There was a slight rustle of movement around the table. Whatever course of action was to be decided at this meeting, calling Zimbardo’s bluff had not been considered by many to be a viable option. The President continued.
“His ruination of the atmosphere plants on Mars proves that he is able to direct asteroids to targets with high accuracy, and that we are unable to detect them. Although the loss of the plants is a severe blow, it is not crippling. They can be rebuilt in a few years. At worst, the process of terraformation will be delayed for that long. Replacement will cost about ten billion solars—obviously a huge amount of money, but an amount that Mars can afford. The plants were over a century old however, and in the long run replacing the plants will be more effective and probably achieve the goal of terraformation faster than if we had continued to use the plants that were destroyed. Frankly, there were plans already in the works for modernizing the plants.
“No, the real damage has been psychological: the people of Earth and Mars are terrified. This, undoubtedly, was Zimbardo’s major goal in destroying the plants, and he has achieved it completely and thoroughly. His demands to us are clear, but it is difficult for us to perceive what he would achieve, even if we capitulated—which we do not intend to do.”
Robert Nolan could not contain himself any further, and lurched backward as if he had been struck. “You don’t intend to cooperate with him?” he almost screeched. “But he’ll destroy the entire planet if we don’t! There is no way we can detect an asteroid he’s made invisible to radar!”
“Dr. Nolan,” responded the President, “we believe that we have a method which will allow us to locate the asteroid that Zimbardo has directed toward Earth. We have a very good chance of locating it and destroying it.”
“A chance? Mr. President, you’re gambling with the very existence of life on Earth! If an asteroid forty miles long strikes Earth, it will not only cause the extinction of every life form on the planet, there is every likelihood that it will crack the Earth’s crust! There will be no escape! No escape!! Don’t you see that we have to cooperate with Zimbardo? It will be easier to meet his challenge once he has turned away the asteroid!”
The President responded in gentle tones. “You have not yet heard our plan, Bob. Believe me, I can sympathize with your quandary, but I am simply not going to deal with any evil force as if it had a right to negotiate. It doesn’t. This has been the principle behind the decisions we have made in order to meet the threat of the pirates from the first day.”
“Principle?” Nolan was almost shouting now. “For your principle you’re willing to risk the destruction of all life on Earth? That’s the evil we’re facing here!”
“Bob—please listen to what Dr. Hoshino has to tell us. There is a plan. Dr. Hoshino?”
Robert Nolan leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table, and cradled his head in his hands. He was trembling. Richard Starlight looked over at his friend and colleague and felt very badly for him. He knew that Robert was under a tremendous strain. Richard agreed that the fate of the Earth was at stake and would probably be decided at this meeting. He was tremendously anxious himself, but he was eager to hear what Dr. Hoshino had to say.