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Marjorie tench fell silent, as if reeling from that last punch.The CNN host prompted, Ms. tench? A reaction?The woman fin eithery cleared her throat and spoke. I guess Im just strike to hear that Mr. sexton is willing to establish himself as so staunchly anti-NASA. sextons eyes narrowed. Nice try, lady. I am not anti-NASA, and I resent the accusation. I am simply saying that NASAs budget is implicative of the kind of run outside(a) spending that your President endorses. NASA said they could build the shuttle for five billion it salute twelve billion. They said they could build the shoes station for eight billion now its one coke billion.Americans are leaders, tench countered, because we set lofty goals and stick to them through the tough times.That national pride manner of speaking doesnt work on me, Marge. NASA has overspent its allowance three times in the past two years and crawled choke off to the President with its tail between its legs and asked for more money to fix it s mistakes. Is that national pride? If you want to talking to about national pride, talk about strong schools. call down about universal health care. Talk about smart kids growing up in a country of opportunity. Thats national pridetench glared. May I ask you a direct question, senator?Sexton did not respond. He simply waited.The womans voice communication came out deliberately, with a sudden infusion of grit. Senator, if I told you that we could not explore space for less than NASA is shortly spending, would you act to abolish the space agency altogether?The question felt like a bowlder landing in Sextons lap. Maybe Tench wasnt so stupid after all. She had just blindsided Sexton with a fence-buster-a carefully crafted yes/no question designed to force a fence-straddling opponent to elect clear sides and crystallise his po rallyion once and for all.Instinctively Sexton tried sidestepping. I have no doubt that with puritanical management NASA can explore space for a lot less th an we are currently-Senator Sexton, answer the question. Exploring space is a dangerous and costly business. Its much like building a passenger jet. We should either do it right-or not at all. The risks are too great. My question remains If you become president, and you are faced with the termination to continue NASA funding at its current level or entirely scrap the U.S. space program, which would you choose?Shit. Sexton glanced up at Gabrielle through the glass. Her expression echoed what Sexton already knew. Youre committed. Be direct. No waffling. Sexton held his chin high. Yes. I would transfer NASAs current budget directly into our school systems if faced with that decision. I would right to vote for our children over space.The look on Marjorie Tenchs face was one of absolute shock. Im stunned. Did I hear you correctly? As president, you would act to abolish this nations space program?Sexton felt an anger simmering. Now Tench was position words in his mouth. He tried to cou nter, but Tench was already talking.So youre saying, senator, for the record, that you would do a route with the agency that put men on the moon?I am saying that the space melt down is over Times have changed. NASA no longer plays a critical role in the lives of habitual Americans and yet we continue to fund them as though they do.So you dont think space is the future? seemingly space is the future, but NASA is a dinosaur Let the private sector explore space. American taxpayers shouldnt have to have their wal allows every time some Washington engineer wants to take a billion-dollar photograph of Jupiter. Americans are weary of selling out their childrens future to fund an outdated agency that provides so little in draw for its gargantuan costsTench sighed dramatically. So little in return? With the exception perhaps of the SETI program, NASA has had enormous returns.Sexton was shocked that the mention of SETI had even escaped Tenchs lips. Major blunder. Thanks for reminding me . The Search for Extraterrestrial cognition was NASAs most abysmal money pit ever. Although NASA had tried to give the project a facelift by renaming it Origins and shuffling some of its objectives, it was still the same losing gamble.Marjorie, Sexton said, taking his opening, Ill address SETI only because you mention it.Oddly, Tench looked almost eager to hear this.Sexton cleared his throat. Most people are not cognisant that NASA has been looking for ET for xxxv years now. And its a pricey treasure hunt-satellite dish arrays, huge transceivers, millions in salaries to scientists who sit in the dark and listen to blank tape. Its an embarrassing waste of resources.Youre saying thithers nothing up there?Im saying that if any other government agency had spent forty-five million over thirty-five years and had not produced one single result, they would have been axed a long time ago. Sexton paused to let the gravity of the statement settle in. After thirty-five years, I think its pret ty obvious were not going to find extraterrestrial life.And if youre wrong?Sexton rolled his eyes. Oh, for heavens sake, Ms. Tench, if Im wrong Ill eat my hat.Marjorie Tench locked her jaundiced eyes on Senator Sexton. Ill remember you said that, senator. She smiled for the first time. I think we all will. sestet miles away, inside the Oval Office, President Zach Herney turned off the television and poured himself a drink. As Marjorie Tench had promised, Senator Sexton had taken the bait-hook, line, and sinker.24Michael Tolland felt himself beaming empathetically as Rachel Sexton gaped in silence at the fossilized meteorite in her hand. The refined beauty of the womans face now seemed to dissolve into the expression of innocent wonder-a small girl who had just seen Santa Claus for the first time.I know just how you feel, he thought.Tolland had been struck the same way only forty-eight hours ago. He too had been stunned into silence. Even now, the scientific and philosophical implic ations of the meteorite astounded him, forcing him to conceive everything he had ever believed about nature.Tollands oceanographic discoveries included several previously unknown deepwater species, and yet this space circumvent was another level of breakthrough altogether. Despite Hollywoods propensity for casting extraterrestrials as little green men, astrobiologists and information buffs all agreed that given the sheer numbers and adaptability of earths insects, extraterrestrial life would in all fortune be buglike if it were ever discovered.Insects were members of the phylum arthropoda-creatures having hard outer skeletons and jointed legs. With over 1.25 million known species and an estimated five degree Celsius thousand still to be classified, earths bugs outnumbered all of the other animals combined. They made up 95 percent of all the planets species and an astounding 40 percent of the planets biomass.It was not so much the bugs abundance that impressed as it was their re silience. From the south-polar ice beetle to Death Valleys sun scorpion, bugs happily dwelled deadly ranges in temperature, dryness, and even pressure. They to a fault had mastered exposure to the most deadly force known in the universe-radiation. Following a nuclear test in 1945, air force officers had donned radiation suits and examined ground zero, only to discover cockroaches and ants happily carrying on as if nothing had happened. Astronomers realized that an arthropods protective exoskeleton made it a perfectly viable candidate to inhabit the countless radiation-saturated planets where nothing else could live.