“It’s over,” a girl sitting near Keene told him. “It’s taken me all night to face it, but it’s real. Nobody’s going to survive this, Doctor.”
Keene turned away and paced across the room to a wall board covered in scrawled diagrams and calculations rendered in assorted colors. Maybe she’d had all night to get around to facing it, but he had not. There were people in Washington still of a will to do what they could and who were depending on him. He couldn’t let this come apart now.
“No!” he said sharply, turning to confront them. “I won’t accept that.” His tone surprised everyone. He looked around at them. “What is this? It’s easy to pretend things about yourselves when everything is going your way. It’s when things are at their worst that you find out who you really are. Did any of you imagine that it was going to last forever? Life is the chance to show that you’re up to doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be, the best that you can. That’s still as true if the time you’ve got to do it in is weeks, or thirty more years, or a thousand. Everybody can be someone special tomorrow, when everything will be just right. But it’s what you can be today that matters, when it’s not.” He extended an arm to point at the window, although it was still dark outside and he had no idea whether it faced eastward or not. “That’s what the President and the First Lady of this country are doing. The last time I saw them they hadn’t slept for two days either. They’re doing what needs to be done, as best they can, because it’s their job. . . . Well, I have a job too. And so do you.”
He looked around. Some of the eyes met his for a moment, then shifted away. Others remained staring back at him. He was getting through to them. He went on, “I know what some of you are thinking. That might be fine when it’s all for a better future. But what’s the use when there isn’t any future? You all heard it a moment ago: `Nobody’s going to survive this.’ Well, I don’t buy that either, and I’ll tell you why. John said that a lot of you here believe the Kronians were right about Venus. Very well, I do too. And that means it happened before—three and a half thousand years ago. And some of those people back then did survive! And they didn’t have what we’ve got today. They didn’t have underground shelters, nonperishable foods and medical supplies, generators, water pumps, communications equipment, and transportation to get away from the bad spots, or our knowledge and education. And they didn’t have the Kronians out there, able to preserve that knowledge and help with the rebuilding when the time came. But some of them made it. Maybe it was just a couple here and there, or the remnants of a tribe on a mountain, but some of them had what it took to rise to something more than just getting drunk and waiting to go down in the mud. It was because of them that we were here to have a second chance. And some are going to make it this time too—and because of them there will be another chance one day to get it right.” He studied the faces searchingly for a second. “Who knows? Some of them could be you.”
Keene moved across to a table where he had placed the papers he had been given and collected them together. “If anyone here is planning on going over the hill because there’s no hope, I’d appreciate it if you leave whatever notes and figures you have available. A final, considered report will be sent from here to Washington this afternoon. When the President goes on camera to face the nation, I’ll have done my job. Who else here will be able to say the same thing?”
There was a long silence. John’s anger had subsided. He exhaled, closed his eyes, and nodded. It wasn’t necessary to say anything. Finally, Charlie Hu took it. His manner was still grave, but with a new decisiveness. “Dr. Keene is right. We all need to get some rest,” he said quietly. “Can I take it that we will all convene back here at ten?” There were no dissenters.