Chandler's eyes widened. "You don't mean that," he said.
All of Morley's instincts told him there was no way the vice president would hang in if there weren't a way out. Politicians don't do things like that.
And it was a hell of a story. Pulitzer, Morley was thinking. Maybe posthumous. But a Pulitzer.
FRANK CRANDALL'S ALL-NIGHTER. 11:53 P.M.
Crandall: Hi, Jason from Coos Bay. First Caller: Hey, Frank. Cheers from the white beach capital. Crandall: Thanks, Jason. What's on your mind? First Caller: What's the straight stuff about the comet, Frank? The media always lie, and I keep hearing conflicting stories. I'm looking out my window now at the ocean. What's going to happen tomorrow night? Crandall: Don't know, my man. I don't think anybody knows for sure. First Caller: Should I get out? Crandall: That's your call, Jason. First Caller: What would you do? Crandall: Ol' Frank'll be on top of a mountain tomorrow." (Laughs) "Seriously, Jason, I'll be right here in Miami, doing my routine, and hoping for the best. I think the media have a tendency to be very careful what they report. Everybody has to look out these days, and I'll tell you why: There're lawsuits everywhere. So we're all supercautious…We have time for one more call before we go to commercial… Harry in St. Louis, hello. Second Caller: Hi, Frank. Say, I'd like to change the subject. Crandall: Go ahead. Talk about anything you want. Second Caller: I was wondering if you've noticed the Cardinals have started the season with six straight wins. Crandall: Yeah, they're loaded with pitching, and it looks like they've got a serious team out there this year… SSTO Berlin Flight Deck. 11:59 P.M.
Willem Stephan moved the throttle forward, and the spacecraft began to pick up velocity. He informed Moonbase that he was leaving orbit, and was relieved to watch the lunar surface begin to drop away. He'd been in orbit thirty-eight hours, and was starting back with 162 passengers. Not quite as many as he'd expected, but the incident with the Micro had slowed the operation down.
But Rome was in orbit now, and she would collect passengers during the night, until she was joined by the American plane early tomorrow morning.
Gruder looked at him. "I'm glad to be away," he said.
"Yes, old friend. As am I."
CHAPTER SIX
IMPACT
Saturday, April 13
1.
White House. 1:15 A.M.
The president had been at a party at the Polish embassy when Haskell's message reached him: UNABLE COMPLY YOUR LAST. HAVE TO LOCK UP.
Henry read it several times. Damned fool.
The Iraqi ambassador, standing beside him, asked what was wrong.
"Nothing of significance, Oman," he said, sliding the paper into a pocket.
People had talked about Senator Butler's latest gaffe (calling the voters "morons" without realizing the mike was hot), the ongoing food fight between two of Washington's top journalists which had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with a fashion model, and the discovery that a respected late-night political commentator had been buying child pornography. But Henry could not stop thinking about his beleaguered vice president.
At around three, back at the White House, he called Kerr aside and showed him the news. "This is Hailey's idea," said Kerr. "They want more drama. They want you to go on TV and tell him to quit monkeying around and get on the plane."
"That's what I thought at first, Al. But he knows I can't do that. They've admitted they can't get everybody out and they're starting to release names of people who're staying behind. How will it look if I demand they send him back, and then we find out that a father with three kids had to stay instead? No. The damned fool had to get out before all this became public information. It's too late now." He shook his head. "You've got to admire him. I guess it's that goddam Teddy Roosevelt schtick." Ephrata, Pennsylvania. 1:50 A.M.
Claire was asleep in the cab of the Pine River Furniture truck. They'd stopped in the parking lot of the Old Rock Bank on Route 322. The rest of the convoy was God knew where because the phone system was overwhelmed and Archie couldn't patch through to anybody. Moreover, the truck's power cells had begun to weaken. Lines at the charge stations were a mile long, so they'd given up and pulled over to wait for morning. Weather permitting, the sun would recharge their cells.
The sky was lost in the glare of security lights. The rain had finally stopped, but the night was still damp.
