of
a single weapon."

"You're wrong. You don't grasp the situation." Reinhart held himself
in check with great effort. "Sherikov's weapon tipped the ratio in our
favor. But the odds have been moving in our direction for months. It
was only a question of time. The new balance was inevitable, sooner or
later. It's not just Sherikov. He's only one factor in this. It's all
nine planets of the Sol System--not a single man."

One of the Councilmen stood up. "The President must be aware the
entire planet is eager to end this waiting. All our activities for the
past eighty years have been directed toward--"

Reinhart moved close to the slender President of the Council. "If you
don't approve the war, there probably will be mass rioting. Public
reaction will be strong. Damn strong. And you know it."

Margaret Duffe shot him a cold glance. "You sent out the emergency
order to force my hand. You were fully aware of what you were doing.
You knew once the order was out there'd be no stopping things."

A murmur rushed through the Council, gaining volume. "We have to
approve the war!... We're committed!... It's too late to turn back!"

Shouts, angry voices, insistent waves of sound lapped around Margaret
Duffe. "I'm as much for the war as anybody," she said sharply. "I'm
only urging moderation. An inter-system war is a big thing. We're
going to war because a machine says we have a statistical chance of
winning."

"There's no use starting the war unless we can win it," Reinhart said.
"The SRB machines tell us whether we can win."

"They tell us our _chance_ of winning. They don't guarantee anything."

"What more can we ask, beside a good chance of winning?"

Margaret Duffe clamped her jaw together tightly. "All right. I hear
all the clamor. I won't stand in the way of Council approval. The vote
can go ahead." Her cold, alert eyes appraised Reinhart. "Especially
since the emergency order has already been sent out to all Government
departments."

"Good." Reinhart stepped away with relief. "Then it's settled. We can
finally go ahead with full mobilization."

Mobilization proceeded rapidly. The next forty-eight hours were alive
with activity.

Reinhart attended a policy-level Military briefing in the Council
rooms, conducted by Fleet Commander Carleton.

"You can see our strategy," Carleton said. He traced a diagram on the
blackboard with a wave of his hand. "Sherikov states it'll take eight
more days to complete the ftl b