Executive orders - Tom Clancy [545]
What does the government say? the reporter asked the Solicitor General.
Not very much. We will have papers filed with the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals before Judge Venable has his opinion drafted. The order of the court is not officially binding until it is written up, signed, and properly filed. We'll have our appeal drafted first. The Fourth Circuit will stay the order-
And if it doesn't?
Martin took that on. In that case, sir, the executive order will remain in place in the interest of public safety until the case can be argued in a more structured setting. But there is every reason to believe that the Fourth Circuit will stay the order. Judges are people of reality in addition to being people of the written word. There is one other thing, however.
Yes? the reporter asked. Kealty was watching from ten feet away.
The court has settled another important constitutional issue here. In referring to President Ryan by both his name and the title of his office, the court has settled the succession question raised by former Vice President Kealty. Further, the court said that that order was vacated. Had Mr. Ryan not been the President, the order would have been invalid and never legally binding, and the court could have stated that as well. Instead, the Court acted improperly on point, I believe, but properly in a procedural sense. Thank you. The Solicitor General and I have to get some paperwork done.
It wasn't often you shut reporters up. Shutting political figures up was harder still.
Now, wait a minute! Kealty shouted.
You never were a very good lawyer, Ed, Martin said on his way past.
I THINK HE'S right, Lorenz said. Jesus, I sure hope he is.
CDC laboratories had been frantically at work since the beginning, studying how the virus survived in the open. Environmental chambers were set up with differing values of temperature and humidity, and different light-intensity levels, and the data, incomprehensibly, kept telling them the same thing. The disease that had to be spreading by aerosol-wasn't, or at most it was barely doing so. Its survival in the open, even under benign conditions, was measured in minutes.
I wish I understood the warfare side of this a little better, Lorenz went on after a moment's thought.
Two-two-three primary cases. That's all. If there were more, we'd know by now. Eighteen confirmed sites, four additional trade shows that generated no hits. Why eighteen and not the other four? Alex wondered. What if they did hit all twenty-two, but four didn't work?
On the basis of our experimental data, that's a real possibility, Alex. Lorenz was pulling on his pipe. Our models now predict a total of eight thousand cases. We're going to get survivors, and the numbers on that will alter the model somewhat. This quarantine stuff has scared the shit out of people. You know, I don't think the travel ban really matters directly, but it scared people enough that they're not interacting enough to-
Doctor, that's the third good piece of news today, Alexandre breathed. The first had been the woman at Hopkins. The second was Pickett's analytical data. Now the third was Gus's lab work and the logical conclusion it led to. John always said that bio-war was more psychological than real.
John's a smart doc, Alex. So are you, my friend.
Three days and we'll know.
Agreed. Rattle some beads, Alex.
You can reach me through Reed for the time being.
I'm sleeping in the office, too.
See ya. Alexandre punched off the speakerphone. Around him were six Army physicians, three from Walter Reed, three from USAMRIID. Comments? he asked them.
Crazy situation, a major observed with an exhausted smile. It's a psychological weapon, all right. Scares the hell out of everybody. But that works for us, too. And somebody goofed on the other side. I wonder how ?
Alex thought about that for a moment. Then he lifted the phone and dialed Johns Hopkins. This is Dr. Alexandre, he told the desk nurse on the medical floor. I need to talk to Dr. Ryan, it's very important okay, I'll hold. It took