The Dig by Alan Dean Foster

“Why, in that case, sir, no one would have to worry about which party is going to dominate the next session of Congress. Or any other phase of government, for that matter. Personally, I’ve always thought it would be more appropriate for the capital to be located in a more central location. Missouri, for example.”

“As bad as that,” the President muttered.

“Yes, sir, as bad as that. We might lose everything as far north as Philadelphia. Baltimore, certainly.”

“So much for waterfront redevelopment.” Fraser stared evenly at his advisor. “There’s no way you can predict where it will come down?”

“No, sir. Nor in how many pieces, nor how big or small they’ll he. Just that it’s likely to make an awful mess of wherever it strikes. Remember, we’ve only been on this for less than twenty-four hours. The astronomy people have to coordinate observations with the chemists and so on. If it’s mostly nickel-iron, well, that’s not good. It means most of it’s liable to come down in one piece. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“But it could break up into small pieces, disintegrate on entry?”

“Yes, sir. Though I don’t see much of an advantage in being tagged by a shotgun as opposed to a rifle.”

The President grunted softly. “All right. So much for wishful thinking. What do we do about it? Is there anything we can do about it?” He was reaching for the phone. The phone that could command legions, or dollars. “I’m going to get on this myself. We’ll appoint a top-flight committee—”

“Please, sir.” Earle put forward a restraining hand. “I’m afraid that the standard congressional speed of response isn’t going to be adequate in this case. We have to do something right away.”

Fraser left the phone in its cradle and steepled his fingers. “You wouldn’t talk like that unless there is something that can be done. Well, let’s have it. I hope it won’t cost too many votes.”

“Waiting is liable to cost voters, sir. Thousands of them.” Earle swallowed. This was really why he’d sought the meeting with the President. Across the country, dozens of scientists and engineers were depending on him to sell the idea. He hoped he’d be able to. So far, it was the only idea.

“Preliminary modeling suggests that it should be possible to adjust the asteroid’s orbit, to nudge it into a stable position.”

“I see. I presume this can’t be done by landing a few hundred players from the NFL on one side of the object and having them all jump up and down simultaneously?”

Earle smiled, relieved that the President was able to find some levity in such a terribly serious situation. “No, sir.” Now came the difficult part. “Actually, it would involve the use of low-level nuclear explosives. Calculations show that they could be placed—”

Fraser interrupted. “Just a minute, Willy. Nuclear?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I know how controversial this is going to be. But nukes are really the only things with enough kick to affect an object of this size. There are no alternatives. And it has to be precise. We don’t want to bust this thing up. We just want to adjust its attitude.”

“I’m going to have the same problem with Congress. Nukes.” The President shook his head slowly. “Can you see me going to a bunch of senators with this?”

“You have to, sir. Tell them that if we don’t, and don’t do it fast, a number of representatives are liable to lose something more than a few votes. Like entire districts, for example.”

Fraser sighed. “All right. That’s my job. If I can’t get authorization, we’ll have to do it by presidential decree. Assuming the procedure can be cleared, do we have anything suitable with which to do the work?”

“We have very little experience with anything but weapons-grade nukes, Mr. President. But the Russians have been using them for decades and—”

“Oh, wonderful. Congress is going to love this.”

“It’s not as bad as all that, sir.” Earle tried to inject some enthusiasm into his voice. “We’ve been sharing information with them for years, especially as regards long-term space missions.”

Fraser considered. “A cooperative enterprise could be useful to both sides.” He smiled thinly. “It would also allow us to share the blame if this thing flops.”

“We’ve already been in contact with the appropriate people in Moscow and Khabarovsk. They assure us that not only can their devices do the job cleanly and on the first try but that they have the necessary kilo tonnage on hand.”

“These ‘devices,'” the President murmured. “They’ll fit on a shuttle? With no danger to the crew?”

“Yes, sir. Fully shielded and ready to be armed. Actually, compared to some of the payloads we’ve been putting in orbit recently, this one will be comparatively small. I’ve scanned the schematics, and the mechanics are pretty basic. The Russians have always tried to keep things simple.”

The President’s voice was soft. “It’s a long way from using cherry bombs to blow up pop bottles on the Fourth. Used to do that when I was a kid. We won’t be able to hide this one, Willy.”

“No, sir. Everyone will be watching. Everyone on the planet. We can do this, Mr. President. The Russians have the package, and we have the delivery system.”

“Can’t we just shoot the ‘package’ up there and avoid exposing our people to the possible consequences?”

“I’m afraid not, sir. In order for them to be maximally effective, the explosives have to be sited precisely on the asteroid’s surface. It means a shuttle trip, matching orbits, hand placement. There’s no getting around that.”

“I’ll take your word for it, Willy.”

“It’s not my word, Mr. President. Several hundred people have been working overtime to put this together. It’s the best chance we have.”

Fraser was quiet for a long moment, gazing at something unseen. Eventually he looked again at his visitor. “You know what the hallmark of a successful politician is, Willy?”

“No, sir.” Earle forced himself to listen. The President had a tendency to ramble.

“It’s the ability to find some good even in the most godawful situation. For example, we’re not talking the end of the world here.”

“No, sir,” the Science Advisor murmured. “Only a meaningful portion of it.”

“That’s right; encourage me. Our people are sure the Russian nukes will work?”

“Reasonably sure, sir. In science nothing is certain. But they have used them before, to dig tunnels for canals and expose large, deep ore bodies, and they’ve refined them over the years.”

“Assuming they do, think of the possible benefits. It means that America can once again lay claim to being the world’s savior. I realize that when I say something like that, it may sound unnecessarily cold to you, Willy, but as President I have to take everything into account. I do hope to be reelected in two years.”

“Of course, sir.” Earle kept his expression carefully neutral. In the previous election he had voted for Fraser’s opponent.

“Now, let me see if I understand something correctly. If this rock can be properly stabilized, it will go into more or less permanent orbit around the Earth?”

“That’s correct, sir.”

“Then we could use it to replace many of our existing communications and scientific satellites, couldn’t we?”

Earle smiled in what he hoped wasn’t a patronizing manner. “Not entirely, sir. It would be a stable orbit but not a geosynchronous one. But it could serve as a useful base for many scientific programs. A cheap space station, and far larger than anything we could put up.”

The President was nodding approvingly. “Good enough. The Earth will acquire a second moon. With potential economic benefits.”

“Perhaps, sir. However, I don’t think that should be our first priority.”

Fraser swiveled slightly in his chair. “You don’t have to justify expenses to Congress, Willy. I do. Wait and see. If we go through with this, there’ll be half a dozen senators insisting we claim the rock as U.S. territory. Then I’ll have to mollify Kubiltov and his gang, and the Europeans will sulk, and … well, you get the picture. There’s more than science involved here.”

“Yes, sir.” Earle was growing impatient. “However it’s handled, sir, we need to move on this right away. Falling rocks know no politics.”

“Rocks and politics both involve leverage, Willy. You’ve worked in Washington long enough to know that.”

“I have, sir. I’m just trying to emphasize the need for speed in this matter. Every moment is important. If we wait too long, the asteroid’s orbit will decay to the point where no amount of explosive, nuclear or otherwise, will be able to affect it.”

“I’ll do the best I can, Willy. I promise I’ll sign the necessary authorizations as soon as the Cabinet has been consulted. We’ll clear this afternoon’s agenda so we can deal with this. NASA will be the beneficiary of a presidential decree by five o’clock this evening.” His eyes bored into the Science Advisor. “God help you, Willy, if your people are wrong about these nuclear explosives and they don’t work properly.”

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