He returned and handed Samshow the glass.

“None,” Post said. Samshow agreed with a small nod.

“Maybe there’s no consensus, but nobody doubts that something’s there,” Kemp said.

“Are you convinced your meteor sighting and the seismic traces are connected?” Arthur asked Samshow.

“I suppose I am,” Samshow replied. “The South American traces we predicted did occur.”

“And the object is still making noise.”

“I talked with my company stations in Manila and Adak this morning,” Kemp said. “Still grumbling like an old bear.”

“Are the sounds weakening at all?”

“We think so. Our measurements aren’t so precise we can be sure at the moment.”

Post removed an electronic notepad from his pocket. “That’s probably deceleration because of drag.”

“And the second object…?” Arthur prodded.

Somebody knocked at the door. “That’s Sand, probably,” Samshow said. Post got up to open the door.

Sand came in clutching a thick bunch of computer printouts. “Naval Ocean Systems just came through. I pulled these off the conference printer after setting up a data link.” He spread the sheets out on the table. “There’s half a dozen folks downstairs who can’t wait to look these over, but since Mr. Gordon made the arrangements, I thought he should be the first. I’ve also got more on the oxygen figures, and Coomaraswami in Sri Lanka has distributed a paper on…” He pulled a stack of copies from his briefcase and handed them around the room. “On reduction of mean sea levels.”

“Jesus,” Samshow said. He took a copy and scanned it quickly. “Jesus H. Christ.”

Arthur hefted the printout and pursed his lips. “What about the second object?” he asked again.

“Actually, that’s shown…” Sand stood beside his chair and riffled through the sheets. “Right here. Wave analysis of the microseisms. There are two objects, orbiting around the center of the Earth — within the mantle and the inner and outer cores. They are slowing down at the rate of about one percent a day… and,” Sand said, almost triumphantly, “the supercomputers at UCSD have duplicated the effects using several different models. The best model requires an object less than a few centimeters wide, very long — hundreds of meters long — traveling at between two and three kilometers a second.”

“What in hell would do that?” Samshow asked.

Nobody answered.

“Eventually, because of drag the objects will settle down at the center, right next to each other, right?” Arthur asked.

“Inevitably,” Sand said.

Samshow finished his glass of water and set it on the table. He held a cube of ice in his mouth, bouncing it back and forth from the hollow of one cheek to the other with his tongue. “Would the President understand this, Mr. Gordon?” he asked.

“I don’t understand it,” Arthur replied.

“Two objects,” Samshow said, “orbiting inside the Earth, missing each other, I presume, their harmonic motions being damped until they meet at the center. What does that remind you fellows of?”

Kemp didn’t answer. Sand shrugged. Post’s expression was one of extreme puzzlement, then slow enlightenment. “A fuse,” he said. “It’s like a timer. Is that what you’re thinking?”

“I don’t know what I’m thinking. We’re all running around so fast, we’re bound to fall flat on our butts…But yes, I suppose, a fuse or a bomb comes to mind.”

“A timer powered by gravity,” Post mused. “That’s elegant.”

“So what happens when they meet?” Kemp asked. “You might get one black hole. Nothing more exciting about one black hole, compared with two…”

“If they are black holes. The computer analysis says they can’t be. They’re drawn out now, elongated like worms, and the second one is different,” Sand said. “Look at its traces. High radiation in the atmosphere. It’s making more noise than the first. And remember the sighting — it sparked like a sonofabitch when it came through the air. Walt? How did you describe the first?”

“Two long, bright flares at first. Then small, much less bright.”

Post’s hand worked restlessly with his shirt collar. “Hell, it could be a plain old meteor, too,” Arthur said. “Meteors spark. Would an amateur know the difference?”

“But what about the radiation? Every guess we make, we go out on a limb,” Sand said.

“No kidding,” Post chuckled.

Samshow leaned forward. “But let’s assume the second one was a more spectacular fall. Bigger object?”

“The traces could indicate a slightly bigger object. Or…explosive disturbances along its path?” Sand suggested.

Arthur listened, amused by the creative confusion. “What would release radiation?”

“Small black holes might,” Post said. “But they’d be considerably smaller in cross section than a few centimeters, if they massed in at only a hundred million tons. I don’t think they’d make much of a show at all. And if they’re putting out gamma rays at a high enough level to irradiate sailors dozens of kilometers away…” His face fell. “They’re not going to last very long. Besides, they can’t be black holes, remember?”

“What do you mean, about them not lasting very long?” Samshow asked.

Post made a frustrated face. “They’re not black holes. We can be pretty sure of that. But, all right, black holes put out radiation all the time. When they’re big, they’re colder than the universe around them, but they’re not at absolute zero…Still, the effect is a net intake of energy. But after tens of billions of years, or if they were created small to begin with, they become much hotter, and lose their mass much more rapidly, percentage-wise. When they drop down to about ten thousand tons of mass, they explode all at once — ten thousand tons of pure energy.” He worked quickly on his calculator. “Not enough to cause much damage if they’re deep inside the Earth, actually.”

“But what we have is a hundred million tons,” Sand said. “Or maybe twice that, if we count the second object.”

“I was getting to that,” Post said, holding up a hand. “The worst case is that the black hole, or holes, could suck up mass inside the Earth, grow, and eventually suck up all of the Earth.”

The group looked at each other, wondering how much they were willing to believe, how far out they might be willing to go.

“That wouldn’t make sense if the aliens had any intention of using the Earth’s raw material to make more spaceships,” Post said.

“What about something else, something we know nothing about?” Arthur persisted.

Samshow laughed. “You’re saying we know anything about black holes?”

More silence.

“Maybe it’s trivial,” Samshow finally said. “But I’d like to discuss this oxygen increase and decrease in mean sea level…what are the figures?”

“Oxygen level up one percent, mean sea level decreased by one centimeter. What if they’re related?”

“I’m sure we’ve all been thinking about that,” Arthur said. “Something might be dissociating seawater into hydrogen and oxygen, on a huge scale.”

“So?” Sand prompted. “Where’s the hydrogen?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Samshow said. “Just thought I’d mention it.”

Post’s frown intensified. “Very interesting,” he said.

“Has anybody got any good news?” Arthur asked. “Something to cheer us up before we go to dinner?”

Nobody did.