The parking lot was small, with a chain drawn around its perimeter. A sign proclaimed: PARKING FOR BANK PATRONS ONLY. VIOLATORS WILL BE TOWED. They were sharing space with a half-dozen other vehicles. There was still occasional traffic, but the general crush had dissipated.
Archie admired Claire's ability to sleep in the truck cab. He'd tried every position he could, but he was still uncomfortable, dead tired, and wide awake. At no time during the entire exercise had the threat from tidal waves seemed more unreal.
The cell phone chimed.
Archie fumbled for it, trying to remember which pocket he'd put it in. "Hello?"
"Archie?" Susan's voice, obviously relieved.
"Hello, love. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. I'm at Helen's. But it's been a nightmare. I've never seen anything like this. I've been trying to call all night. Couldn't get through."
"I know. I'm glad you're off the road."
"Archie, the expressway was terrible. It was bumper-to-bumper all the way from South Jersey. Where are you? Are you in Carlisle?"
"No. Traffic's been bad here too. But we're okay. We're parked for the night. The road looks pretty clear now. If it stays that way we'll be in Carlisle by noon."
"All right, champ. Be careful." SSTO Arlington Flight Deck. 5:50 A.M.
George brought the big spacecraft into lunar orbit precisely on schedule. He was three thousand kilometers above the surface, and it was a good feeling, watching the moonscape turn beneath him, watching Earth disappear beneath the horizon. For the first time in his life, he was out of sight of the home world.
And the comet looked very close.
Twenty minutes later, a moonbus arrived alongside, and his first passengers began to file aboard.
TRANSGLOBAL NEWS REPORT. 6:14 A.M.
Police have reported isolated incidents of overnight looting in the Baltimore suburbs of Catonsville and Edgemere. At least eleven people have been jailed, and another dozen, including three police officers, hospitalized in related incidents. Baltimore mayor Patricia Godwin, in an effort to head off the kind of disruptions that accompanied the breakdown of public order after the Gandar execution two years ago, has put on extra police and announced that violators will be dealt with severely. She added that she could not guarantee that citizens wouldn't take matters into their own hands and shoot would-be thieves. This has been widely interpreted as a suggestion that homeowners who contemplate using deadly force to defend their property need not fear vigorous prosecution, as happened after the Gandar riots. • • • SSTO Copenhagen. 6:17 A.M.
After a nineteen-hour run, Copenhagen established visual contact with Skyport. When the space station appeared in the windows, people in the passenger cabin began to applaud.
TRANSGLOBAL COMMENTARY. 9:03 A.M.
"Actually, the end of the Moon, if that's what we're really about to see, would be a very good thing. People need to be reminded periodically that a living world is a changing one. And we resist change with all the ferocity we can muster.
"This instinct, this love for the status quo, this conviction that the world is a stable and reliable place to live, is an idea left over from an era when people lived exactly as their grandparents had. When change was always bad news: that the Nile had overflowed its banks again, that the barbarians had arrived, that the plague was in town. We are wired to maintain the status quo.
"This need to conserve the present is a survival instinct that now works to our detriment. We see it in our failure to pursue nanotech research, in our fear of biotechnological enhancement techniques, in the resistance to the Mars mission. We see it in our daily lives in our inability
to use the technologies that lie at our fingertips. Do you know how to program your VR player? A recent USA Today poll showed that sixty-five percent of those surveyed did not believe that life had improved since the end of the twentieth century.
"If the Moon truly disappears from our skies tonight, it will serve to remind us that nothing is forever, that the world keeps changing, and that we'd better learn to change with it. This is Judy Gunworthy with the Transglobal News Service, at the Johnson Space Center." Moonbase, Grissom Country. 10:47 A.M.
Charlie shook hands with each of his agents, thanked them for efforts in his behalf, and tried to reassure them he would be all right. He explained that he'd notified their superiors that they'd left under protest, that he'd ordered them out, and that under the circumstances they had no choice but to obey. "I've recommended in-grade increases for all of you."
