“Sergeant, you-all will need to stop and eat. I’ll leave it to your discretion where. When you decide, phone the nearest substation. They’ll provide you with extra cover while you’re stopped. I sure as hell—pardon my French, Mr. Lu—I don’t want these folks to go through any more trauma.”
* * *
Drained though they were, the Millennium people did not nap. As they rode, they watched CNN. Michael Sandow had several geophysicists on a conference call, talking about actual and probable results of the asteroid impact.
A record tsunami, well beyond anything in recorded history, was forecast for the entire Pacific and associated waters. Evacuation of coastal areas had already begun, an evacuation far larger than any in history. Seismographs worldwide had gone off-scale from the impact. Earthquakes had been triggered around the Pacific Rim and elsewhere. Most of the volcanoes on Kamchatka and the Aleutians were erupting. Hokkaido had been shaken by destructive quakes, and the volcanoes in the central part of the island were in active, though not explosive, eruption.
Sandow replayed the Dove predictions, and asked the experts whether it was reasonable to draw conclusions from them. One answered that he was qualified to discuss only the geophysical aspects. He said, “Considering the impossibility of predicting the impact location, a twelve-hour warning would have been of little more use than the one-hour warning.”
Another said that the only rational conclusion was that Ngunda Aran had been connected with a better informed source than anyone else on Earth. And that the odds of the prediction having been fulfilled by chance were small beyond reckoning.
A third said, “Whether or not the two events are parallel manifestations of an intelligent deity, billions of people on Earth will believe they are. Which may be the only good to come out of this.”
* * *
A police cruiser had taken Steven Buckels and his father back to Steven’s car. Steven was anxious to get home to Dorothy and the children. Meanwhile he’d sent them a message via the Southeast Law Enforcement Network.
Lee had sat down beside Jenny, whom she thought might want someone to talk to. But Jenny seemed composed, even tranquil. She’d been reconciled with her father, and felt very good about it. And Dove had completed his mission on Earth as intended. “Now,” Jenny added, “we have to follow through without his physical presence. Or Ngunda’s. But I don’t expect major difficulties, do you?”
Lee shook her head. “I’m really—too new a Milli to have much of an opinion yet.”
Jenny laughed. “Too new a what?”
“A—Milli. Actually I’m not sure I like the term. It just popped out. It doesn’t reflect what we are or what we do, and even Lor Lu probably isn’t that irreverent.”
Jenny laughed again. “I wouldn’t bet on it,” she said. Then added, “So far as I know, we’ve never had a nickname, which is surprising now that I think of it. Maybe Lor Lu can ask for candidates.” She grinned. ” ‘Millis’ could head the list.”
They talked briefly about the Millennium Procedures. It seemed to Lee she needed to do them. But soon Jenny began to sag, and Lee went to her own seat.
* * *
While the bus refueled, its personnel received a large assorted take-out order from the truck-stop restaurant. Lee had set it up. Then they rolled westward again toward Little Rock. Meanwhile, Lor Lu had been busy at his laptop, and on the Web and the phone. After a bit he called the governor’s office and got authorization to transfer the tour crew to a chartered plane at Fort Smith.
Most of the crew napped, but Lee wasn’t sleepy yet. She sat alone, at times paying attention to the television, and at times immersed in thought. It was dusk when they passed through North Little Rock. The air was rank with smoke, and they could see flames, but the fires were isolated. As they continued north and west, Lor Lu seemed unoccupied, so she went to him.
“May I sit by you?” she asked.
“Of course.” Smiling, he moved his laptop from the empty seat beside him, and gestured. “I’d hoped you would.”
She sat. “What do we do now? Will things continue to be dangerous for us?”