"Are you sure?"
"Positive!"
"Then why can't you forget the approach of zero hour? I'll tell you why and you aren't even making a good show of hiding it. You know that, compared to mine, your knowledge of mathematics is about on a level with that of a college sophomore. Deep down, you know that my calculations were correct. You are convinced—convinced—that the bombing of Waaku has already started a chain reaction. And that about seventeen minutes past twelve, around eight minutes from now, the shock wave will reach us, and then the wave of disintegration. Look out of the window! See that cactus in the sand, with its little yellow flower? It will be annihilated. All that desert will go, too—every pebble, every grain of sand. Everything you see, and you yourself, will be disintegrated, transformed into energy!"
Suddenly he relaxed into a grin and softened his voice. "I thought we were playing poker. We're waiting for you to bet. Why don't you at least look at your cards?"
Avery opened his mouth, then closed it, and picked up his hand, riffling the five cards.
"I'm staying," he said. "Here's your blue and I raise you a blue."
Slowly the others picked up their hands and stared at the cards. MacPherson scarcely looked at his as he spoke.
"I'm staying." He picked up the deck. "Cards, gentlemen?"
Rothman shook his head. "I'll play these."
Neill took two. "I like to hold a kicker," he explained.