Final Assault by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch Read Free Book Online

skipping over the different methods of the varied sovereignties. Everyone had been skipping over those things. Right now, as someone had pointed out earlier, the most important thing was for the world to work together, not to fight over differences in methodology.
    “We hope to be able to blanket the world, as Ms. Groopman said,” Shane continued, “but the way it looks—based solely on delivery methods—we’ll only be able to dust cities and towns.”
    “But what about the people who live in villages or the country?” Britt asked. She sounded shocked.
    “That’s part of the president’s speech tonight,” Maddox said. “He’s going to tell people to move to populated areas for safety reasons.”
    “So the cities are going to be overrun,” Cross muttered.
    Britt elbowed him.
    But that didn’t stop him. “General,” he said, “people can go to deserts as well. The aliens aren’t going to touch areas that aren’t lush. I think we should also launch as many ships as possible, oceans only, of course. That should take some of the pressure off the cities.”
    “Good point,” Maddox said. “I will make sure that gets mentioned as well.”
    “That still won’t take all the stress off the cities,” Bradshaw said.
    “We have a month to make this transition,” Shane said. “It’s not like people have to be to a major city tomorrow. In fact, the dusting won’t even start until two days before the aliens’ arrival, and it will continue throughout the attack.”
    Portia was shaking her head. “Two flybys should be enough,” she said. “Let’s spread the rescuers other places. I mean, these aliens are going for crops, too. If they destroy the unpopulated areas, how are we going to feed people?”
    Her words echoed in the large room.
    “We have to make it through the attack first,” Maddox said. “Then we worry about the aftermath.”
    Portia leaned forward. “But if we do it my way— “Ms. Groopman, the issue has already been decided.”
    “But we can’t. We have to spread them all over—•” “Portia,” Cross said quietly. “No one here made the decision. It came from upstairs and is already being implemented.”
    “Idiots,” Portia mumbled. “They should have consulted with me.”
    They had seen her recommendations, Cross knew. He also knew that the world leaders were trying to solve two problems here: they wanted people to survive the alien attack and they wanted to stop the unrest.
    Then Cross glanced at Maddox. She seemed to be working to suppress a smile. Apparently, she had agreed with Portia.
    “I think Ms. Groopman has a point,” Maddox said. “Let’s make sure that when we report to our superiors we mention the possible future food shortages. I’m sure FEMA and the equivalent organizations in other countries have already thought of making sure enough food is in the cities to feed the added population. But we should also be stockpiling seeds—things will grow in that ash, won’t they?”
    Cross nodded. “If the aliens do as they have in the past,” he said. “We discovered soot layers buried under centuries of organic material. They don’t permanently harm the Earth, but I’m not a biologist. I can’t guarantee whether we’ll have a growing season at all after the nanoharvesters land.”
    “Forgive me for interrupting,” said one of the members of the Argentinian team. “We have already seen plants begin to recover in the rainforests.”
    “Good,” Maddox said. “Then the next growing season will go on as usual.”
    “But that doesn’t make up for all the lost food,” Portia said.
    “We’re getting off track,” Maddox said firmly. “This work is very important, and if I had the power to alter the commands of the world leaders, I would do so. But right now, we are dusting only major population centers, and we will make sure people are in those centers.
    Dr. Shane, if you or someone can guarantee us a better delivery method, I might be able to bring an