"So what if it's a policy that can only apply to Africa? That's the continent where the most frightening and repulsive and untreatable diseases seem to originate."
"I know," said Cecily. "And I've told you all that first occurs to me about the political fallout from a decision to quarantine. But I'm still not sure that's the best course."
"What, you seriously think I should let a world-killing plague loose on the world? Whom does that help?"
"I'm thinking that it's not nice to mess with Mother Nature," she said. "I'm no expert on epidemiology, but I know the basic history. Don't historians now think that one of the great epidemics that depopulated the Roman Empire was measles? Once it spread through the world and killed a third of the population, it settled down to be a childhood disease that was usually not fatal."
"Because the only people who lived to have children were the ones with natural resistance to the disease," said Torrent.
"Exactly," said Cecily. "If a disease is incurable, untreatable, and unpreventable, then isn't the human race better off to endure the onslaught and eventually emerge at the other end of the disaster with a natural resistance to the disease?"
"How would I write that speech? 'My fellow citizens, I have decided that a third of you should die so that a generation from now, this disease will be no more serious than measles.'"
"I'm not talking about politics and speeches now," said Cecily. "I'm talking about right and wrong."
"Well, you think about that," said Torrent, "and let me know what you come up with. But presidents don't have the luxury of ignoring politics."
"Of course you do," said Cecily. "The only time you don't is when you care about getting reelected. And how many elections can a sitting president lose? Just one. The only price you pay for doing the right but unpopular thing is to lose that one election, and then you're done."
"Unless they lynch me," said Torrent.
"My, but we're sounding like Stalin's government in World War II, when they were sure that because Hitler had broken the back of their army, the people would have Stalin and his cronies all hanging from the lampposts of Moscow."
"If I let death come into this country, when I could have kept it out, a plague so terrible that every household lost a third of its members, they'd be right to lynch me. As long as we're talking about right and wrong."
"Let's not fight," said Cecily. "This is all hypothetical, right? The disease was stopped in its tracks, wasn't it?"
"This time, yes."
"And by the time such a terrible thing actually happens—a disease that doesn't wipe itself out by being too quick a killer and too hard to spread—you probably won't be president anymore, so you can relax about it."
"I don't relax about anything," said Torrent. "I always assume that all the worst things will happen in my administration, and I plan how to deal with them."
"Politically."
"In every way. I didn't just ask you about the politics of it. And I meant it when I asked you to tell me what you come up with on the moral front."
"You can be sure that I will."
"Then you've been a great help to me.Thank you for coming in."
"You pay me far more than my contribution is worth. Advice is supposed to be cheap."
"Good advice is a scarce commodity. It drives up the price."
"Averell," said Cecily, "tell me the truth. Is this Ilorin thing really under control?"
"Yes," he said instantly. "It's already just a footnote in history—an epidemic that didn't happen. But it was so quick and devastating that it put the fear of God into our hearts, at least here in the White House. What if, what if, what if. I had to have a plan."
"Of course you did," said Cecily. "You wouldn't be a great president if you didn't think that way."
She headed for the door, but stopped before she reached it. "Are they preparing a vaccine for this disease? In case it breaks out again?"
"They are," said Torrent.
"As a high priority?"
Torrent shrugged. "They say yes, and I make sure they're funded, but these medical researchers, their idea of hurrying is more likely to involve decades than years."