Charles Sheffield - Aftermath

The head of the group of waiters at last stepped back and cocked his head at Saul. “Mr. President?”

Saul nodded. “That’s wonderful. Thank you.”

You were polite to and praised strangers, but you told a staff member whom you really liked to use her brain and think.

“I’m sorry, Yasmin,” he said as soon as the servers had left the room. “ Really sorry for what I said. It’s no excuse, but all the frustrations of the day came out at you.” He waved to the food. “Help yourself. Eat.”

“I can’t.” She swallowed. “Not yet. You—”

He waited, pouring and drinking wine that he did not want. ’

“You didn’t know?” she said at last.

“I didn’t know. I don’t know now.”

“Then why did you come here?”

Saul poured wine for both of them and served soup into Yasmin’s bowl. He coaxed her to eat.

If the staff wanted to see something, they ought to have stayed for this. President turns headwaiter and wet nurse.

When she took a first spoonful he said, “I came here for two reasons, one professional and one very personal. You may find the first hard to understand, but I have more trouble with the second. To begin with, from February 9 until this evening I had not been out of the White House for more than a few minutes at a time.”

“But that’s because everyone comes to see you, to save your time. And you were receiving plenty of reports. I know, because Auden Travis and I brought them to you.”

“You certainly did.” Saul gave up on the wine, too sweet for his taste. Yasmin was drinking it much too fast. “Which reminds me. I’m not trying to change the subject, but what happened between the two of you just before you left?”

“Oh.” Yasmin pushed out her bottom lip. “We had a bit of a fight.”

“I could guess that. About?”

“Well, it began when he learned of your authorization for me to travel to the syncope facility. I wouldn’t — couldn’t — tell him why I was going. I said it was no business of his. So he started making guesses. I didn’t respond, and he became upset because he thought you were sending me on some special secret mission. I told him that wasn’t true. He didn’t believe me. He accused me of having an unfair advantage dealing with you because I’m a woman. I told him it wasn’t my choice, Nature did that.”

“That’s all you said to him?”

“Well, no. I kind of told him—”

“Kind of? I’d rather hear it exactly.”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t rather say it.” When Saul remained silent, she went on, “All right. I told him that he’d fuck you himself if he had half a chance. I knew the cussing would annoy him as much as the thought — especially since it’s true. He got madder than ever.”

Saul shook his head in disbelief. “What did you expect? That after he heard that he would back down and apologize?”

“I wasn’t thinking. Especially after he told me that I now occupied the most senior position I would ever have in my whole life, because I’d used up all the black-Hispanic-woman cards.”

“And you of course, to avoid further argument, agreed.”

“No, sir.” Yasmin emptied half a glass of wine in one gulp and poured herself more. “I told him that I would go a damn sight farther than he ever would, and I didn’t see why I couldn’t be President someday.” Her nostrils flared, and emotion thickened the air between them like hot, strong syrup. “I’m going to be the first female President, I told him, the way Saul Steinmetz is the first Jewish President. And to get there I’m going to jiggle and wiggle my sexy black-Hispanic-woman’s ass any way I have to, with anybody I feel like. A damn sight more men will chase me, I said, than will ever go after you, Auden Travis. You should have seen his face when I told him that. He’d have murdered me on the spot if he could.” She looked up at Saul, who was sitting with head bowed. “I’m sorry, sir. I’m not suggesting that I really do — well, you know. I was just mad at him. But you did ask for it exactly.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“What happens now, sir?”

“Now I’m thinking that alcohol is not a traditional Jewish vice, but maybe I ought to give the wine another try.” Saul raised his head, and their eyes locked. “Actually, I’m thinking that in a couple of days, you and Auden Travis will have to work together again — or one of you will be leaving. Maybe both of you. Do you want that?”

“No, sir.” Her voice was a whisper. “I don’t. I really don’t.”

“I thought not.”

“I love my job with you.”

“So there will have to be apologies, won’t there? On both sides.”

“Yes, sir.” Her face was pale. “There will be apologies.”

“Very good.” Saul stabbed savagely at a piece of fish with his fork. “I know this was hard on you, Yasmin; but it was necessary. There’s nothing wrong with ambition, but I insist on civility between members of my personal staff. Otherwise working together is impossible. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right. End of that subject. Let’s return to our previous topic.” From the miserable expression on her face, he was not sure that she remembered what it had been. He prompted: “I’ve been confined to the White House. I receive a ton of reports every day. And everything that I hear or see has been filtered.”

That got through. She sat upright in her chair. “Not by me, sir.”

“By you, and by everybody else. This isn’t just Saul Steinmetz complaining. The same thing happens to every President. People tell a chief executive what they think he wants to hear. Rosy economic reports, high popularity figures, promising international changes, you name it. There’s a competition to be the first with good news. Anyone who tells bad news tends to get weeded out — even if all the real news is bad.”

“I don’t hide bad news from you, sir.”

“You try not to. And I love you for it.” Saul wondered about that choice of verb, but Yasmin perked up visibly. Anyway, it was too late to change what he had said, and he went on, “I need inputs that tell it straight. Before the gamma pulse, I thought I had a way through the shield of people around me. My office was wired for direct data feeds. I could switch from space cameras to farm country to undersea to almost every state and city in the world. When I lost that service I felt I’d been blinded. Until it comes back there’s only one answer: I have to get outside the White House and see for myself. Inspecting places like this is important. And I need help — I can’t be everywhere. I’ll give you just one example. The Q-5 is listed as a ’small’ facility for extended syncope, but over eleven thousand prisoners are there — including murderers, human monsters, and a number of the country’s most dangerous convicted terrorists. I have seen not one word about the condition of Q-5 in any report. When you go there to find your brother, I want you to keep your eyes open and give me a briefing when you get back to Washington. Something is happening at Q-5, but I don’t trust my military advisers to understand what. They see everything through their own filters.”

“I’ll do my best. It will be difficult with Raymond to worry about, but I’ll try to be objective.”

Saul nodded and became quiet. He remained that way for a long time, slowly eating. So long that at last Yasmin, restored by wine, time, and silence to some of her natural sassiness, felt curious enough to prompt him.

“Sir?”

Saul looked up at her. She smiled, a warm but tentative smile.

“You said you had another reason for coming here to see me, sir. A personal reason. If you would like to tell me about that, I’d very much like to listen.”