Free Infinite Dreams by Joe Haldeman Page B

in your hands, then. I’m going to go down and do that commercial.”
    “Good luck, sir.”
    “We’re past the need for luck. Be careful, Colonel.” He rings off.
    Ramo shaves and dresses, white Palm Beach suit. The reflection in the mirror looks like somebody’s grandfather; not long for this world, kindly but a little crotchety, a little senile. Perhaps a little senile. That’s why Colonel Day is coordinating things in Iceland, rather than Ramo. If Ramo dies, Day can decide what to do. If Day dies, the bombs all go off automatically.
    “Let’s go,” he shouts into the adjoining room. His voice is still clear and strong.
    Two men go down the elevator with him. One is the exhit man, with a laundered identity (complete to plastic surgery) and two hidden pistols. The other is Philip Vale, who carries with him all of the details of Project Blackmail and, at Ramo’s suggestion, a.44 notice—not just the derringer. He watches the hit man, and the hit man watches everybody else.
    The Cadillac that waits for them outside the Beachcomber is discreetly bulletproof and has under thefront and rear seats, respectively, a Thompson submachine gun and a truncated 12-gauge shotgun. The exhit man insisted on the additional armament, and Ramo provided them for the poor man’s peace of mind. For his own peace of mind Ramo, having no taste for violence on so small a scale, had the firing pins removed last night.
    They drive to a network-affiliated television station, having spent a good deal of money for ten minutes of network time. For a paid political announcement.
    It only cost a trifle more to substitute their own men for Union employees behind the camera and in the control room.
    15. Transcript
    FADE IN LONG SHOT: RAMO, PODIUM, GLOBE
    RAMO
    My name is Howard Knopf Ramo.
    SLOW DOLLY TO MCU RAMO
    RAMO
    Please don’t leave your set; what I have to say is extremely important to you and your loved ones. And I won’t take too much of your time.
    You’ve probably never heard of me, though some years ago my accountants told me I was the richest man in the world. I spent a good deal of those riches staying out of the public eye. The rest of my fortune I spent on a project that has taken me thirty years to complete.
    I was born just twenty-one years after the Civil War.In my lifetime, my country has been in five major wars and dozens of small confrontations. I didn’t consider the reasons for most of them worthwhile. I didn’t think that any of them were worth the price we paid.
    And at that, we fared well compared to many other countries, whether they won their wars or lost them. Still, we continue to have wars. Rather …
    TIGHT ON RAMO
    … our
leaders
continue to declare wars, advancing their own political aims by sending sons and brothers and fathers out to bleed and die.
    CUT TO:
    MEDIUM SHOT, RAMO SLOWLY TURNING GLOBE
    RAMO
    We have tolerated this situation through all of recorded history. No longer. China, the Soviet Union, and the United States have stockpiled nuclear weapons sufficient to destroy all human life, twice over. It has gone beyond politics and become a matter of racial survival.
    I propose a plan to take these weapons away from them—every one, simultaneously. To this end I have spent my fortune constructing 29 atomic bombs. 28 of them are hidden in various cities around the world. One of them is in an airplane high over Florida. It is the smallest one; a demonstration model, so to speak.
    CUT TO:
    REMOTE UNIT; PAN SHORELINE
    RAMO
    VOICE OVER SURF SOUND
    This is the Atlantic Ocean, off one of Florida’s Keys. The bomb will explode seven miles out, at exactly 10:30. All shipping has been cleared from the area and prevailing winds will disperse the small amount of fallout harmlessly.
    Florida residents within fifty miles of Shark Key are warned not to look directly at the blast.
    FILTER DOWN ON REMOTE UNIT
        Watch. There!
    AFTER BLAST COMES AND FADES
    CUT TO:
    TIGHT ON RAMO
    RAMO
    Whether or not you agree