"I don't think He's the one to blame," Hoffman said. "Perhaps your Konrad Korzenowski is."

"At any rate," Hague said, "the Russians are going to pull their team out within three weeks, perhaps sooner. They're upset because we deny them complete access, when we allow the Chinese as far as the seventh chamber. That's their excuse, and frankly, it's a good one. I'd be pissed, too. But it doesn't explain everything."

"They agreed to those divisions a year ago, when we set up team responsibilities," Lanier said, frowning.

"Yes, but apparently there have been more leaks," Hague said.

"Oh, Christ." Who?

"And," Hague continued, "they are now claiming that we misled them as to the contents of the libraries."

"Which we did," Hoffman said, smiling faintly.

"Can the science team get along without the Russians?" Cronberry asked.

"Yes. They're mostly working on inner-chamber plasma tube power-supply theory. We can get along without them, but a lot of important research will slow way down, perhaps come to a stop. What about Beijing?"

Cronberry leafed through a folder of personnel papers. Hague reached across and drew one out. "Karen Farley is a Chinese citizen, and she's working for you on theoretical physics, correct?"

"Yes. She's made herself useful in all sorts of areas." Oh, please, not Farley—not Wu and Chang—

"She and her colleagues are to be withdrawn if the Russians leave."

"Why the coordination?" Lanier asked.

"The Chinese smell a rat," Hoffman said. "Or a rout. If the Russians feel they are being misled and kept out of important decisions, the Chinese have similar grounds for complaint. Their own presence might be more advantageous to us than to them."

"I can't believe either group would give up a place on the Stone. I wouldn't."

"They won't," Hoffman said. "We have evidence that both the Russians and the Chinese have clandestine operatives in the security team, perhaps even in the science team. And there have been interesting activities in Russian orbital space and on the Moon. Not to mention heightened activity at Tyuratam and the Indian Ocean launch site."

"Invasion from Earth and Moon?"

Hoffman shook her head. "Look, this is all chickenshit compared to the big question. Has Vasquez come up with anything? What does she have to say about parallel worlds, alternate histories?"

"She hasn't had time to say much of anything," Lanier said quietly. "In a few weeks, we might know."

"I understand the President's point of view. I find this very hard to believe," Cronberry said. "Is it your opinion that the Stone comes from our future?"

"No," Lanier said. "The Stone comes from another universe, not precisely our own. That much is certain. There's one obvious difference."

"No Stone in the Stone's past," Hague said.

"Exactly."

"And we have no way of knowing how much the Stone is affecting the course of our history."