John Barnes - Directive 51

“That’s pretty Roman,” Cam agreed.

“Well,” Weisbrod said, “what used to happen to the people close to the emperors, during the power struggles?”

Cameron said, “Hunh. Yes, I see your point. And look right here and now. In the capital city that supposedly governs the continent, three of the key powers behind the throne—who just put the fourth leader of the day on the throne, I like that touch, Graham—can’t walk home at night without an escort of armed men.”

“Interesting,” Graham said. “I had that Roman thought, the first time I can remember having it, right here on this bridge. And look around you. Doesn’t it look like the Dark Ages?”

The wind picked up, and the handful of little flames in the darkness all danced and bobbed. They were glad to get off the bridge, and back to St. Elizabeth’s, but all of them lay awake that night.

Norcross had set the meeting for 11:00 A.M. and specifically ordered them all not to schedule anything before it. He’d said he’d make sure civilization didn’t fall apart while they caught up on sleep. It seemed like a very unfortunate phrasing.

Norcross arrived at St. Elizabeth’s in a well-scrubbed biohazard Hummer, not a limo, and in a suit without a tie, “like a guy who is here to work,” Heather commented to Lenny.

The room was buzzing; when he smiled at them and said, “Thank you all for being here,” people applauded reflexively.

“Here’s my first news for you all. I’ve spent a couple of hours reviewing this operation. Plainly you’re the key to everything we’re doing. I know I said some ambiguous things about the Department of the Future on the campaign trail, but honestly, I can’t see any reason to break up a winning team at this point. By the same token, Homeland Security’s task force here has done exceptional work, and the many liaisons from other Federal departments have as well. So first off, good job, and I want you to keep doing what you’re doing.

“But there’s one big change I do have to make. I have become uncomfortably aware that there is a real possibility of a new and different kind of nuclear weapon, one we probably could not have detected even before Daybreak, which we are completely powerless to detect now, and which might be pre-emplaced anywhere the enemy could reach—the pure fusion bomb. Of course, if they do have pure fusion bombs, Washington would be Daybreak’s first and foremost likely target, and I can only guess why they have not yet hit us with it.

“Therefore, I am scattering all critical Federal operations away from Washington, to secure areas where it is less likely that there are pre-emplaced nuclear weapons, and where there are enough local resources to support the relocated Federal offices. All of that is bureaucratese for everybody’s going to military bases in the boondocks.

“I’m ordering you to move immediately—and by immediately, I mean the people who’ve been bunking here or can gather up their families fast enough will move this afternoon—to Fort Benning, Georgia. For those of you who don’t know, because the people at Benning were on their toes and worked ceaselessly, they’ve managed to keep a few transport planes running. Right now ground crews are burning scrapwood on the runways at Reagan National, and following up with caustic soda, and a boiling-water rinse; hopefully it will be as biote-free as they can make it just at the time the planes land, turn around, pick all of you up, and take off again— that fast , if we can do it, to minimize exposure time on the ground.

“I want all of you in a place that is unlikely to be destroyed; we can’t lose one of our most useful nerve centers. And the odds of our enemy—if there is one—having sneaked a weapon onto the home base of several of our elite units is much smaller than their chances of having concealed one in an open civilian city like Washington.”

He waited out the chaotic upsurge of chatter.

“Make sure you take every scrap of paper with anything important on it, and all your paper books and maps and so on. Those communication gadgets you’ve jury-rigged too, of course.

“Priority for personnel is this: First regular Federal personnel without families in the area. Then the volunteer assistants, who’ve been doing such great work here, the ones without local family first. Then families of Federal personnel from the area; then families of assistants from the area. Everyone boards at Reagan National in five hours, at four thirty. We expect most of you to walk so that the biohazard-capable vehicles can be used to move books and papers.”

“Sir?” Graham Weisbrod asked.

“Dr. Weisbrod. I don’t know if I told you officially that I de-fired you this morning, but if you’re asking, then, yes, I want you to go on this.”

“That wasn’t my question, sir. I was just going to ask why we’re not relocating the whole Federal government to secure bases. I can understand why you might send us in the first wave, but it doesn’t sound like you’re going to move yourself.”

“Excellent question.” Norcross sat down on the desk behind him and looked around. “This is an issue on which I’ve overridden many of my advisors. Here’s why I’m staying put, and so is Congress, at least for the foreseeable future.

“One, we need to have plenty of people near one of our most precious resources—the paper archive of the Library of Congress. We’ve got no way to move it before next spring at the earliest, it’s essential that we not lose all that knowledge, and it’s essential that we don’t just preserve it but use it. You realize that somewhere in there, on paper, is how to make pretty much every gadget and chemical that civilization needs? Including the ones that can be biote-resistant and nanoswarm-resistant? I’ve already got a dozen guys on their way here from JPL who will be sifting through early rocketry material, because we’ll need to be able to get things into orbit again sometime in the next few years; my science advisor tells me that it will be a lot easier to harden tube electronics against nanoswarm, and there are literally miles of shelves about tube electronics in there.

“Aside from that, you realize we could potentially have thousands of books about all of the useful arts that we can reprint and distribute? How to navigate by the stars, how they used to survey for rail lines and canals before lasers and computers, all sorts of skills we’ll need for the next century, because, ladies and gentlemen, if nobody’s told you yet or you haven’t figured it out, undoing Daybreak will be a work of generations. Knowledge is power, and that power is here , and while it is, we need to be here.

“Then there’s the psychological side. Much as I’ve always criticized relying on Washington to solve our problems, the fact is, when things get really bad, we do . It should not look like the Federal government is running away.

“And the risks may be smaller than they appear. Pure fusion bombs require fast computers and high-powered lasers. Maybe the reason no bombs went off in Washington is that the nanoswarm ate them.

“For all those reasons, I’m willing to take the chance, and take my stand right here. You might say I’m betting my life on it.

“And no, you are not going to argue with me about this one today. You can argue with me sometime next spring, when I will visit Fort Benning. Meanwhile, I have nine other stops to make today, and you need to get packing.” He nodded and smiled as they applauded, and was out the door before anyone could raise any further dissent.

“Well,” Lenny said, “at least we get one more airplane ride before the end of the world.”