Footfall

Jenny went out again. A few minutes later, the rush began.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States ,” Jack Clybourne announced formally.

He does that well, Jenny thought. And it’s needed, a formality to remind us that what we’re doing is important, that this is the real thing.

President Coffey took his place at the table. He noticed the flags and acknowledged Jenny with a nod. Then he nodded to the Chief of Staff. “Jim—”

“Yes, sir.” Frantz indicated the Xeroxed agenda sheets. “As you can see, we have a lot to cover.

“Item One. Appointments. The President has appointed Admiral Thorwald Carrell as Secretary of Defense. Mr. Griffin, who formerly held that post, will become Under Secretary, and remain with the Vice President. Admiral Carrell will also retain the post of National Security Advisor. Lieutenant General Harvey Toland is promoted to General of the Army, and has been designated Commanding General of the United States Aimed Forces.

“The Vice President, the rest of the Cabinet, and a number of congressional leaders will remain in the alternate command post,” Frantz continued. “For the moment, the Congress is represented by the Speaker and the President Pro Tern of the Senate. Mr. Speaker.”

Joe Dayton stood. “Mr. President, this is Mrs. Carlotta Dawson. Being that Congressman Dawson is missing, we’ve asked Mrs. Dawson to take his place. Sort of represent him. It’s not strictly constitutional, but nothing’s very normal just now.”

The President nodded wearily. “Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mrs. Dawson, welcome aboard. We all pray for your husband’s safe return.”

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

“There’s another reason for Mrs. Dawson to be here,” Speaker Dayton said. “She’s brought in our first by God captive Invader!”

And that got a reaction! Jenny almost laughed, but she managed to control her face. What if I’d brought Harry Redd to this Cabinet meeting!

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker,” Jim Frantz said. “To return to the agenda. Our first item of business. The Secretary of Defense.”

Admiral Carrell didn’t stand. “There’s little to say. Early this morning we launched a non-nuclear attack employing three Regular Army armored divisions, supported by a number of National Guard units and all the military aircraft we could muster. As you all know, they were utterly defeated.”

There were murmurs, but no one said anything.

“The enemy used a variety of advanced weapons,” Carrell continued. “The most important were lasers, ground-based and orbital, and space-based kinetic energy weapons. Flying spears, if you prefer to think of them that way. They seek out and destroy armored vehicles.

“The lasers intercept our missiles. They also backtrack and home in on missile launch sites and artillery. The ground-based laser weapons are radar directed and sufficiently powerful to punch their way through cloud cover. The result was not merely the defeat of our forces but their near annihilation. Major Crichton has recently visited the headquarters of Third Army. Major, how would you describe what you saw?”

“Sir, it was a disaster area,” Jenny said. “1 found only one General officer. The rest were killed or missing. The MASH was overfilled, and the only vehicles were commandeered civilian machines, or the very few that hadn’t been committed to the attack.”

“Thank you,” Carrell said evenly. “Was it your opinion that the attacking forces gave it their best?”

“God, yes, Admiral. We could give out a hundred posthumous Silver Stars without even trying.”

“You agree, General Toland?” Carrell asked.

“Yes, sir. We took our best shot.”

“That concludes my report, Mr. President.”

There was stunned silence.

“Jesus,” the Speaker said. “Admiral, General Toland, what did we do to the enemy?”

“Mr. Speaker, I don’t know,” Admiral Carrell said. “To the best of my knowledge, very little.”

“They whupped us,” Dayton said in his careful drawl.

“Yes, sir. They whupped us.”

“So what do we do now?” the Speaker demanded.

“Use nukes,” General Toland said.

“That’s what we’re here to decide,” the President said.

“You can’t mike Kansas!” Senator Can was adamant. “No way!”

“We don’t have any choice,” General Toland said.

“Choice be damned!” Can shouted.

“Gentlemen,” Jim Frantz said.

“Senator, I agree it’s an extreme measure,” the President said. “But what else can we do? The aliens must be driven off this planet!”

“At the expense of my people—”

“Senator, we aren’t saving the people of Kansas by doing nothing. The invaders are slaughtering them. Major Crichton, you were there. Describe what you saw.”

“Yes, sir. Sergeant—”

Sergeant Malley turned on the slide projector. Photographs of a pile of bodies, at least fifty, covered one wall of the room. There were gasps.

“We took these pictures in Lauren , Kansas . Much of the slaughter was witnessed by Mr. Nat Reynolds, a member of our special advisory staff. Mr. Reynolds will answer questions later.