Just at that moment his earphones buzzed, signalling an incoming message. Tapping the keypad on his wrist, Giap asked his replacement communications sergeant, "What is it?"

"Report from the mountain-climbing team, sir. They have reached the summit and cut the power lines to all the antennas up there. Moonbase has been silenced."

For the first time in hours Giap smiled with genuine pleasure. "Good," he said. "Send them my congratulations and tell them to report back to me on the crater floor as soon as they can."

"Yes, sir."

Nodding inside his helmet, Giap told himself that Moonbase was now entirely cut off from the Earth. At last.

The President looked bleary-eyed as she sipped at her first cup of coffee of the morning and stared at the muted wall screen that showed Global News' coverage of the Moonbase battle.

"You're up early," said her chief of staff, taking his customary place in the Kennedy rocker.

"So're you," said the President.

"I haven't been to sleep all night," he said, running a hand over his bald pate. From behind her desk, the President could see that he was perspiring.

"It'll all be over in a few hours," she said, gesturing toward the wall screen with the hand that held her coffee mug.

"No it won't," said the staff chief gloomily.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Luce, we've got a shitstorm of public opinion coming down on us. I spent the whole damned night trying to calm down committee chairmen, media reporters, umpteen different governors and state party officials, even some goddamned church leaders are yelling that we ought to pressure the U.N. into letting Moonbase go!"

The President knew that her loyal assistant never used profanity in her presence unless he was truly upset—or trying to make a crucial point.

But she shook her head. "Harry, it's just too late to do anything. The Peacekeepers are already there. Look."

She pointed to the wall screen again. Turning in the rocker, her staff chief saw a dozens of tracked vehicles advancing slowly toward the main airlock hatch of Moonbase.

Suddenly the picture winked off.

"What the hell…?"

Before the President could reach the remote control unit on her desk, the screen flicked a few times, then showed a harried-looking announcer in a suit and tie.

"We regret to report that technical difficulties have cut off Edie Elgin's report from Moonbase. We are trying to re-establish contact."

As the scene switched to a news anchorwoman, who began to summarize what they had been watching live, the President eased back in her desk chair and cast a knowing look at her staff chief.

"It's all over bar the shouting, Harry. Moonbase is finished and all those jerks who were yelling at you will forget about it by this time tomorrow."