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seven people on-screen: director of NASA, director of FEMA, secretary of commerce, and the under secretary of commerce in charge of NOAA, a scientist herself, but a couple of the others President Harris has never met. Joining him in the Situation Room are the other directors—Homeland Security, FBI, SECDEF, SECSTATE, and National Security, whose organization is tasked with running operations in the Sit Room. Of course the chairman of the Joint Chiefs is present in his dress uniform, his chest adorned with an array of colored ribbons. The President takes a moment to survey the faces of those surrounding him before turning his gaze to the screen. He realizes that the only people with real looks of concern are the two scientists.
    â€œGood morning to all of you and thank you for joining us,” President Harris says. A few offer return greetings. “Dr. Blake, I understand you’re the one who initiated this gathering. Will you please explain why?”
    The small box representing Dr. Blake zooms full screen, the perspiration on his forehead evident as his face fills the wall. “Thank you, Mr. President. A little over”—he pauses to glance at something outside camera range—“three hours ago we were alerted to a massive coronal mass ejection from the surface of the sun. A CME, for those of you who don’t know, is a storm seething with gas and charged plasma, full of energy particles embedded in a magnetic field.” Sam pauses for a quick sip of water.
    â€œDr. Blake,” says the President, “most of us have been briefed on solar storms, so why don’t we get to the heart of the matter? Three questions need immediate answers. What makes this storm unusual? Why do you think the storm will hit here? And most important, if it does strike our planet, how long do we have?”
    â€œThis storm is different because of its size, sir. It’s massive. The Advanced Composition Explorer satellite—ACE—that orbits about a million miles from the Earth between our planet and the sun, went dark almost two hours ago. It was the only tool we had to determine the storm’s path, and unfortunately it was also the only tool we had available to determine the arrangement of our planet’s magnetic fields. A crucial piece of information we need to determine the severity of the impact.
    â€œSo the arrival time is only an educated guess at this point. Some of my colleagues have suggested a time frame for CME arrival at Earth anywhere between one to three days. Several factors play a part in these guesstimates based on speed and size. But the only storm in recorded history of this magnitude occurred in 1859, and the effects of that storm were felt on Earth after only seventeen hours. That estimate was calculated using crude instrumentation, so I don’t know how reliable or precise those observations were. This solar storm is larger than the Carrington event and I believe it will only accelerate as it advances, sometime in the next ten to fourteen hours.”
    â€œTake a break for a moment, Dr. Blake. Major Garcia, do you concur with Dr. Blake’s assessment?”
    The full-screen shot transitions to an attractive Hispanic woman in her midforties with dark eyes and dark, cropped-short hair. She’s wearing her dress blues with gold oak leaves pinned to each shoulder epaulette. Sarah Garcia’s face is just as serious as Blake’s. “According to our instrument readings, Dr. Blake is correct about the massive size of the eruption. The only area where we differ is in the timing. Earth is already being pummeled by an array of solar flares, and I believe the time frame for arrival may be quicker than Dr. Blake indicated.”
    â€œDr. Garcia, do you think this solar storm is on a path to hit Earth?” the President says.
    â€œWe don’t know for certain, Mr. President. But as Dr. Blake has already suggested, the last information we received from the