“Let’s me put it to you this way, Mr.President. You’ve got two chances of pushing this through Congress—slim and none—and slim just left town with your former vice president.”

“I thought NASA was linking the project with the moon base proposal that already passed through Appropriations?”

“They tried. Unfortunately, that moon base was designed to be built on the near side of the moon, close to the polar region where NASA located ice formations, and not on the dark side. You’ll excuse the pun, but in fiscal terms, we’re looking at the difference between night and day, as in solar panels are no longer an option when the Sun’s not shining.”

Kathie Gleason shakes her head in disagreement. “Sam, one of the reasons the American public is so opposed to this venture is that they perceive it as being an international project. The radio signal wasn’t broadcast to the United States, it was received by our entire planet.”

“And in the end, America’s still the one who’s going foot most of the bill.”

Cal Calixte, the president’s press secretary, raises his hand. “Mr.President, in my opinion, the radio telescope provides us with a means of pumping funds into Russia’s economy, especially in light of the recent cutbacks by the IMF. Perhaps you could even link it to the new START-V treaty.”

“The same thing was said about the International Space Station,” interrupts Blumner. “That giant Tinker Toy cost America a cool $20 billion, plus the billions we lent the Russians so they could afford to participate. Meanwhile, it’s the Russians who keep delaying the completion of the project.”

“Sam, stop looking at everything from a financial standpoint,” Kathie says. “This is as much a political issue as a space program. Protecting the Russian democracy is worth more than the telescope itself.”

“Democracy? What democracy?” Blumner loosens his tie. “Here’s a quick civics lesson for you, Kathie. What we’ve created is an economy of extortion, where the Russian rich get richer, the poor starve to death, and nobody seems to give a shit as long as we call it a democracy. The United States and the IMF have given the Russians billions of dollars. Where’d all the money go? From a fiscal standpoint, my three-year-old daughter is more fiscally accountable than Yeltsin or Viktor Grozny ever was.”

Blumner turns to the president, his plump face red. “Before we start appropriating billions, let’s keep in mind that this deep-space radio signal could just be a fluke. From what I understand, NASA still hasn’t found an underlying pattern that would indicate the transmission was a genuine attempt at communication. And why haven’t we heard a trace of a second signal?”