Impact

'That should be enough for an alien War and Peace,' Simic said dryly, loading it into the tray.

'When you send the message,' said Abbey, 'make sure it's at full power. Mars is a lot farther away than a commsat in geostationary orbit.'

'I understand,' said Simic. Her fingers rattled over the keyboard, she checked the switches and knobs on the old metal console, adjusted a few dials, then sat back. 'It's all set up.'

'Good.' Abbey took a piece of paper and scribbled two words on it. 'Here's the message.'

Simic picked it up and examined it for a long time. She raised her gray eyes and locked on Abbey's. 'Are you sure this is wise? Assuming what you say is true, this strikes me as an exceedingly dangerous, or perhaps unfortunate, message to send.'

'I have my reasons,' said Abbey.

'All right.' She swiveled around in her chair and poised her fingers over the keyboard, pausing. And then, with a nod, she typed the two-word message into the keyboard and hit return. Then she stood up, adjusted a few dials, examined an oscilloscope, and threw another switch.

'Message sent.' She leaned back in the chair.

The seconds went by. The sound of the storm filled the room. 'Well,' said Fuller, his voice laden with sarcasm, 'the phone's ringing at the other end but no one's answering.'

'Mars is ten light-minutes away,' said Abbey. 'It's going to take twenty minutes for a response.'

She found Simic looking at her curiously, and with a faint glimmer of respect.

Abbey kept her eyes on an old clock ticking away above the console. Everyone stood unmoving: her father, Jackie, Fuller. The storm shook the old dome. If anything it sounded worse, like a monster pawing and batting the dome, trying to get in. As she watched the clock sweeping around the dial, doubts came crowding back. The message was all wrong, maybe even dangerous. God knows what it might trigger. And now they would be in trouble for what would surely be described as an armed takeover of a government facility. Her father's new boat was at the bottom of the ocean and he was going to be charged as the ringleader, the man carrying the weapon--a felony. She'd ruined her life, her friend's, and her father's. For a message that wouldn't work or might have some horrible, unintended effect.

The second hand of the clock swept its way endlessly around the dial.

Maybe Jackie was right. They should have let the government take care of the problem. Ford was in Washington, no doubt straightening everything out. On top of that, the message was idiotic, the plan was too simple, it'd never work. This is some crazy-ass message, all right. What had she been thinking?

'It's been twenty minutes,' said Fuller, examining his watch. 'And E.T. ain't phoning home.'

Just then the dusty old printer began to clatter away.

98

Ford explained everything, from start to finish--except where he'd sent the hard drive. 'All of you here are treating this like a national-security emergency,' he said. 'It isn't. It's a planetary- security emergency. You need new thinking. That's why I sent the hard drive--the real one--to the press, as well as backup DVDs of the same information to a number of news outlets and organizations. You can't stop it. But you can prepare for it. I set it up so that you have about three days before the news breaks. You have seventy-two hours to prepare for it, to contact heads of state, figure out a coherent response. Yes, the world will panic. You're going to need that panic. Nothing big ever gets done except in crisis mode. Now you have your crisis: use it.'

The national security advisor, Manfred, rose, his face drawn, his eyes icy, his lips drawn back to expose small white teeth. 'To clarify: you distributed this classified material to the press?'

'Yes. And not just the press.'

Manfred made a sharp gesture to the two duty officers standing at the door. 'Take this man into custody. I want you to find out from him who's got the information and I want its release prevented.'

Ford looked at the president but he wasn't going to stop it. As the duty officers stepped forward, Lockwood suddenly spoke. 'I think we should discuss what Ford is saying. Don't dismiss it out of hand. We're in uncharted territory here.'

The NSA turned on him. In a cold, clipped voice, Manfred said: 'Dr. Lockwood, you of all people should understand the meaning of the word 'classified.' ' He emphasized it with a tug on the knot of his tie.

The duty officers took Ford, one by each arm. 'Come with us, sir.'

'You're falling into the old game,' said Ford quietly. 'Listen, people: the Earth is under attack. That weapon can destroy us in the blink of an eye. In three more days Deimos will be oriented to fire at us again--and this time it may be for keeps. Everyone dies. Extinction. Gone.'

'Spare us the lecture and take him out!' the NSA yelled.

Ford looked at the president, and saw with dismay that his face was a mask of vacillation. Lockwood, intimidated, had fallen silent. Nobody was going to defend him. Nobody. Still, what was done was done. In three days, the world would know.

The two officers pulled him toward the door, Manfred following. As they exited the door and passed through the cell-phone block curtain, Ford's phone began to ring.

He answered it.

'Take that away from him,' said Manfred, in the doorway.

'Sir, the phone?' asked the duty officer, holding out his hand.

'Wyman?' came the voice over the phone. 'It's Abbey. We're at the Earth Station on Crow Island. We sent a message to Deimos--and got a reply.'

'Sir, the phone, now.' The officer reached for it.

'Wait!' Ford cried, but the duty officer grabbed it, wrestled it away, shut it. The other officer shoved Ford toward the elevator.

'Wait!' Ford cried, turning to Manfred. 'They've received a message from the Deimos Machine!'

Manfred slammed the door to the Situation Room. The duty officers, now joined by several Secret Service agents, dragged Ford toward the elevator.

'You're making a grave mistake,' Ford began, but realized from their stolid faces that any talk was hopeless.

The elevator door opened and he was manhandled inside. It rose to the State Floor and then they led him out, through the entrance hall, and outside, where a Paddy Wagon was waiting for him. At that moment one of the Secret Service officers paused, touched his earpiece, and listened.

Then he turned to Ford, face as imperturbable as ever.

'They want you back upstairs, sir.'

_______

Back in the meeting, the president was standing at the end of the table, Manfred next to him, his face almost purple with rage.

'What's this about a message? I want to know what the hell you were talking about.'

'It seems,' said Ford, 'my assistant sent a message to the alien machine on Deimos and received a reply.'

'How?'

'Using the Earth Station in Muscongus Bay, the one on Crow Island.'