behind his desk. 'It's good to see you two again. Alex, would you like a job?' 'What did you have in mind, sir?' 'Mine.' We laughed for a moment, but the atmosphere quickly sobered. 'I imagine it's been a difficult time,' said Alex.
Kilgore smiled politely and signaled for some imkah . Then he plunged ahead. 'The goddam world's coming apart. I assume you've seen that idiot Orr. Just when we were getting everything calmed down, he jumps in. The goddam thing's all over the media. People are desperate. Alex, they're demanding to know what I'm going to do. Most of them are behaving as if it's my fault.' He caught himself and sighed. 'It probably is. But that doesn't change where we are now. It's difficult enough figuring out a rational course without trying to deal with all these distractions. I tell you, I'm tempted to resign. Step down. Let them find somebody else if they think I'm screwing it up. But a change in leadership at this point-?' He shook his head. 'If I could be sure they wouldn't put Bergen in charge, I'd probably do it-' I had no idea who Bergen was. I learned later he was the chief executive in one of the other Coalition states. 'They think I've arranged transportation for myself and my family. They think I've known about this all along. That what's going to happen is that everybody will wake up one morning and the government will simply be gone. Son of a bitch, what have I ever done to deserve that?' 'You're a politician, sir,' said DeVrio smoothly. 'It happens.' Eventually he calmed down. 'Well,' he said, 'maybe they'd like to have Cleev back.' 'So what are you going to do?' Alex asked. 'Keep moving people off-world, as best we can. Keep building shelters. Move supplies in. We're stocking everywhere. Providing manuals for people telling them how to prepare. We're building interstellars as quickly as we can. Big ones. Liners, like the Callistra . Isn't that a hoot? The biggest interstellar we've got is named after the star that blew up. 'But we have to face reality. The people who are saying we can't even begin a planetary evacuation are right. We're currently turning out star-ships at full capacity. We've asked for help from the Confederacy. Alex, we're doing everything we can.' 'But-?' 'We've done the projections. The losses will be apocalyptic.' 'How many?' The Administrator signaled DeVrio. 'We estimate,' DeVrio said, 'with reasonable help from the Confederacy, and if we can get the anticipated production from home industry, we'll be able to evacuate about six million. As to those who stay behind, they'll survive for a while. Some of them will.' He didn't seem to be focused on anyone. 'We've asked the Confederacy to send the fleet.' 'What did they say?' Kilgore got up slowly. His eyes narrowed. 'They say they can't, Alex. They say they have the goddam Mutes to deal with, and they can't leave themselves exposed.' He glanced at a picture on the wall. It was a middle-aged man standing on the capitol steps. He saw me following his eyes. 'It's Lowry,' he said. His predecessor. Died in office of a heart attack. Still a relatively young man. Kilgore smiled. 'He was lucky.' Alex cleared his throat. 'It's why you called us.' 'Yes. What sort of influence have you with the Mutes?' 'With the Mutes ? I thought you were going to ask us to try to do something on Rimway.' 'No, no, no, no.' Kilgore looked over at DeVrio. 'We have that covered. We need someone who can deal with the Ashiyyur.' He took a deep breath. 'Alex, they're so hard to stomach, there's nobody anywhere with any connections. We have no diplomatic ties. No connections whatever. The Confederacy broke relations with them a half century ago. Longer than that, really. And never restored them. We haven't done very well either. 'So there's nobody . At a time when we most need to talk to them, there's no one . Except you.' Alex grunted and shook his head. No, no. Not possible. I was shocked myself. 'I have no influence with the Ashiyyur,' he said. 'Alex.' No nonsense now. We have to make this work. 'We need you. We need to persuade them to declare, unequivocally, unilaterally, and immediately, a state of nonaggression. We want them to announce, publicly, that they will not attack Confederate worlds, or move into Confederate space, while the emergency lasts.' He took a deep breath. 'Who knows, if we can persuade them to do it, it might
even lead to a lasting peace.' I'd never seen Alex look overwhelmed before. His face had gone pale, and his lips had pulled back until I was looking at his bicuspids. 'Mr. Administrator, you're asking us to persuade whom-? I don't know any of their upper-tier people.' Kilgore showed that he understood. 'Alex. We've had no diplomatic relations with the Mutes for a century or more. And that was the Bandahriate. Which tried to rob them. But that's another story. We've traded public insults. And yes, we were responsible for some of that. Most of it unfairly, I am now learning. We've launched an investigation. It appears that the reports of Mute incursions in our space over the last few months were all concocted. By Barikay and his people.' 'Who's Barikay?' 