Glanced at watch, saw I would have to stall. "Seattle gets one in Puget Sound right in her lap. San Francisco is going to lose two bridges she's fond of. Los Angeles gets one between Long Beach and Catalina and another a few kilometers up coast. Mexico City is inland so we put one on Popocatepetl where they can see it. Salt Lake City gets one in her lake. Denver we ignore; they can see what's happening in Colorado Springs--for we smack Cheyenne Mountain again and keep it up, just as soon as we have it in line-of-sight. Saint Louis and Kansas City get shots in their rivers and so does New Orleans--probably flood New Orleans. All Great Lake cities get it, a long list--shall I read it?"

"Later perhaps," said Prof. "Go ahead."

"Boston gets one in her harbor, New York gets one in Long Island Sound and another midway between her two biggest bridges--think it will ruin those bridges but we promise to miss them and will. Going down their east coast, we give treatment to two Delaware Bay cities, then two on Chesapeake Bay, one being of max historical and sentimental importance. Farther south we catch three more big cities with sea shots, Going inland we smack Cincinnati, Birmingham, Chattanooga, Oklahoma City, all with river shots or nearby mountains. Oh, yes, Dallas--we destroy Dallas spaceport and should catch some ships, were six there last time I checked. Won't kill any people unless they insist on standing on target; Dallas is perfect place to bomb, that spaceport is big and flat and empty, yet maybe ten million people will see us hit it."

"If you hit it," said Sheenie.

"When, not 'if.' Each shot is backed up by one an hour later. If neither one gets through, we have shots farther back which can be diverted--for example easy to shift targets among Delaware-Bay-Chesapeake-Bay group. Same for Great Lakes group. But Dallas has its own string of backups and a long one--we expect it to be heavily defended. Backups run about six hours, as long as we can see North America--and last backups can be placed anywhere on continent... since farther out a load is when we divert it, farther we can shift it."

"I don't follow that," said Brody.

"A matter of vectors, Judge. A guidance rocket can give a load so many meters per second of side vector. Longer that vector has to work, farther from original point of aim load will land. If we signal a guidance rocket three hours before impact, we displace impact three times as much as if we waited till one hour before impact. Not quite that simple but our computer can figure it--if you give it time enough."

"How long is 'time enough'?" asked Wolfgang.

I carefully misunderstood. "Computer can solve that sort of problem almost instantaneously once you program it. But such decisions are pre-programmed. Something like this: If, out of target group A, B, C, and D, you find that you have failed to hit three targets on first and second salvoes, you reposition all group-one second backups so that you will be able to choose those three targets while distributing other second backups of that group for possible use on group two while repositioning third backups of supergroup Alpha such that--"

"Slow up!" said Wolfgang. "I'm not a computer. I just want to know how long before we have to make up our minds."

"Oh." I studied watch showily. "You now have... three minutes fifty-eight seconds in which to abort leading load for Kansas City. Abort program is set up and I have my best assistant--fellow named Mike--standing by. Shall I phone him?"

Sheenie said, "For heaven's sake, Man--abort!"

"Like hell!" said Finn. "What's matter, Terence? No guts?"

Prof said, "Comrades! Please!"

I said, "Look, I take orders from head of state--Prof over there. If he wants opinions, he'll ask. No use yelling at each other." I looked at watch. "Call it two and a half minutes. More margin, of course, for other targets; Kansas City is farthest from deep water. But some Great Lake cities are already past ocean abort; Lake Superior is best we can do. Salt Lake City maybe an extra minute. Then they pile up." I waited.

"Roll call," said Prof. "To carry-out the program. General Nielsen?"

"Da!"

"Gospazha Davis?"

Wyoh caught breath. "Da."

"Judge Brody?"

"Yes, of course. Necessary."

"Wolfgang?"

"Yes."

"Comte LaJoie?"

"Da."

"Gospodin Sheehan?"

"You're missing a bet. But I'll go along. Unanimous."

"One moment. Manuel?"

"Is up to you, Prof; always has been. Voting is silly."

"I am aware that it is up to me, Gospodin Minister. Carry out bombardment to plan."

Most targets we managed to hit by second salvo though all were defended except Mexico City. Seemed likely (98.3 percent by Mike's later calculation) that interceptors were exploding by radar fusing with set distances that incorrectly estimated vulnerability of solid cylinders of rock. Only three rocks were destroyed; others were pushed off course and thereby did more harm than if not fired at.

New York was tough; Dallas turned out to be very tough. Perhaps difference lay in local control of interception, for it seemed unlikely that command post in Cheyenne Mountain was still effective. Perhaps we had not cracked their hole in the ground (don't know how deep down it was) but I'll bet that neither men nor computers were still tracking.

Dallas blew up or pushed aside first five rocks, so I told Mike to take everything he could from Cheyenne Mountain and award it to Dallas... which he was able to do two salvoes later; those two targets are less than a thousand kilometers apart.

Dallas's defenses cracked on next salvo; Mike gave their spaceport three more (already committed) then shifted back to Cheyenne Mountain--later ones had never been nudged and were still earmarked "Cheyenne Mountain." He was still giving that battered mountain cosmic love pats when America rolled down and under Terra's eastern edge.

I stayed with Mike all during bombardment, knowing it would be our toughest. As he shut down till time to dust Great China, Mike said thoughtfully, "Man, I don't think we had better hit that mountain again."

"Why not, Mike?"

"It's not there any longer."

"You might divert its backups. When do you have to decide?"

"I would put them on Albuquerque and Omaha but had best start now; tomorrow will be busy. Man my best friend, you should leave."

"Bored with me, pal?"

"In the next few hours that first ship may launch missiles. When that happens I want to shift all ballistic control to Little David's Sling--and when I do, you should be at Mare Undarum site."

"What's fretting you, Mike?"

"That boy is accurate, Man. But he's stupid. I want him supervised. Decisions may have to be made in a hurry and there isn't anyone there who can program him properly. You should be there."

"Okay if you say so, Mike. But if needs a fast program, will still have to phone you." Greatest shortcoming of computers isn't computer shortcoming at all but fact that a human takes a long time, maybe hours, to set up a program that a computer solves in milliseconds. One best quality of Mike was that he could program himself. Fast. Just explain problem, let him program. Samewise and equally, he could program "idiot son" enormously faster than human could.

"But, Man, I want you there because you may not be able to phone me; the lines may be cut. So I've prepared a group of possible programs for Junior; they may be helpful."

"Okay, print 'em out. And let me talk to Prof."

Mike got Prof; I made sure he was private, then explained what Mike thought I should do. Thought Prof would object--was hoping he would insist I stay through coming bombardment/invasion/whatever--those ships. Instead he said, "Manuel, it's essential that you go. I've hesitated to tell you. Did you discuss odds with Mike?"