Part 34 (1/2)

”Have I?”

”Yes-to keep the dust as our own secret, go our oay, and let the rest of the world look out for itself That is the only program that fits our traditions” The Secretary of State was really a fine old gentleman, and not stupid, but he was slow to assi respectfully, ”I e could afford to mind our own business I do e could But it is the best opinion of all the experts that we can'tThe Germans were close on our heels in nuclear research; it was sheer luck that we got there first I ask you to iine Germany a year hence-with a supply of dust”

The Secretary did not answer, but I saw his lips form the word Berlin

They ca bear the brunt of the arguoodwill to coax the obdurate

He decided against putting it up to Congress; the dusters would have been overhead before each senator had finished his say What he intended to do ht not be any Constitution shortly There was precedent-the Emancipation Proclamation, the Monroe Doctrine, the Louisiana Purchase, suspension of habeas corpus in the War between the States, the Destroyer Deal

On February 22nd the President declared a state of full eency internally and sent his Peace Proclan state Divested of its diploe, it said: The United States is prepared to defeat any power, or coly, we are outlaar and are calling on every nation to disaruns, boys; we've got the drop on you!”

A supple the Atlantic were to be delivered in one week's tireat stretch of prairie, just west of Fort Riley, Kansas For lesser aircraft, a spot near Shanghai and a rendezvous in Wales were designated

Memoranda would be issued with respect to other war equipment Uranium and its ores were not mentioned; that would come later

No excuses Failure to disarainst the United States

There were no cases of apoplexy in the Senate; why not, I don't know

There were only three powers to be seriously worried about, England, japan, and the Eurasian Union England had been forewarned, we had pulled her out of a war she was losing, and she-or rather her men in power-knew accurately e could and would do

japan was another matter They had not seen Berlin and they did not really believe it Besides, they had been telling each other for so many years that they were unbeatable, they believed it It does not do to get too tough with a japanese too quickly, for they will die rather than lose face

The negotiations were conducted very quietly indeed, but our fleet was halfway froh dust to sterilize their six biggest cities, before they were concluded Do you knohat did it? This never hit the newspapers but it was the wording of the pa

The Emperor was pleased to declare a New Order of Peace The official version, built up for home consumption, reat and friendly powers, with japan taking the initiative

The Eurasian Union was a puzzle After Stalin's unexpected death in 1941, no western nation knew very much about ent on in there Our own diploh failure to replace men called home nearly four years before Everybody knew, of course, that the new group in power called themselves Fifth Internationalists, but what thatto display the pictures of Lenin and Stalin, nobody knew

But they agreed to our terms and offered to cooperate in every way They pointed out that the Union had never been warlike and had kept out of the recent world struggle It was fitting that the two rereatness to insure a lasting peace

I was delighted; I had been worried about the E U

They commenced delivery of sohai at once The reports on the number and quality of the planes seeh necessity, the planes were mostly of German make and poor condition-types that Ger est to supervise certain details in connection with i planes, the trans-oceanic planes, which were to gather near Fort Riley We planned to spray them with oil, then dust fro, with a low concentration of one-year dust

Then we could turn our backs on the to other matters

But there were hazards The dust must not be allowed to reach Kansas City, Lincoln, Wichita-any of the nearby cities The smaller towns roundabout had been te stations needed to be set up in all directions in order that accurate tab on the dustfelt personally responsible to make sure that no bystander was poisoned

We circled the receiving station before landing at Fort Riley I could pick out the three landing fields which had hurriedly been graded Their runhite in the sun, the twenty-four-hour ce fields were crowded dozens of parking fields, less perfectly graded Tractors and bulldozers were still at work on some of them In the eastern-most fields, the Ger to body as tightly as planes on the flight deck of a carrier-save for a few that were still being towed into position, the tiny tractors looking froer than the fortresses had arrived from the Eurasian Union Their representatives had asked for a short delay in order that a supply of high-test aviation gasoline e of fuel necessary to ht over the Arctic safe

There was no way to check the clairanted while a shi+pland

We were about to leave, Manning having satisfied himself as to safety precautions, when a dispatch caht be expected before the day was out Manning wanted to see them arrive; aited around for four hours When it was finally reported that our escort of fighters had picked therown fidgety and stated that he would watch theained altitude and waited