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time frame James Wong provided us.” He turned to Tania. “Tania. James Wong’s assessment was that sulfuring’s residual effects should give us five years of relative calm before we need further climatic intervention. Do you agree?”
    A dozen of the most powerful people in the planet looked at her expectantly.
    “Ummm…” Her tongue flopped around in her mouth as if it had been anesthetized. Get a grip. They’re only human. “I think…” Five years? Is he crazy? She sucked in a breath, toning down her reaction. “I haven’t studied the data yet, but the five-year time frame seems very optimistic to me. The sulfur is raining out of the atmosphere very quickly. We’d certainly shoot well past our temperature targets.”
    Lui swiveled his chair to face Tania. “James Wong said we could overshoot by up to three degrees temporarily.”
    “The last time we overshot, the West Antarctic Ice Shelf collapsed,” said Tania. “I’m sure we’ve got some grace period. But I doubt it’s five years. Especially since the extra CO2 we’ve emitted since 2040 makes our baseline temperature forcings worse. In my opinion, if it takes five years to get the disk array ready, then we’ll need at least some additional sulfuring to tide us over.”
    “More sulfuring’s out of the question!” President Juarez slapped the table. “It ruins the whole narrative for the disk array. And India’s government is too fragile to survive a second famine. We can’t let another nuclear power fall into anarchy.”
    A woman in an orange sari sat forward. “I don’t think my government is quite that fragile,” she said. “But after last year, I agree that sulfuring is clearly out of the question.”
    “India has hundred warheads at most,” the Russian President pointed out in a thick accent. He directed his comments at Juarez, ignoring the Indian Prime Minister. “We have ten thousand. The threat is exaggerated.”
    Annoyance furrowed Tengri’s brow. “Pakistan has nuclear weapons too. It shares rivers with India. Failed states don’t behave rationally. It’s dangerous.”
    “Not to any of us,” said the Russian. “We are well clear of any fallouts.” He leaned back, looking slightly sulky.
    “Since it’s just a short period of sulfuring, why not give food aid to the worst hit areas?” said Tania. “It would stabilize their governments.”
    The Indian Prime Minister nodded in agreement.
    “You have some magic food supply?” asked Olivera.
    “Ninety percent of the world’s grain goes to livestock,” said Tania. “When I worked in Chengdu we cut meat consumption in half with a few minor restrictions. If we did the same globally…”
    Maxine van Buren glanced at Juarez, rolling her eyes slightly. “This isn’t Chengdu, Dr. Black. We can’t tell people what to eat. It’s not how free markets work.”
    President Juarez nodded. “Do you have any idea how powerful the cattle lobbies are?”
    “Cattle lobbies?” sputtered Tania. No wonder Earth is falling apart. “We’re talking about swapping a sixteen-ounce steak for eight. To save millions of lives. Surely in a time of crisis…” She faded off, looking to Lui Xing Tao for support. “President Lui. You’ve seen Chengdu. You know this is possible.” The Chinese President’s face remained expressionless.
    “Perhaps we could discuss this later,” said van Buren. She turned to the group’s other members. “We need to divide the new launch facilities. Each of the Climate Council members will get one new heavy-lift rocket center, which leaves five extra facilities as sweeteners to buy enough support to get this plan through the General Assembly.”
    Nods. Lui leaned forward. “On the basis of population, China should get one of those extra facilities.”
    “Only if India does.”
    “And clearly Brazil also gets one,” said Lucas Olivera. “My country has the most extensive preserves. When we cut off funding, Brazil will lose the most in transfer