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Mike during the wrangle over chemical warfare was because I knew that if we set that monster loose we'd never get anyone to trust us when it came to medicine. Nobody in their right mind goes to a poisoner for remedies.'

He lifted his clasped hands and thumped them on the table. Not angrily, so much as forcefully. 'Who cares, goddammit, if we give up enough existing antibiotic to treat a few thousand people? If an epidemic hits the U.S., we'll run through that much antibiotic inside of a week. And then what?' He shook his head. 'It's penny-wise and pound-foolish. We'll keep making the stuff, of course, and rebuild the stockpile. But it's way better for us, right now, to send what we've already got on hand to Luebeck and Amsterdam. Why? Because-are you listening, Underwood?-think what's going to happen there this winter. In a siege, rampant disease is a given. It's a fact of life. Everybody in this day and age knows it perfectly well. Right?'

Several people nodded. James smiled coldly. 'Okay, then. Think what happens-what people all over Europe think-when they see Spanish besiegers dying in droves… and Dutchmen in Amsterdam surviving. When they see Danish and French soldiers being shoveled into mass graves outside of Luebeck-and Swedish and German troops surviving inside the city. Because of what we sent them.'

He opened his clasped hands and spread them wide on the table. 'Sure, Europe's princes don't give a damn-well, most of them-what happens to their commoners. But they do give a damn about their wars. Show them-in as graphic a way as possible-how a war can be impacted by modern sanitary practices, prophylaxis and medical treatment…'

Mike was watching Underwood. Still, the man didn't understand. He never would, Mike realized. It was odd, really, how a man so very intelligent could be so blind. Could see 'victory' only in terms of scoring points in a game. As if politics were a game to be won in the first place, instead of-what it should be, at least-the methods by which a civilization governs all 'games' in the first place.

He decided he'd try one last time. 'Quentin,' he said softly, 'I don't care who ends the danger of epidemic. I don't care if it's done by us-or by some French cardinal trying to beat us, or an ally emulating us, or just some Italian city council trying to keep their tax base intact. As long as it gets done.' He breathed in; out. 'Just like I don't care how freedom of religion gets established all across Europe. If Wentworth and Richelieu start implementing it to fight us, then as far as I'm concerned the whole basis of the 'game' has been shifted in the direction I want it. We aren't scoring points here, for the love of God. You score points with a ball. Not with peoples' lives.'

Silence fell on the room. After a few seconds, Mike said: 'The decision's mine, of course, in the end. But I'd like a formal vote of the cabinet. All in favor of my proposal to send our existing stock of chloramphenicol and most of our sulfa drugs to Luebeck and Amsterdam, along with as much DDT as we can manage, raise your hands.'

Nichols' hand was up before he'd finished speaking. Ed Piazza's and Willy Ray Hudson's hands came up almost as fast. Within five seconds, the hand of every member of the cabinet was raised.

Except Quentin Underwood's. He looked around the room, shook his head, and said quietly: 'Sorry, folks. I can't see it. That stuff belongs to us. We made it. We should keep it here for our own people. I just don't understand how anyone can see it any other way.'

Then he rose and left the room.

'So when'd he resign?' asked Frank.

'Not long after. The cabinet broke up within a half hour. He came in maybe half an hour after that and-' Mike nodded toward the letter.

Frank thought about it for a bit. 'Well… Personally speaking, I'm tempted to jump for joy. He's been a pain in the ass to deal with for months, now, and it seems like it's been getting worse all the time. Kinda strange, really. I'd have thought he'd have put old quarrels behind him.'

Mike shook his head. 'This isn't an 'old quarrel,' Frank. It's got nothing to do with the fact that he used to be the manager of our mine and we used to be the officers in charge of the union. Quentin's narrow-minded, yeah, but he's not that narrow-minded.' Shrugging: 'It's just the way the world works. When it comes to politics, anyway. Given XYZ set of circumstances, some people are going to argue one side, somebody else the other. Change the circumstances a bit-WXY-and the alignment changes. Some, anyway.'

He chuckled, a bit ruefully. 'Would you believe that under these circumstances, I'm starting to warm up to John Chandler Simpson?'

Frank made a face. Mike laughed. 'C'mon, Frank! The man's not a devil. Neither one of us thought that even when he was at his worst. What he was, in those days, was an arrogant and take-charge kind of guy who, faced with a crisis, tried to drive through what he thought was the safe alternative. Too sure of himself-too obsessed with his own position, also-to consider the long-term risks.'

'So? How's anything changed? According to James, anyway-and it sounds like you agree with him-we're facing the same choice now. Always have been.'

'Don't oversimplify. Broadly speaking, yes. In detail, it's a lot different.' Mike levered himself up from his relaxed slouch. 'Right now, John Chandler Simpson has two big advantages Quentin Underwood doesn't. And I think-not sure yet-I just handed him a third.'

Frank cocked an eye. Smiling, Mike continued. 'The first advantage he's got is that he's already taken a big set of lumps from me. False modesty aside, I give pretty big lumps in the political arena. Quentin hasn't. Yet.'

Frank's shoulder heaved a little with amusement. 'You figuring you will?'

'Pretty soon. Not right away. First thing Quentin will do is go talk to Wilhelm Saxe-Weimar about forging a united opposition. Let's call it a 'conservative' opposition. Wilhelm will agree, of course-he's a very sharp cookie-without letting Quentin understand exactly what the problems are. Which won't be hard, since it'll never occur to Quentin to consider that the term 'conservative' covers a lot of ground. Cats and dogs are both conservative too, y'know-I've raised 'em, so have you, and if you don't believe me try changing their routine-but that doesn't mean they necessarily get along or have the same attitudes and personalities.'

