Under the Dome

'Are you talking about radiation, Colonel?' someone called.

Cox froze him with a glance, and when he seemed to consider the reporter properly chastised (not Wolfie, Rose was pleased to see, but that half-bald no-spin yapper from FOX News), he went on.

'We now believe that there are no harmful effects, at least in the short term, and so we have designated Friday, October twenty-seventh - the day after tomorrow - as Visitors Day at the Dome.'

A perfect fury of thrown questions went up at this. Cox waited it out, and when the audience had quieted down, he took a remote from the shelf under the podium and pressed a button. A high-resolution photograph (much too good to have been downloaded from Google Earth, in Julia's estimation) popped up on the white screen. It showed The Mill and both towns to the south, Motton and Castle Rock. Cox put down the controller and produced a laser-pointer.

The super at the bottom of the screen now read FRIDAY DESIGNATED VISATORS DAY AT THE DOME. Julia smiled. Colonel Cox had caught CNN with its spell-checker down.

'We believe we can process and accommodate twelve hundred visitors,' Cox said crisply. 'These will be limited to close relatives, at least this time... and all of us hope and pray there will never have to be a next time. Rally points will be here, at the Castle Rock Fairgrounds, and here, at Oxford Plains Speedway' He highlighted both locations. 'We will lay on two dozen buses, twelve at each location. These will be provided by six surrounding school districts, which are canceling classes that day to help in this effort, and we offer them our greatest thanks. A twenty-fifth bus will be available for press at Shiner's Bait and Tackle in Motton.' Dryly: 'Since Shiner's is also an agency liquor store, I'm sure most of you know it. There will also be one, I repeat, one, video truck allowed on this trip. You'll arrange pool coverage, ladies and gentlemen, the coverage provider to be chosen by lottery'

A groan went up at this, but it was perfunctory.

'There are forty-eight seats on the press bus, and obviously there are hundreds of press representatives here, from all over the world - '

'Thousands!' a gray-haired man shouted, and there was general laughter.

'Boy, I'm glad someone's havin fun,' Ernie Calvert said bitterly.

Qox allowed himself a smile. 'I stand corrected, Mr Gregory. Seats will be allocated according to your news organization - TV networks, Reuters, Tass, AP, and so on - and it's up to those organizations to pick their representatives.'

'Better be Wolfie from CNN, that's all I can say,' Rose announced.

The reporters were babbling excitedly.

'May I go on?' Cox asked. 'And those of you sending text messages, kindly stop.'

'Ooo,' Jackie said. 'I love a forceful man.'

'Surely you folks recall that you're not the story here? Would you behave this way if it was a mine cave-in, or people trapped under collapsed buildings after an earthquake?'

Silence greeted this, the kind that fills over a fourth-grade class after the teacher finally loses his temper. He really was forceful, Julia thought, and for a moment wished with all her heart that Cox were here under the Dome, and in charge. But of course, if pigs had wings, bacon would be airborne.

'Your job, ladies and gentlemen, is twofold: to help us get the word out, and to make sure that things go smoothly on Visitors Day once it does.'

The CNN super became PRESS TO AID VISATORS ON FRIDAY.

'The last thing we want to do is start a stampede of relations from all over the country to western Maine. We've already got close to ten thousand relatives of those trapped under the Dome in this immediate area; the hotels, motels, and camping areas are full to bursting. The message to relatives in other parts of the country is, "If you're not here, don't come." Not only will you not be granted a visitors' pass, you'll be turned around at checkpoints here, here, here, and here.' He highlighted Lewiston, Auburn, North Windham, and Conway, New Hampshire.

'Relatives currently in the area should proceed to registration officers who are already standing by at the Fairgrounds and the Speedway. If you're planning to jump into your car right this minute, don't. This isn't the Filene s White Sale, and being first in line guarantees you nothing. Visitors will be chosen by lottery, and you must register to get in. Those applying to visit will need two photo IDs. We'll attempt to give priority to visitors with two or more relatives in The Mill, hut no promises on that. And a warning, people: if you show up on Friday to board one of the buses and you have no pass or a counterfeit pass - if you clog up our operation, in other words - you'll find yourself in jail. Do not test us on this.

'Embarkation on Friday morning will commence at 0800 hours. If this goes smoothly, you'll have at least four hours with your loved ones, maybe longer. Gum up the works and everyone's time Domeside goes down. Buses will depart the Dome at seventeen hundred hours.'

'What's the visitors' site?' a woman shouted.

'I was just getting to that, Andrea.' Cox picked up his controller and zoomed in on Route 119. Jackie knew the area well; she had damned near broken her nose on the Dome out there. She could see the roofs of the Dinsmore farmhouse, outbuildings, and dairy barns.

'There's a flea market site on the Motton side of the Dome.' Cox binged it with his pointer. 'The buses will park there. Visitors will debark and walk to the Dome. There's plenty of field on both sides where people can gather. All the wreckage out there has been removed.'

'Will the visitors be allowed to go all the way up to the Dome?' a reporter asked.

Cox once more faced the camera, addressing the potential visitors directly. Rose could just imagine the hope and fear those people - watching in bars and motel TVs, listening on their car radios - must be feeling right now. She felt plenty of both herself.