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He was small in stature, with brown hair streaked hite and thinning; his features, once cheerful and crinkling, were set and solemn He reopened his eyes as a sudden winter sleet rapped the floor-to-ceiling s behind him Outside on Pennsylvania Avenue, the traffic crawled at a sloth like pace as the paveed for the warmer climate of his native New Mexico He wished he could escape on a care de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe
This man had never set out to become President Never driven by blind a twenty years of conscientious effort and a solid record of acco him a household name
Nominated as a dark horse by his party's convention, he was elected by a wide popularup a series of shady financial dealings in is opponent's past "Mr President?"
He looked up from his reverie at the sound of his aide's voice "Yes?"
"Mr Mercier is here for your security briefing"
"All right, send him in" Mercier entered the room and seated himself across the desk He passed over a heavy folder
"How goes the world today?" the President asked with a thin smile
"Pretty grim, as always," replied Mercier "My staff has coy reserves The botto"
"You're not tellingI didn't know What's the latest outlook?"
"The CIA gives the Middle East another two years before their fields scrape bottom That will leave the world's known oil supply at less than fifty percent of de their depleted reserves, and the Mexican offshore bonanza fell short of expectations And as for our own oil deposits
"
"I've seen the figures," replied the President "The hectic exploration several years ago brought in a few small fields at best"
Mercier surveyed the interior of a folder "Solar radiation, windmills, electric autos, they're partial solutions of a sort Unfortunately, their technology is at about the sa the nineteen forties"
"A pity the synthetic fuel prograot off to such a slow start
"The earliest target date before the oil-shale refineries can take up the slack is four years away In the meantime, American transportation is up the polluted creek without locomotion"