Moscow was no more. In one atomic instant had disappeared not only the city itself, but a rich cultural tradition and the intellectual and political leadership of the land. Yet most of the uniformed men sitting around the conference table had not yet fully grasped the implications of the sudden disappearance of the hob of Mother R ussia. But the Deputy Minister of Defense, who had by grudging common consent become Acting Premier, was a career army officer & only too ready to seize the military option as the best means of assert ing & consolidating his new power. And the target was not only obvious but vulnerable. "The Republic of Texas," intoned Acting Premier Luchenko. "we shall crush it underfoot as if it were a cockroach."