Tory had a link open to the AstroLab and she heard their applause. "Bye-bye, baby," said a delighted female voice. AstroLab. 8:58 A.M.

Feinberg was constitutionally unable to celebrate. He was by nature reticent, reserved, reclusive. For him, the local Wal-Mart was more remote than Cygnus X-l. Years before, Feinberg had had the good fortune to be at Palomar when Supernova 2017A exploded in the Lagoon Nebula, NGC6523. The Lagoon is in Sagittarius, less than five thousand light-years away. It had been so far the astrophysical event of the century. But while his colleagues celebrated, Feinberg had been forced to pretend. He understood his own personality well enough; he knew that he'd never learned to enjoy himself. Even this morning, when (at least in his own mind) he'd intervened to save the president from a potentially disastrous decision, it would not have been his nature to take several of his colleagues out for a round of eggs and pancakes, and relish the moment.

Instead, when the dust settled, he simply went home.

He'd been up for the better part of five consecutive days, and he was exhausted. The sky was finally growing clear, and he didn't see that he could do any more. Cynthia Murray, his number two, would track the Possum, and when she knew what it was going to do, she'd call him.

Outside, the trees were full of birds and it was as if nothing had happened.

MEET THE PRESS, SPECIAL EDITION. 9:00 A.M.

In Atlanta with Judy Almayer, New York Times; Fred Chiles, Boston Globe; Karl Nishamura, Los Angeles Online; and moderator Pierce Benjamin, NBC News; with special guest Julian Moore, director of the Minority Alliance. NBC: Dr. Moore, your organization issued a demand an hour ago calling for the dissolution of the presidency and its replacement by a rotating executive council, subject to a parliamentary system providing quick recall. Moore: That's correct. And it isn't a position we've adopted lightly. NBC: What precisely do you propose? That we junk the Constitution? Moore: It's a rich man's constitution, Mr. Benjamin. Devised by the rich, for the rich. N. Y. Times: But wouldn't that be shooting yourself in the hot? After all, if you eliminate the Constitution, what's left to protect ordinary people? The people you claim to represent? Moore: The Constitution, I'm sorry to say, has always been an instrument of evasion. People who've been oppressed have to get on their feet and demand their rights. Boston Globe: But doesn't the Constitution provide the only real protection for those rights? To what other human document would you appeal? Moore: Maybe we need to write one. I'd remind you, Mr. Chiles, that the Constitution coexisted quite happily with slavery. Until the slaves just decided they weren't going to take it any more. L.A. Online: But the Constitution was the lever with which Lincoln worked. Moore: That's standard schoolboy history. The Union Army was the lever, and the spine of the Union Army, after 1863, was its black troops. NBC: Hold on a minute. Let's not wander off into a side street. Dr. Moore, if you abolished the present government, with what would you replace it? Moore: To begin with, we need an executive council that would be representative of all the people, not just the white majority. L.A. Online: But President Kolladner was an African-American. Surely- Moore: And he objected to the term. He didn't approve of hyphens, you remember. He claimed to be simply an American. The truth is, he was a lackey. I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but he was ashamed of his heritage. He was a classic Uncle Tom. N. Y. Times: Dr. Moore, the Minority Alliance has always been a reasonably conservative group in the past. You've been reasonably conservative. Tell us why the change in course. Moore: The poor people of this nation were left to die last night. When that happened, revolution became as inevitable as the sunrise. N. Y. Times: But there's no evidence it was deliberate. People of all socioeconomic groups died in large numbers last night. LA. Online: You're obviously dissatisfied with Kolladner. Who do you think could have done better? Moore: I can think of no one who could have done worse. Moreover, when white America goes looking for a scapegoat, they won't forget that Henry Kolladner was a black man. Look, God only knows how many people have died during the last twelve hours. Are still dying. Millions. Mr. Nishamura, you don't even have a city to go back to. LA Online: Nobody could have done anything to save the city. The waves killed LA. Period. Where would you have put the Los Angeles population with a few days' notice? Moore: I damned well wouldn't have left them at Gage Avenue and Avalon to be drowned. Listen: When we're finished counting our dead, we're going to discover there are upward of twenty million of them. Most will be people from the inner cities. Once again, the black man pays the bill for this country. Well, this is it. No more. NBC: You don't really expect the Congress to cave in to this demand, do you? Moore: They will if they want to save the nation. NBC: That sounds like an ultimatum. Moore: It's not, Mr. Pierce. It's a strong suggestion. The Alliance does not want to bring down the country. We really don't. But the survival of this nation is essential to our finding a way to lead people, especially black people, out of poverty. What we are saying to the Congress, and to the new president, is this: The old system doesn't work for us. It's time for radical surgery. I hope they'll see the wisdom of our suggestion. If not, then I have no doubt blood will run in the streets. Boston Globe: Dr. Moore, you must realize you're inciting rebellion. Moore: No such thing. I'm hoping to head it off.

6.

Percival Lowell Flight Deck. 9:11 A.M.

Rachel completed her final check and switched over to internal power. Cochran, at the navigation plot, gave her a thumbs-up. Exit protocols locked.

"Lowell," said a voice in her earphones, "you are go for launch."

"Launch" from Skyport meant that the magnetic couplings would release the ship, and four sets of piston clusters would ease her out of her bay and give her a gentle push away from the orbiter. At about the same time, Rachel would fire up the engine and adjust attitude. She'd move out to six kilometers, rotate to her heading, and begin to accelerate.

It had not been an easy morning. Everyone at Skyport, it seemed, wanted to be on board Lowell when she made her rendezvous with the Micro. The phones had rung constantly. People identifying themselves as engineers and communications specialists and every sort of professional in the book thought it would be a good idea if they were present in case of one emergency or another. The truth was, of course, they wanted to meet the new president. There had even been a couple of station bureaucrats who tried to suggest that a high-ranking Skyport representative should be present.

In fact, the only crew she needed was Lee Cochran. She was sorry, she explained patiently time and again, but anyone else would only be taking up space. And, more important, air. They would be at eight people for the return trip, which was already thirty-three percent over life-support design capacity. When some persisted, she simply explained it was against the rules. Even the most determined seemed to understand that.

Belle sent a physician. Just in case. The head man had been on leave when the emergency broke out, so the assignment went to the station's assistant chief medical officer, Dr. Arthur Elkhart. He came from the shy end of the bureaucratic spectrum. He was clearly unnerved at the possibility of acquiring a presidential patient, and would have preferred to stay home. But his position didn't allow it. Still, when Belle was gone, he openly admitted his jitters to Rachel and thereby won her respect. He was middle-aged, prematurely gray, built low to the ground. "I hope they're all okay," he said.