'Wexler's boss. Now in custody and on his way to prison. As Wexler will be when we find him. But at the moment none of that matters. Look: I don't much like Mutes, and I don't know many people who do. But we need them. We need somebody to go in and pick up the pieces. That's you. Nobody else can do it. Nobody else would have a chance. At least nobody I know. So I want you to go there. Apologize to them for us. Win them over. Get the war stopped.' 'That's good,' said Alex. 'What on earth makes you think I can do anything remotely like that?' 'All right.' He looked toward me. 'The truth, Alex. I doubt you can do it. Probably nobody can. But you're our most realistic shot. You can represent us, and at the same time you can point out that you're not part of us. You share no responsibility for what we've been doing. But our world needs their help. We only ask that they make a commitment not to wage a war that they probably don't want to wage in any case. You'll be giving them an excuse to do what they want to do anyhow.' 'Mr. Administrator,' said Alex, 'even if we could get the pledge you want, the Confederacy would probably not be willing to take their word.' DeVrio said quietly, 'We think we can persuade them to go along with a pledge.' 'We hope so,' said Kilgore. 'To be honest, it's up in the air.' He waited for Alex to accept. Instead, Alex simply looked at him. 'Why?' 'Why what?' 'Why all the animosity? Toward the Ashiyyur?' 'Hell, Alex, you know what they look like. And how they get into your brain.' 'Mr. Administrator-' 'Hold it. Okay? Spare me the standard lecture on tolerance. They have the same effect on people that bugs do. You want to step on them. My God, Alex, they make your stomach churn. And that's without the mind reading. No. Look, we're never going to like them, and they're never going to like us. But we need to find a way around that. For now.' Alex remained silent. Kilgore got to his feet. 'We're doing everything we can to save the world, Alex. We need your help. Can we count on it? 'Okay.' 'You'll do it?' 'Of course.' 'Good. We owe you one.' 'I'm glad to help, Mr. Administrator.' 'Yes. Now, as I understand it, you know one of the mayors.' 'You've done your homework. But he's the mayor of a middle-sized town. He doesn't really have any influence at the top of the Assemblage.' Nobody moved for a long time. I could hear noises elsewhere in the building. Voices. A door closing. The hum of the ventilation system. Finally, Kilgore straightened. 'Well. You have a better connection than we do. And, Alex-?' 'Yes?' 'I think you're underestimating yourself.' 'I hope so. Have you cleared it with the Mutes?' 'We've informed them.' He became hesitant. 'We've made overtures in the past. So far, they've refused
to accept a diplomatic initiative. They don't like us very much.' 'So how-?' 'You and Chase will be going as private visitors. Talk to the mayor. Or however it is you communicate. Explain the problem. Giambrey will be going with you. As will Circe. She'll be the science liaison. Your job is to help get access for them. If help is required.' 'Okay.' 'We haven't time to send a request and wait for an answer.' 'I understand.' 'Good.' He pressed his fingertips against his forehead. 'I guess that's it. That's all you need to do.' 'We'll do what we can, Mr. Administrator.' 'There's one more thing you'll be interested in. We'll be announcing it tonight.' He looked from Alex to me, and there was a plea in those eyes. 'I'll confess it's an initiative I'd keep quiet if I could, but it's not possible.' He signaled Circe. Circe's somber gaze locked on Alex. 'The stakes first,' she said. 'If the evacuation plan goes smoothly, if the Confederates send their entire fleet, if private and corporate vehicles from the Confederacy arrive in the numbers we're anticipating, if our manufacturing capability runs without a hitch, and we are able to construct shelters and ships at predicted rates, and if the general population cooperates and does not become disruptive, if all these things happen, we will still lose almost two billion people.' My stomach felt cold. I looked out the window. It was a bright, cool day. Spring not far away. The sunlight drew a series of rectangles on the carpet. 'Consequently,' she said, 'we've tried to develop an alternative to evacuation and hiding out in shelters. Given adequate resources, we might be able to build a shield.' Alex's brow creased. 'A shield?' Circe nodded. 'It won't be easy, but it might be possible.' 'What kind of shield are we talking about?' 'A wall. A planetary wall that we will put between the gamma-ray burst and the world.' She saw that neither of us understood what she was talking about. 'Let me show you,' she said. She touched her link, said something to it, and the room went dark. A few stars appeared in the background. Then we were looking at an asteroid, tumbling gently through the night. A ship trailed behind it. It was an Akron Lance VK2, a vehicle used locally for tourists. As we watched, the Lance closed in on the asteroid and touched down. Minutes later, ship and asteroid began to change course. 'Those are our building blocks,' said Circe. The Lance and the asteroid shrank as we drew back. There was a second ship with a second asteroid. We watched as they adjusted the vector and velocity of the rocks. Then they released them. We followed them through deep space. Toward a long band, with tiny lights hovering
