visitors are good observers, sir. They have been watching
us for days.
"And they saw a lot of cars. Almost everyone has one. Those who don't have one want one. Those who have an old car want a new one. Old cars. Beaten-up cars. Wearing out ears. Accidents on the road. People killed and cars demolished. The visitors saw all this. So they gave us cars that never would wear out, that need no gasoline, that need no roads, that can never crash because they veer off when there is the danger of a crash, no maintenance, no repairs, no paint job.
"We can't be sure of that, sir. That's a speculation."
"A ear for everyone?"
"We can't be sure of that, either. That's what Garrison thinks. That's what his reporter thinks. As I understand, however, the Tribune story is very careful not to say that, although the implication's there."
"It can wreck us, Dave. Whether there is a car for everyone or not, it can blow the economy to hell. Because the implication, as you say, is there. I'm thinking of calling a moratorium, a financial holiday. Shutting down the stock market, the banks, all financial institutions, no financial transactions of any kind at all. What do you think?"
"It would give us time. That might be all it would give us. And a few days only. You couldn't make it stick for more than just a few days."
"If the market opens tomorrow morning.
"You're right. Something has to be done. You'd better talk to the Attorney General, the Federal Reserve. Probably some other people."
"Time might be all that it would give us," said the President. "I agree with that. But we need some time. We need some elbow room. Give people a chance to think things over. A chance for us to talk with people. I told you the other day I felt there was no reason for panic. Goddammit, Dave, I'm close to panic now.
"You don't look it."
"Panic is something we can't afford. Not visible panic. Polities give you a long training in the control of personal panic. Right now my gut is jumping, but I can't let it show. They'll be coming out of the woodwork to crucify us. Congress, the press, business interests, labor leaders, everyone. All of them claiming we should have foreseen this situation, should have been doing something to head it off."
"The country will live through it, sir."
"The country, but not me. It does beat hell how things turn out. Up until now, I figured I had it made for another term."
"You still may have."
"It would call for a miracle."
"All right. We'll carpenter up a miracle."
"I don't think so, Dave. Not that we won't try. We'll have to see what happens. Allen and Whiteside will be joining us. Grace is trying to locate Hammond. I want his input. A sound man, Hammond. He can handle the mechanics of the financial holiday. We'll have to have Marcus over later. There'll be others coming in. God knows, I need all the advice that I can get. I want you to hang in close."
"After a while, I'll have to have a briefing. The boys are already pounding on the door."
"Hold up for a while," said the President. "Maybe in a couple of hours, we'll have something to give them. Go out now, empty, and they'll maul you to death."
"They'll maul me, anyhow. But it's a good idea to wait a while. I'm not looking forward to it."
The box on the President's desk beeped. When he answered, Grace said, "General Whiteside and Dr. Allen are here."
"Show them in," said the President.
The two came into the room and were waved to chairs.
"You've heard?" asked the President. "It was too involved to try to tell you when I spoke to you."
They nodded.
"Car radio," said Allen.
"TV," said the general. "I turned it on after you phoned."
"Steve, what do you think of it?" asked the President. "There seems to be no question the visitors are making cars. What kind of cars would they be?"
"As I understand it," said the science advisor, "they are budding them. They bud their young, forming them in the images of themselves. I suppose there's nothing to stop them from budding in the image of cars."
"Some of them ate some cars," said Whiteside. "In St. Louis, I believe."
"I'm not too sure that has anything to do with it," said Allen. "Certainly, they probably could analyze the ears once they ingested them, but the cars they are budding apparently are similar only in external features to our manufactured cars."
"Then why did they snap up the cars in St. Louis?" asked the general.
"I wouldn't know," said Allen. "All I know is that the cars the visitors are budding are visitors. Not actually cars at all, but visitors in the shape of cars, apparently capable of being used as cars. They are biological, not mechanical vehicles."
"The reporter who found the cars," said the President, "seems to think, at least she suggests, the ears are being budded out of gratitude. A free-will offering to the people of the planet that supplies their cellulose."
"About that I wouldn't know," said Allen. "You are talking about how these damn things think. On that I couldn't even hazard a guess. We've been studying the one that died for days and we have not even the slightest idea of its anatomy, of how it manages to live and function on the physical level, let alone the mental. The situation is analogous to a medieval man trying to understand how and why a sophisticated computer works. Not one single organ that can be compared to a human organ. We are completely baffled. I had hoped we might be able to determine what caused the creature's death. In this we have failed. Until we find how the organism functions, there's no chance of pinning down the cause of death, or of anything else, for that matter."
"You'd say, then," said the President, "there is no chance to communicate with them. If we could somehow talk with them, even in sign language or something, or.
"Not a chance," said Allen. "No chance at all."