They smiled. Isabel momentarily lost her professional demeanor and embraced him. "I wish you'd change your mind," she said.
After they left, Rick came by and tried so hard to talk him out of staying that he lost track of time and had to dash out to catch his own flight.
Then Charlie was alone. Pacifica, California. 8:35 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time (11:35 A.M. EDT).
Jerry Kapchik watched the images of crowded expressways on his TV. Fortunately, the scenes were all east of San Francisco. Route 1, which he could see from his front porch, was quiet. After the first wave of nervous reaction, few of his neighbors had left town. It might have been they were more worried about looters than moonrock. There'd already been reports of break-ins in San Mateo and Palo Alto.
He could see Marisa setting up the water sprinkler out back. She'd be leaving in about forty-five minutes, taking the kids to the park. She was not happy that Jerry had volunteered to go into work, but she understood that such things were not entirely within his control.
The big news this morning was that the vice president was staying behind at Moonbase. Jerry had watched a brief interview in which Haskell said he hadn't given up hope that they'd all get out. Hadn't given up hope. How could we allow a vice president to get put in that kind of position? It didn't make sense, and Jerry wondered if the government was even more incompetent than it looked.
There were other stories. Terrorists had seized an embassy in Djakarta and were demanding the release of several hundred criminals from Indian prisons. Red Cross workers had been murdered in the Transvaal. There'd been a shoot-out in the Japanese Diet. In a group action, several thousand families were suing the Los Angeles school system for failing to educate their kids. Everything seemed normal enough.
Jimmy came down the stairs. Seven years old, bright-eyed, big smile. He had his mother's blond hair. "Dad? Are we going to watch the comet tonight?"
The kids had stayed up late last evening, and they'd stood out near the garage with neighbors. The comet was out over the ocean. It was big, several times bigger than the Moon, and misty, like a big blob of fog caught in moonlight. It looked out of place, and Jerry'd had a sense that it belonged in another sky.
"Sure," he said. "If you want."
"Dad, I was wondering if we could do something."
"Like what?"
He hesitated. "Could we get a telescope? Like the Ryan's have?"
Actually, Jerry had been thinking about investing in one. He saw a chance to interest his kids in astronomy, and he'd been looking at an inexpensive telescope in the downtown Wal-Mart yesterday. "Sure," he said. "I think we can manage that."
Then there was Marisa. She'd been in a strange mood, saying she felt fine but refusing to meet his eyes.
Jerry, fortunately, was hard-headed, down-to-earth, eminently practical. Whatever might be happening a quarter-million miles away, the real world would continue to be caught up in tax law and mortgage payments and Little League games.
NEWSNET. 12:30 P.M. UPDATE.
(Click for details.)
NATION BRACES FOR MOONWRECK
Tens Of Thousands Flee Coastal Areas
Carnage On Highways
PALADINI,CORMAN, ALMYER ATTEND PRAYER VIGIL FOR LUNIES
Almyer:"A Time To Put Politics Aside"
BUSES EVACUATE INNER-CITY SAN FRANCISCO
Poor People's Crusade Mobilizes Volunteers
TELESCOPES TO SEARCH FOR FALLING MOONROCK
NASA Coordinates Early Warning System
SPACE PLANE BACK FROM MOON
Evacuees Celebrate Arrival At Skyport
AID WORKERS MASSACRED IN PUNJAB
Two Chicago Nuns Among Victims
BOBBY RAY HUTTON MAY FACE TAX, FRAUD CHARGES
Televangelist's "Flights For Faith" Sold Bibles, Medical Supplies
HOCKLEBY, BRAXTON CHARGED IN GENETIC SOFTWARE CASE
Does First True Artificial Intelligence Live In Minneapolis?
WHITE FEMALES IN U.S. CONTINUE TO LEAD LONGEVITY CHARTS
Hockey:
RANGERS MOVE TO ALBANY FOR PLAYOFFS
Start McCormack Against Flyers
Wife-Beating Defenseman Has "Learned Lesson"
MANUSCRIPT MAY BE NEW LAMB ESSAY
Found In Desk Once Owned by The Quarterly Review Moonbase Spaceport. 1:02 P.M.
