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the remainder of the System was picking it up too. Of course, the interplanetary scale is such that it would be hours before all the other planets received it, but their local news representatives were relaying it from Jupiter. It seemed everyone was interested in what was happening on Jupiter.
    When it was done, we turned to the matter of appointments. As candidate for president I had been aware of the need to set up a Cabinet and prepare a program of legislation; I had expected to finalize that after the election, if I won. Severe complications had interrupted that, and now I did not have any proper program. The fact that I had assumed power outside the normal framework added a dimension of complication. I was now pretty much flying by the seat of my pants.
    Fortunately Spirit was better organized than I was. “We have a guideline of sorts,” she said. “That campaign speech you gave on the eve of the election.”
    “But that was scripted for me by the opposition!” I protested. “It was made up of impossible dreams.”
    “But you presented it,” she reminded me. “And you won the election. The individual points were not necessarily bad; it was merely not feasible to implement all the programs simultaneously. Now, with a completely new government, that may have become feasible.”
    I nodded, appreciating the scope of the opportunity. Part of the complications I had encountered were a two-month abduction and a memory-wash that cleaned out much of my recent life. I had recovered most of that, but some gaps remained. I wasn't necessarily aware of a particular gap until I came across it by chance, so my own ignorance torpedoed me at odd moments.
    “You'll have to do a lot of interviewing,” she continued. “It might save trouble at the beginning if you drew on people you already know, for the key posts, and then interview at greater leisure to fill the lesser ones.”
    I spread my hands. “You know what to do,” I said.
    “I'd better! We've got a planet to organize.” She brought out a notepad. “Now what people do you want closest to you, who are competent to act in your name?”
    I sighed. “She won't come.”
    She patted my hand. “Aside from Megan.”
    “I contacted Senator Stonebridge about the budget—”
    “Yes, he should be put in charge of economics. But you'll need a mandate for him. It's not enough simply to say 'Balance the budget.' You have to have your priorities aligned before he gets into harness.”
    “So I discovered,” I agreed ruefully. “My last four months haven't been very good for economic priorities.”
    She laughed. “Sometimes I think of you as the fifteen-year-old boy I knew when our situation changed,”
    she said. Then she leaned across and kissed me, as I sat startled.
    But, of course, if I could remember her as twelve, she could remember me as fifteen. Certainly that had been the period of our reckoning, of our coming of age. We had shared more joy and tragedy then than ever since. Whatever else might happen, that common experience bound us together in a way that no other person was equipped to understand.
    “Crime,” she said. “We have taken steps to deal with it in the past, but it's like a hydra, always sprouting new heads. We want a competent, dedicated person to tackle the problems of violence in the streets, illicit drugs, gambling—”
    Gambling. That summoned a picture of Roulette, my last Navy wife, as she had been then: eighteen, fiery, and with a body crafted by the devil himself for man's corruption. I had been required to rape her—
    “Why not?” Spirit asked.
    I jogged out of my reverie. “I—”
    “Only one body compels a trance like that. But she always was competent, and at thirty-eight she's had a good deal of experience. She could tackle the problem of crime as well as anyone could.”
    “But—”
    “Of course, we need her husband even more. He is under our power, while she isn't, so we'd better assign him first.”
    “Admiral Phist?” I