We might even try raising actual children, maybe even making them the old-fashioned way. I was ready to start ovulating and being difficult once a month.

Paul’s reaction pulled me out of my reverie. “No way it’s the same, General. Much more seat-of-the-pants.” They both smiled, jet jocks imagining a situation that would have a normal person quivering in fear.

“And you’d want a lot of physical shielding,” Ballard said, “which wouldn’t help the handling characteristics.”

“It would be a job and a half,” Paul said.

The general laced his fingers together on the table and looked Paul straight in the eye. “You’d need the best pilot in the world.”

The president hadn’t said a word. He looked at Paul expectantly.

Paul’s expression was blank, but I could read him pretty well. He was choosing his words.

“If the best pilot in the world . . . were also a lunatic, he might say yes. But no.”

“We could do any number of practice runs in VR,” the general said. “You wouldn’t have to go up physically until you were sure.”

“We wouldn’t want to lose you,” the president said.

“But what else might we lose?” Paul shook his head. “It’s not the danger, the physical danger. It’s what the Others might do in reaction.”

“They said it was a test,” the general said. “This is the most direct response.” What?

“I respectfully disagree, sir. They’re not testing our ability to solve a tactical problem.”

“It was a warning!” I blurted out. “I thought that was pretty clear.”

The general looked at me. He tried without much success to keep condescension out of his voice: “He did use the word ‘test,’ Dr. Dula.” My father’s name. “It might be a warning at the same time, but against aggression, not simple space travel.”

Dustin came to my defense. “General, that’s like saying someone who puts a high fence around his property doesn’t care whether people break in.”

Elza added, “Nothing we learned at Wolf 25 indicated that they have anything like subtlety or patience. That was a punishment and a warning.”

The president stood up. “Thank you all. This is all very valuable. We’ll talk more later . . . I have to go get camera- ready for the landing. General?”

The general also stood and thanked us, and followed the president into the inner sanctum.

“I sure feel valuable,” Elza said. “How do you feel?”

“Doomed,” Dustin said. Paul nodded agreement.

Chapter 19 - INFALL

19

INFALL

All sorts of festivities had been planned for us hearty heroes, but their execution was somewhat muted by doom and gloom and the regular infall of meteors. A lot of expensive liquor was spilled at a congressional reception when a boulder the size of a grand piano redesigned a shopping mall in nearby Maryland, a town improbably named Rockville.