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than anything that could stay inside the solar system, it has been decelerating for weeks, and it appears to be coming here. Those are facts, confirmed by three different observatories.” Suddenly she giggled. “Ed, you’re an astronaut. What do you think it is?”
    “Damned if I know,” Gillespie said. “Russian?”
    “No,” Jeanette said.
    There was a long silence from the other end. “You’d know, wouldn’t you? But are you that sure?”
    “Yes, sir. I’m that sure. It is not a Soviet ship. It’s my job to know things like that. I’ve been monitoring the Soviet space program for ten years, and they can’t build anything like that. Neither can we.”
    “Jenn-Captain, if this is ajoke we’re all going to be in trouble.”
    “For God’s sake, General, why would I joke about this?” she demanded. “I told you, I already got my colonel out of bed! He’s going through channels, but you can imagine what’s going to happen to a UFO report.”
    “I can think of people to call,” Gillespie said. “I’m just having trouble believing it.”
    “Yes, sir,” Jenny said dryly.
    “Yeah, I know, so must you,” Ed Gillespie said. “But I see your point. If it’s an alien ship, we’ve got some preparing to do. Jenny, who is your C.O.?”
    “Colonel Robert Hartley G-2 Strategic Army Command, Fort Bragg . Here’s the phone number.”
    Linda watched as her husband put the phone down. He looked worried. “What’s my kid sister done now?”
    “Maybe earned herself a medal,” Edmund said. He lifted the phone and began dialing.
    “Who are you calling now?” Linda asked. “This is crazy!”
    “Hello, Colonel Hartley? General Ed Gillespie here. Captain Crichton said you’d be expecting my call … Yeah. Yeah, she’s always had a level head. Yeah. Yeah, I believe her too. Okay, so what do we do about it?” This is crazy, Linda thought. Absolutely crazy. My kid sister discovers flying saucers. I don’t believe it. I will not believe it. Only … Only Jenny never pulled a practical joke in her life. She doesn’t drink, she doesn’t take drugs, and … Aliens? An alien ship approaching Earth?
    She saw that Edmund had put the phone down. “So now what?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. Hard to think. Have to let people know. Have to let the President know. I’m not sure how to do that.”
    “Wes Dawson could do it,” Linda said.
    “By God!” He looked at his watch. “After six in Washington . Wes might be up. I’ll wake him up. You got his home number handy?”
    David Coffey had always thought of himself as a night person, but that wasn’t possible now. The President of the United States couldn’t sleep late. It just wasn’t done.
    He couldn’t even insist on being left alone for breakfast, although he tried. As he sat down on the terrace to enjoy the lovely spring day in Washington , the Chief of Staff said, “Wes Dawson. California—”
    “I know who he is.”
    “Insists on joining you for breakfast.”
    “Insists?”
    “He didn’t put it that way, but yes. Said he was calling in any favors he had coming. Vital, he said.”
    David Coffey sighed. He felt the pressure of his belt. There was a cabinet meeting at eleven, and he’d hoped to get in a half hour swim before then. Tighten up the gut a bit. “Tell Congressman Dawson I’m flattered,” he said, “And ask the housekeeper please to set another place at the table.”
    Flying saucers. Spaceships. Silly, the President thought. The sort of stuff the midwestern papers ran when there wasn’t any other news. Fakery. Or insanity. Except that Wes Dawson wasn’t crazy, had never been crazy, and even though he was acting manic, he wasn’t crazy now.
    “Let me get this straight, Wes,” Coffey said. “The astronomers have seen a spaceship approaching Earth. It will be here next month. You want to go meet it.”
    “Yes, Mr. President.”
    “Wes, do you know — scratch that. Of course you know how goofy this sounds. All right, assume