Nuclear Option. Dorothy Van Soest

by the sincerity of her effort to understand, he leaned toward her. “We’ve been negotiating with the top folks at Nectaral for years, right? And where has that gotten us? The Department of Defense is literally throwing money at Nectaral, and it keeps developing and producing more and more weapons of mass destruction. Think about it. We’ve changed nothing. It’s only gotten worse.”

      I had to admit he had a point. Despite all our efforts, all our protests and acts of civil disobedience, the war-making machine was thriving, and with almost no public notice, comment, or objection.

      Norton leaned into the circle. “It’s time to resist. Refuse to coalesce . . . I mean . . . cooperate or negotiate. Shut the system down.”

      Madeline’s eyes flashed like she’d reached the end of her tether. “We’re already shutting the system down, Norton. It’s going to take three or four months to get through all the trials.”

      Tony squinted and raised his hand again. “If we resisted, the judge would have no choice but to throw the book at us.”