Chapter 11
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George Mason tried to remain strong, to project an image of confidence to the American people. But with ELE coming there was only so much he could do. The Arks were coming along nicely, able to sustain six million American lives. But that amounted to less than two percent of the country's population. Things were falling apart, the center could not hold. The cabinet suggested they could lie, claim that they'd found a way to stop ELE, after the Arks were complete ofcourse. That might buy them some time, but once the lie became known, they could never play that card again. Mason' own family was falling apart. His children were trying to kill each other, Zoey's drug-use was getting out of hand. In Febuary Zoey even got arrested for smuggling drugs from Columbia. She was out on bail, Mason promised vice-president Allen he would pardon her if it even went to trial. He didn't pardon her immediately, and it would be problematic for president Allen to pardon her own daughter. This was his leverage, just in case Allen was involved in the plot to kill him. Then in March, a fanatical preacher named Samuel was finally stopped, or so he thought. But one of Samuel's followers obtained a suit-case nuke, and detonated it. Mason had always known there would be some chaos, but not this. Order needed to be restored, but whatever they did things always got worse. By this point the Arks were almost completely built, fuel and livestock could be collected quietly. So Mason played a desperate card. In March 2034 he addressed the nation, and he lied. He said that ELE was going to be stopped. But God help them all when it failed.