Bigfoot's new crew had just come on. There were five of them, two short of a full complement. They'd stay through the rest of the day, and ride up to orbit on the last flight. He made it a point to thank everyone on the outgoing watch and wish them well.
He was out on the bay floor helping set up for the next refueling operation when the radio operator reached him. "Tony wants to talk to you, Bigfoot."
The Micro was on its way down, having completed a rendezvous with Rome. It was noisy in the bay so he walked into one of the offices to take the call.
"Yes, Tony, what can we do for you?"
"Bigfoot, I think we can get everybody off."
Bigfoot was tired of thinking about it. If they could make up a few hours somewhere it could be done. But they'd run every conceivable launch pattern in simulation, and they had the best they could get. The only other way was to try packing extra people on board the buses, which were staggering under their current loads. Chandler had ruled out going over the limits they'd set. He had no intention, he told Operations, of allowing a minor disaster to turn into a major one.
"How you going to do that, Tony?" he asked.
"My last flight lifts off tonight at seven thirty-five. I take my passengers up to the plane and deliver them. Then I'm supposed to get on the plane myself and ditch the Micro."
"Go ahead. So far, you're doing fine."
"You've got two more busloads leaving shortly after I do. And that's it. But I can get back to Moonbase by ten-ten. Give or take. That's twenty-five minutes before impact. If we cut the usual routine to bare bones, we can get the vice president and the rest of them on board and skedaddle. We bypass all the usual procedures. Don't close the roof to refuel. Instead, put somebody in a p-suit to handle it. Have the passengers ready to go. We can be out in twenty minutes."
"Five minutes ahead of the event. That's good. And where would you take them? The plane will be gone."
"Anyplace is better than here."
"Whom do you suggest I ask to hang around to fill your tanks?"
There was a long, uncomfortable silence at the other end. Then Bigfoot sighed. "I'll see what I can do," he said. Moonbase Commcenter. 1:21 P.M.
Andrea was the last of the nonsupervisory personnel to be relieved. She hurried back to her quarters, where her bags waited beside the bunk. They weren't going anywhere. No luggage other than light carry-ons was allowed on the flight. But she'd packed anyway. Just in case.
She opened one and took a zero-gravity coffee mug out of it. It carried the Ranger logo: a full Moon resplendent on a windblown U.S. flag. She pushed it into her pocket.
The apartment was cramped and not much to look at, but she felt as if she'd lived here a long time. It housed a lot of good memories. And a few not so good: a failed romance and some lonely evenings. Nothing earth-shat
tering. It had been home for much of her adult life, and she was going to miss it.
She stood on the threshold making one last survey. A peculiar feeling came over her that she'd been through this before and that she'd be back to do it again. In this life or in another.
An hour later she boarded a crowded moonbus. Her fellow passengers were subdued. They were all MBI employees, like herself. The dependents, visitors, consultants, and assorted VIPs were long gone. She settled into her seat and drew the harness around her. She realized she was glad to be leaving, not only for the obvious reason that the comet was coming, but because Moonbase suddenly seemed alien, unquiet.
It was an impression that had been growing, fostered probably by the increasingly empty malls and walkways and the closed shops and whispered conversations. During the few days since the crisis had begun, she'd been constantly in other people's company. But almost all her friends were gone now, either already in orbit, or well on their way to Skyport. She looked around the bus and saw Eleanor Kile, who'd stayed with her to work the last shift. Eleanor smiled. She looked scared.
"Ladies and gentlemen." The pilot's voice crackled over the intercom. "We'll be departing within five minutes. The ride up to the plane will be brief, not quite two hours. Once there, we'll transfer through the same door by which you entered the spacecraft. The plane will leave orbit at nine-thirty this evening. My copilot and I will be with you on that flight, and we're looking forward to a spectacular show.
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