Von Neumann’s War полностью

“Dr. Reynolds,” the President said angrily. “If we don’t have an economy, we don’t have the money to pay for your pet projects—”

“Mr. President…” Ronny started to say placatingly.

“No, let me,” Roger said, looking the President in the eye. “Mr. President, there was a book a while back, written by some yuppy economist.”

“Yes?” the President said, raising an eyebrow. He very well could be called a “yuppy economist.”

“It was a pretty selfish book,” the scientist said, shrugging. “Basically, it was about how to plan to manage your money so there wasn’t any left over for your kids. ‘Die with your last dollar’ or something like that. But it’s important here, Mr. President.”

“Why?” the national security advisor asked.

“Every other time we had a national emergency, we had to keep one eye on what the future might hold,” Roger said, looking her in the eye. “If we lose this one, there is no future. No econony beyond glass beads,” he said, looking at the chairman of OMB. “No agriculture,” he said, looking at the secretary of Agriculture. “Not beyond digging small gardens with sticks. No housing,” he continued, looking at the HHS secretary. “Not beyond caves and stick houses. And not much of that, looking at the Moon and Mars. A few humans scrabbling for survival in the metal monster of a city the machines will create, living hand to mouth, eating each other to survive. Mr. President, if the last dollar equivalent in the world is spent to kill the last machine, that will be a dollar well spent!”

“Mr. President?” the national security advisor said quietly.

“Yes?”

“We’re already looking at the inflation index skyrocketing,” she said. “Effectively, in a survival economy, which is what we’re approaching, you have to draw money out of the economy or it overheats as there’s more and more competition for survival materials. One way to do that is to crank taxes up and put them into non-useful or disposed costs; personnel and equipment that’s not going to last. You worry about how to recoup if you win, if the survival situation goes away. You don’t print more money, you take it out of circulation.”

“There’s that,” the chairman of OMB mused. “And, frankly, Mr. President, while rather hotly presented, what Dr. Reynolds said makes sense as well. The images from the Moon are more… graphic than those from Mars. As are the growth curves. If the same thing happens, unchecked, on Earth, well…”

“Agreed,” the President said with a sigh. “Senators, Congressmen? We’re going to have to pass bills for this. We’ll have to increase the taxes, begin a draft—”

“Mr. President?” the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the secretary of defense both said simultaneously.

“Yes?” the President said, looking at the secretary with one hand up to the Chairman.

“I think we’re both going the same place, Mr. President,” the secretary said with a glance at the Chairman. “There’s simply not time, or materials, to make a draft worthwhile. Funneling the money to civil defense and, frankly, organized militias will be more worthwhile. Some increase in Defense, yes, but we’re still in the making the tools to make the guns stage. More money and facilities at the scientific redoubts. They’ll have to try to survive even if everything else falls.”

“And culture,” the secretary of the interior said, firmly. “If we lose everything else, let’s keep the knowledge of how to rebuild it alive.”

“Food,” the secretary of agriculture said, frowning. “And storage facilities. Even if these things get a piece of us and we win, food will be at a premium.”

“Distribution,” the secretary of transportation said, nodding. “That’s going to be all screwed up. That was a problem for the Russians, right after independence. They had plenty of food, but the distribution was all screwed up.”

“Refugee housing,” the director of Homeland Security said, nodding. “And supply… On the largest scale ever considered… There are never enough tents…”

Roger looked over at Ronny and nodded faintly. It was late, but the “government” seemed to finally understand how deep a crack they were in. Maybe, if the probes gave them enough time, there might be a chance.

Ret Ball: Tonight we have a very special program with both Hiowa Lend and Megiddo on the line. Hiowa, you first.

Hiowa Lend: Right, Ret. Jumping right into it. My astronomer friends have been doing an analysis of the Moon for me and they tell me that the surface albedo has changed ever so slightly and that it’s now brighter by what appears to be a couple of percentage points.

Ret Ball: Really? What does that mean, Hiowa?