As they listened, Carl and Lori clung to each other. It was almost impossible to comprehend what was being said. The scope of the damage predicted by the presidential advisers was beyond human understanding. Carl was visibly shocked and stunned by every sentence, but at the same time he realized that the people standing around them were embarrassed and angry that their president was making such a spectacle of his own emotions.

The president continued his address in a halting voice, his head and shoulders visibly shaking, but what followed was unscripted. The tone of their leader’s voice had changed. “I know you all remember that three years ago I vetoed a bill submitted to me by the Congress to finance development of nuclear-tipped interceptor missiles that would have been capable of destroying asteroids and meteors in outer space that might threaten the earth. It was my considered judgment, as your president, that the technology was too unreliable at that time, and the cost was beyond the demands of a balanced budget. I realize now that I made a terrible mistake.

“We in government learned of this approaching meteor just seven days ago. No immediate disaster management plan was put into effect because, again, I ignored the advice of my own science adviser and chose to believe the academic experts who said that this object was not going to be captured by Earth’s gravitational field. They convinced me that it was going to pass by harmlessly in space, much as others have done in the past.

“But even after the location of the Impact Zone seemed certain, I delayed announcing this impending event for fear of arousing unnecessary panic in southern California and in world financial markets. . . .”

At that point, the president of the United States began to weep uncontrollably. “I delayed the announcement,” he said, sobbing, “because of my fear of the political consequences if the experts were wrong. I am very sorry to say tonight that my own cowardice and indecision will now cost the lives of millions of innocent people.”

As he stared into the television camera, he reached his right hand slowly and deliberately inside his suit coat. “My fellow Americans, I have failed you, and I cannot go on living with the guilt I feel for what I have done.”

At first the Secret Service agents standing behind the cameras thought he was reaching for a handkerchief to dry his tears. Then they saw the gun. They lunged toward him, but he already had the 9-mm Beretta in his hand. They reached the desk a fraction of a second after the bullet entered the president’s right temple.

The president’s body thrust back convulsively, a ghastly grimace frozen on his face. His arm shook violently, and the gun clattered to the floor. There was blood everywhere, and pieces of his skull were blown away. But before the nation could grasp what they had just seen, the president of the United States slumped forward . . . dead.