“I’m not a maritime expert,” the general said. “But I can tell you this. Modern container ships are mostly automated. They run with skeleton crews. We can sink a hundred of them and probably kill fewer people than the Chinese killed here in the United States yesterday.”
There was a moment when no one said anything.
“On that happy note,” Susan said, “if none of you mind, I feel like now is a good time to take a short break.”
People immediately began to rise from their seats. They had the air of people who had been here a long time, and had been waiting for permission to get out. A quiet, slow-motion stampede started toward the exit.
“Twenty minutes,” Kurt Kimball called out. “In twenty minutes, I want essential personnel finding their way back in here.”
Luke began to move through the c
