“Li Chengdu here.” The expedition commander’s voice issued thinly from the radio speaker. “I am afraid that there is a long line of politicians waiting to appear on television. It would be more useful if you prepared your vehicle to leave the valley rather than watching their orations. We will tape everything here so that you may see it when you have the time.”
Jamie turned to glance at Connors, who nodded agreement. “Yessir,” he said. “We’ll contact the dome when we’re ready to move.”
“Very good.”
Ilona got up slowly from the right-hand seat and straightened to her full height and stretched her back, catlike. “Call me if they get down to the Israeli prime minister.”
Jamie laughed and reached for the switch to turn off the radio.
“One further question.” Li’s voice froze them all. “What is the status of your physical condition?”
Glancing at their tired, wan faces, Jamie replied, “Whatever it is, we’ve all got it. Aches, weakness-it’s slowing us down.”
“I have decided to send Dr. Yang down to the dome. She will arrive within a few hours to assist Dr. Reed. It is imperative that you return to the dome within forty-eight hours so that you may be given medical attention.”
“But what is it?” Jamie asked. “What’s wrong with us all?”
For a long moment there was no sound from the radio speaker except the faint crackle of static. Finally Li said, “We do not yet know. But based on the rate of deterioration of your health, it is urgent that you reach the dome for treatment quickly. As quickly as you can.”
Jamie started to ask what would happen if they couldn’t reach the dome in the next forty-eight hours. But he held his tongue. He did not really want to hear the answer.
EARTH
WASHINGTON: The Vice-President’s smile disappeared the instant the last of the camera crew left.
It was unusual for the media corps to swarm into the Vice-President’s office, but this had been a very unusual day. A news conference from Mars. And that damned Indian had weaseled out of his end of the bargain.
She glared at the two aides who remained in the room. Her media secretary was at the little cabinet that served as a bar. Harvey Todd, her aide for science and technology, was fidgeting nervously as he slowly paced in front of the curtained windows. He’s got a lot to be nervous about, the Vice-President said to herself. She got up from the small sofa where she had dealt with the reporters and stalked to her desk. It was a tiny, delicately curved desk of gleaming dark rosewood, beautifully proportioned to the Vice-President’s own slight frame.
Her media secretary handed her a frosted glass of vodka citron as the Vice-President sat herself in the maroon swivel chair behind the desk.
The Vice-President took one small sip of her ice-cold drink, then said to Todd, “Well?”
He looked startled. He was the small, nervous type, his hair thinning despite the fact that he was barely into his thirties. He looked soft, but inwardly he was sharp as a razor; he carried degrees from Princeton in political science and management. His favorite author was Niccolo Machiavelli.
He swallowed hard and tried to smile. “I thought the conference went very well, didn’t you?” he asked the media secretary, a note of desperation in his voice.
She nodded but did not smile.
“That goddammed Indian never said a word about backing me,” the Vice-President snarled. “I went out on the limb for him and he just talked about frigging Martians!”
“Well, he is a scientist…”
“Bullshit!”
The media secretary sat herself on the sofa that her boss had just vacated and crossed her legs primly. “We have his written statement,” she said. “You can release it whenever you choose to.”
“He should have said he was going to support me,” the Vice-President insisted.
“I’m not sure that this particular hookup was the right time to make such an announcement,” Todd said timidly, rubbing a forefinger across his round chin.
“What the hell did they teach you at Princeton?” the Vice-President fairly screamed. “What would be a better time, with the whole frigging world watching on TV? An endorsement from Mars, for god’s sake! What could make a bigger impression on the voters, you jelly-brained imbecile?”