Footfall

Coffey laughed. “That’s one way to look at it. My God, when I think of what I had to do to get this job! Mr.—”

“Reynolds. Nat Reynolds.”

“Nat, I ought to come down here more often, only I don’t suppose I can.”

“Why?”

“Mr. Clybourne. I’ve sent him off on an errand, but he’ll be back.”

“So you ignore him,” Reynolds said.

“I can’t do that. He’s doing his job, the best he can-and maybe one day I really will need him.”

You might at that, Reynolds thought. “If you’re done warming that mug—”

Things got a little hazy thereafter. Nat remembered making another batch of daquiris. Harpanet cut the melon, but he was fairly clumsy at it. He did none of the drinking. The fithp didn’t use alcohol.

“There’s plenty we can do. Elephant guns. We should be producing them as fast as we can. Who makes elephant guns?”

“There are people I can ask,” said the President. “The British? They made a big double-barreled rifle, a ‘Nitro Express’—”

“Round up all you can find,” Reynolds said. “Send ’em to Africa. Somebody there can use them.” He laughed. “It worries me to excess, there may be a young Zulu warrior somewhere who doesn’t have an elephant gun.”

“Are your stories that bloody too? Ah, I’ve got something. Harpanet, are you willing to speak to your ship?”

“I am. They will take it that I am speaking for your fithp.”

“I know, but you can at least tell them that you were allowed to surrender. They may be afraid to try by now.”

“Good,” said Nat. “Now, Dawson’s sign of the friendly fithp the ‘Don’t Bomb Me’—”

“Yeah,” said the President. “Is it possible they want that sign so they’ll know where our food sources are? So they can bomb them?”

Harpanet reared; displaced mud made a godawful sucking sound. “They would not. Bomb the local-surrender sign? They would not!”

“All right,” Coffey said mildly.

“By the same token, we use it only where appropriate.” Reynolds thought, If it isn’t on the Bellingham greenhouse, they’ll notice. If the sign is too big, they’ll notice. I can’t say any of that where Harpanet can hear. At that moment the President winked at him.

Reynolds looked at the foaming glass and shuddered. “What’s that?”

“One of the last Alka-Seltzer in existence, you ungrateful bastard,” Joe Ransom said. “And Wade found you a vitamin B!. Here.”

“Bless you.” Reynolds washed the tablet down. “I think it was worth it. Even at worst, he needed to get drunk. Did I save civilization? I can’t quite remember.”

“Yeah. We watched you from the TV in the lounge. You got him thinking about the long run. We think you put some iron in his spine.”

“I hope so.” Nat moved gingerly down the hall toward his room. Then he stopped. “It shook up Harpanet a bit. He told me he’d never had a conversation with his herdmaster. Much less an argument.”

“He’ll get over it. Now he thinks you’re more important than he thought.” Ransom glanced at his watch. “My turn, I guess. You know something? I hate mud. Why couldn’t they like swimming in something sensible, like lime Jell-O?”

33. ARCHANGEL

“Did you have a good flight?” The President didn’t wait for an answer. “What did you learn?”

“They’re in good shape, sir,” Je

“Good.” David Coffey rubbed his hands briskly together. “The sooner the better. Jack, how’s the security situation?”

“Better now that I was there,” Clybourne said. “There was a bit of a problem with the local sheriff, but we fixed that. He’ll cooperate now.”

He sure will, Je

“We’ve laid it all out,” Jack said. “Like an onion. Highway patrolmen, only they’re Marines. No CB radios except ours, with Army intelligence people simulating CB chatter.”

“I expect you had your work cut out, rounding up all the CBs,” the President said.

“Yes, sir,” Jack said. “There was one place full of survivalists, mostly from Los Angeles of all places—”

“Los Angeles is in pretty good shape,” the President said.

“Yes, sir, but they can’t get back there. Anyway, they had a dozen radios. We got them all. They sure didn’t like giving them up.”

“Sure you got them all?”

“Yes, sir.”

“General Gillespie has put together a weapons team,” Je

“Good choice. They’ve been useful here.”

“Yes, sir. Anyway, they’ve invented a lot of weapons. Stovepipes. They take one of the main guns off a Navy ship. Wrap a spaceship around it. Not a lot of ship, just enough to steer it. Add an automatic loader and nuclear weapons for shells. Steer it with TV.”

“Jeez. Who’d fly that?”

“They’ve got volunteers.”

The President smiled broadly. “Good. Damn good. What else?”

“Sir, you won’t believe all the stuff they’re putting on that ship. Torpedoes with H-bombs. Ca

“And people really will fly that,” the President said. “Damn all, we’ll beat them yet! All we have to do is hang on until it’s finished.” He glanced at his watch. “Cabinet meeting in an hour. You two have been Outside. I’ll want you there to answer questions. One thing, though, nothing about why you went north or even where you went. Most of the Cabinet doesn’t know about Michael.” The President paused. “I’m thinking about making it a total-restriction. Any who knows about Michael stays Inside. What do you think?”

Jack shrugged. “If you say so, sir—”

“I didn’t necessarily mean you two. I may have to send you up there again. But everybody else, everybody who won’t be going up north-why should they know? There were all these stories about UFOs kidnapping people—”

“That wasn’t the fithp,” Je

He laughed. “I know that. They’re not that smooth. They shouldn’t even be in space at all!” He sobered. “They evolved too fast. They’re clumsy, they’re bad at toolmaking. There are gaps in their knowledge, and we can exploit those. We’ll win, Colonel. You know, I could even begin to feel sorry for them.”

What’s got into him? Pictures flashed through Je

Je

“Item Two. The Secretary of Commerce,” Jim Frantz said.

Co

“First the good news. A lot of greenhouses are going up. Crops are being planted in backyards, on school playgrounds, golf courses, lawns of public buildings-nearly everywhere. Given any luck at all, we won’t have people starving.