Seeing Frank's little frown of incomprehension, Mike waggled his fingers. 'I'll get to that in a minute. The second advantage Simpson has over Quentin, now that he's gotten the stuffing knocked out of him-enough of it, at least-is that he has an intrinsically wider view of the world to begin with.'

' 'Intrinsically,' ' Frank muttered. 'Dammit, ever since you married Becky you've been starting to talk like a city boy.'

Mike grinned. 'You shoulda heard the way I talked those years I lived in Los Angeles. I mean, like, man, when in Rome kick back like the Romans do.'

Frank chuckled. 'All right, all right. And your point is?'

'What's so complicated about it? Quentin was born and raised in West Virginia, spent his whole life here. There, I should say. Started in the mines right out of high school, picked up an education at college while he was working, wound up the manager. He's not exactly what you'd call a 'hick,' but sure as hell a country cousin.'

'Hey!' protested Frank. 'The same's true for me. You too, for that matter, leaving aside those three years you spent in La-la-land.'

'Not the same thing, Frank,' replied Mike, shrugging. 'The problem with Quentin is that his mind never left the place. Yeah, sure-you and me were coal miners. But did you take the job home with you?'

'Fuck no,' snorted Frank. 'Washed it off with the coal dust, fast as I could.'

'Exactly. Whereas Quentin…' Mike shook his head. 'He spent an entire adult lifetime thinking about not much else beyond his job and getting ahead. I used to wonder, sometimes, how he ever found time to get Roslyn to marry him, much less raise his kids.'

Mike spread his hands. 'And that's… still pretty much his world, Frank. Put a problem-especially a technical or managerial one-right in front of his nose, Quentin will do fine. Do very well indeed, more often than not. That's why he was so good-and he was, let's not deny it-in the first stretch after the Ring of Fire. But try to get him to consider the world beyond the little hills and hollers of his view of it, once things start getting complicated and confusing…' Mike shook his head.

'Can't be done. God knows, I've tried, these last two years. Simpson, on the other hand-to get back to the subject-is a different breed altogether. Give the man some credit, Frank. Yeah, in a lot of ways he's narrow-minded. It might be better to say, a narrow kind of man. But he's no hick, that's for sure. He's been all over the world-and not just as a tourist-he's run a major petrochemical corporation, been a naval officer, rubbed shoulders with generals and admirals and politicians in Washington D.C.-and-'

Mike's grin was very wide. 'Is married to a woman from old Eastern money who is a genuine connoisseur of the arts, a former wheeler-dealer in very high social circles, and happens to speak fluent French. Pretty decent Italian, too, Tom tells me.'

'I don't-'

'Figure it out, Frank. Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar will launch his kind of political party. One that not only suits him but can appeal to a broad range of people in the United States-a lot of whom find me pretty scary. A lot, Frank. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking it's just a handful of sour-grapes noblemen and those bigoted goofs who hang out at the Club 250. All the way from old widows worrying that I'll remove their rent income because it derives from some kind of old medieval land tenure, to religious fanatics or just people who really believe in witchcraft, you name it. But most of them are German, and so they'll be thinking in their own terms. Wilhelm knows that. So he'll put together a party based on a platform which can 'bridge' the gap. Draw mass support from Germans but be acceptable-enough, at least-to a lot of Americans.'

Mike shrugged. 'It'll be 'conservative,' sure, but his definition of the term. Not Quentin's. I'm not sure yet, but I think Wilhelm will base most of his program on the theories of the cameralists, who've been the rising new reform movement here in Germany for quite some time. Interesting stuff, actually. Becky's uncle Uriel is quite a fan of the cameralists, in a lot of ways, and I've been talking to him about them over the past few months. Then Wilhelm will graft onto it, probably, a hefty dose of stuff from the Anglo-American political tradition back in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Edmund Burke, for sure-and you might be surprised how conservative a lot of the Founding Fathers were. They didn't all see eye to eye with Tom Paine and Sam Adams.'

Frank was frowning again. 'Becky is ruining you. I lost count, exactly, but I know there was more than one three-syllable word in those sentences you just rattled off. Keep it up, buddy, and I'm taking away your Caterpillar hat. Don't even think of applying to the Ancient Order of Hillbillies for a Harley-Davidson decal.'

They shared a laugh. When it was over, Mike shook his head and said cheerfully: 'The reason I'm not too worried about the political hit I'm going to take from Quentin's resignation is because I know what's going to happen. Bet you dollars for donuts. Wilhelm's going to agree to form an alliance with Quentin because Wilhelm is plenty smart enough to know that for an opposition party here in the U.S., having some well-known and respected American adherents and leaders is critical to success. A purely German-based party won't have enough credibility that it can keep the tech base up and running-and nobody who lives here, not any longer, has any doubt that's necessary. Having Quentin Underwood signed up, on the other hand, is about as gold-plated as it gets.'

'Makes sense. But I still don't understand what you're grinning about.'

'I'm grinning about what's going to happen afterwards. After Wilhelm's milked Quentin for all he's worth and then has to explain to him that the cameralist definition of 'conservative' is not 'what's good for General Motors is good for America.' ' Mike leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers across his midriff. 'The cameralists-in some ways, like the founding fathers of conservatism in our own political tradition-were basically a bunch of forward-looking