McClennan gave up on the cigarette in disgust. He flung it into the hotel ashtray, on top of an unused book of matches, and more gently lay his plastic lighter beside it. "I suppose the President will appoint replacements for David and myself. I imagine Schwartz will stay on. I imagine just about everybody will stay on." McClennan looked at Hicks with suspicion. "And you'll write about all of it, won't you?"

"I suppose I might, in the long run."

"Do you think he's crazy?" McClennan asked, pointing at the blank screen.

Hicks considered the question. "No."

"Do you think ..." and here the rage returned, making McClennan's hands tremble, "he's violating his oath of office, to carry out the United States Constitution and promote the general welfare?"

"He's calling them as he sees them," Hicks said. "He thinks the end of the world is at hand."

"Christ, even if it is . . ." McClennan pulled out the desk chair and sat down slowly. "He's in trouble. He's showing his weakness. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a move now to block the inauguration, or to impeach him."

"On what grounds?" Hicks asked.

"Incompetence. Failure to promote the general welfare. Hell, I don't know ..."

"Has he done anything illegal?"

"We've never had a President go nuts in office. Not since Nixon, anyway. But then, you think he isn't nuts. Listen, he disagreed with you, even after he brought you into the inner circle . . . What is he trying to do?"

Hicks had already answered that question, after a fashion, and saw no reason to do it again.

"All right," McClennan said. "What he's doing, what it all comes down to, is he's surrendering without a single shot being fired. We have no idea what these . . . bastards, these machines, these aliens, can do. We can't even be sure they're here to destroy the Earth. Is that even possible? Can you tear a world apart, or kill everything on its surface?"

"We ourselves can kill all life on Earth, if we so choose," Hicks reminded him.

"Yes, but the Guest talked about leaving nothing but rubble behind. Is that possible?"

"I suppose it is. You'd have to unleash enough energy to place most of the Earth's mass into orbit about itself, so to speak, or to give it escape velocity. That's an awful lot of energy."

"How much? Could we do it?"

"I don't think so. Not with all the nuclear weapons we have now. We couldn't even begin to."

"How advanced would a . . . Jesus, a civilization have to be to do that?"

Hicks shrugged. "If we posit a straight line of development from where we are now, with the rate of major breakthroughs increasing, perhaps a century, perhaps two."

"Could we fight them off? If they have that ability?"