"Okay, boss, what went wrong?"

"With the meeting?"

"Yes, with the meeting. What happened?"

"You sound mad."

Pete blew a deep breath out, relaxing a little.

"A bit. More puzzled. I'm trying to be level-headed about all this but I get the feeling I'm not playing with all the cards."

"The meeting didn't go that badly..."

"It didn't go that well either. And it isn't just the meeting, it's the last couple weeks. All of a sudden you're dragging your feet on this thing. I just want to get the air clear between us and find out why."

Bush didn't answer immediately. Instead, he rose from his desk and keyed a cup of coffee from the Servo-Matic machine in the corner. Pete refrained from pointing out that there was already a steaming cup on the desk. He knew better than to crowd Eddie while he was collecting his thoughts.

"I guess you could say that I'm having second thoughts about our approach to this thing."

"The implementation or the basic idea?"

"Both. More the basic idea, though."

Pete closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The team had been busting their butts on this thing, but it wouldn't go if Number One didn't believe in it.

"Okay, let's take it from the top. We all agree that if this thing blows up in our faces, we've got to have public support behind us. Right?"

"Right. And mass media is the fastest way to get it." Eddie's voice sounded mechanical.

"Now then, to do the job up front, to set the stage and create the atmosphere, we're proposing a saturation campaign of movies and specials, all on a military theme, stressing the right of the individual to protect his personal property and emphasizing the evils of government intervention."

"Whoa! Right there. Our whole strategy is based on the assumption that something will go wrong, that word will get out. At best, it comes off as negative thinking. At worst, it sounds like an open accusation of poor security or lack of employee loyalty. We aren't going to be able to sell this program if we come on hostile."