Part 61 (1/2)

Russia with a fall offensive and d.a.m.ned if he didn't get within eighty

miles of Moscow before the Russkies could stop him, and then-then-”

Uncle James looked up. There was a stunned expression on his face. All

his indicators were flas.h.i.+ng in the caution zone. His cheeks were flushed

and he was breathing hard.

Carlotta let her hand rest lightly on the little stack of bank notes.

”He's very overexcited,” she explained. ”This has been a big day for

him. He hasn't been in San Francisco for forty-three years, you know.”

”Wait,” Uncle James said. He stretched a hand toward the Brazilian.

”There's something that I need to say.”

There was an unfamiliar note in his voice suddenly, a forcefulness, a

strange clarity. The cloudiness was gone from it, the husky senile

woolliness. It sounded now like the voice of someone else entirely,

someone a hundred years younger than Uncle James.

The Brazilian nodded vigorously. ”Yes, tell us everything, General!

Everything.”

Uncle James smiled. There was an eerie look on his face. ”I wasn't a

general, for one thing. I was a programmer. I never fought an actual battle.