The Green Progression
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THE ROAR OF THE ENGINES whined even through the helmet. The pilot’s eyes flicked through the heads-up display toward the attacker—that same red light that flashed on the screen.
“Bogey. Zero eight seven. Zero eight seven.”
The pilot edged the throttles forward, his fingers straying toward the burner light-offs.
The red dot flared even brighter on the screen as a host of red sparks showered from it.
He jammed the stick forward, then into the turn, sucking his guts in at the gee force. The afterburners roared in his ears, but the red sparks on the screen grew larger, larger …
Crummmmmmppppp …
He was detached from the seat, hanging from the straps and swinging toward the green of the land below. No longer white … no longer winter. He took a breath.
Beneath him the ground rose, and the green became the uneven canopy of seemingly endless conifers, mile after mile of roadless wilderness.
“Shit t t t…”
He twisted in the straps, searching for open ground, searching as the trees speared toward him …
“Jack … Jack!”
McDarvid sat up in bed, shaking, his forehead coated in sweat.
Allyson had both arms wrapped around him even as he shook.
“Bad one?” she asked sleepily. She left one hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently.
The same damned nightmare … but not quite the same. Not quite.
“Yeah … I’ll be all right.” He took a deep breath and wiped his forehead. “Just been … a long year…”
He turned the pillow to the unsweaty side and lay back.
Allyson lay beside him, her hand on his even after her eyes closed and her mouth dropped open into a gentle snore. McDarvid looked at the ceiling for a long time, holding her hand. Thinking about Allyson, and the three others who slept guiltlessly in the rooms around him, he finally closed his eyes. At least the trees had been green, he reminded himself. Green.
GLOSSARY
ANPRM—Advance Notice of Proposed Rule-making. Notice published in the Federal Register that an agency is considering and seeking public comment on a specific regulatory proposal. This is the earliest step in the formal rule-making process.
ARARS—Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements. ARARS represent standards which can be used as an alternative to the existing standards represented in other EPA statutes, such as the Safe Drinking Water Act, in determining the extent to which contaminants must be removed from Superfund sites.
BADT—Best Available Demonstrated Technology. Legal term used in water and waste regulations requiring the use of the most advanced technology which is, in the opinion of the regulating agency, proven and available.
CFR—Code of Federal Regulations. The compilation of all federal regulations, reprinted on a phased basis annually, consisting of more than 250 individual volumes, with a total of more than 30,000 pages.
Clear Air Act—the major environmental legislation governing emissions and permissible concentration levels of major air pollutants. Under the act, EPA/DEP has a wide range of authority to compel whatever actions are necessary to bring metropolitan areas in compliance with ambient air-pollutant exposure standards.
DARPA—Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Division of DOD responsible for developing new technologies with defense applications.
DEP—Department of Environmental Protection. The government department responsible for enforcing all environmental regulations and legislation.
DIA—Defense Intelligence Agency.
Docket—the complete file kept on every proposed rule issued by a department. Theoretically, departments are required to answer questions and issues raised by docket submissions.
DOD—Department of Defense.
DOE—Department of Energy.
EPA—Environmental Protection Agency, from 1970 until it became a Cabinet department.
Ethics Act—Ethics in Government Act. The law which requires that federal officials in senior positions report all sources of income and which prohibits the receipt of all but the smallest of gifts from any source but long-standing friends and relatives. It effectively prohibits even accepting lunches from lobbyists.
FIFRA—Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. Primary federal statute governing the permissibility and use of chemicals in agriculture. FIFRA also governs certain antimicrobial and antibacterial products.
I.G.—Inspector General. The head of the office within each federal agency and department charged with discovering and prosecuting wrongdoing, particularly abuse of contracting and procurement procedures.
NESHAPS—National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. The standards required for emissions of pollutants defined as hazardous by EPA/DEP and the Congress. NESHAPS are set on a chemical-by-chemical basis.
NIOSH—National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Division of the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for conducting scientific research on issues pertaining to worker health.
NPRM—Notice of Proposed Rule-making. The first draft of a proposed rule published in the Federal Register, which seeks public comment on a specific regulatory proposal before a final rule is issued. This is the second step in the formal rule-making process.
NRDC—National Resources Defense Council. A major private environmental advocacy organization.
NSC—National Security Council. The White House office coordinating national security, defense, and defense-related foreign and domestic policy initiatives.
OMB—Office of Management and Budget. The Executive Branch organization responsible for federal budgeting. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act and Executive Order 12291, OMB, through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), is required to review and approve all proposed federal regulations before they are published in the Federal Register.
OPM—Office of Personnel Management. Federal agency responsible for overall Executive Branch personnel policies.
OPP—Office of Pesticide Programs. Office within EPA/DEP responsible for the development and implementation of pesticide rules.
OPPE—Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation. Office within EPA/DEP responsible for policy development. It contains the Office of Standards and Regulations and the Office of Policy Analysis. OPPE is not responsible for policy implementation.
OSHA—Occupational Safety and Health Administration. A division within the Department of Labor responsible for regulating workplace safety standards.
OSWER—Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. The EPA/DEP office responsible for regulating hazardous and solid wastes and for supervising the listing and cleanup of priority hazardous waste sites (Superfund sites).
PCBs—polychlorinated biphenyls. A highly carcinogenic class of chemicals once used widely, particularly in industrial and commercial electrical equipment.
P.D.—Position Document. A document issued by OPP indicating the positions and policies being considered by EPA/DEP in the regulation of a specific pesticide.
RCRA—Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. One of the major federal statutes governing the disposal of hazardous and nonhazardous waste.
Red Border—the final internal review of a proposed regulation by the EPA/DEP senior officials before it is sent to OMB for review prior to publication in the Federal Register.
Regs—short for regulations.
RPAR—Rebuttable Presumption Against Registration. Older term for Special Review, indicating that EPA/DEP has issued a presumption that a pesticide should not be registered (and is thus forbidden to be sold in the United States). Unless the manufacturer can rebut the presumption, the pesticide’s use would be prohibited in the United States.
SDI—Strategic Defense Initiative. The DOD project to develop a defense against missile attack. More commonly known as Star Wars.
SES—Senior Executive Service. The most senior federal civil servants, constituting approximately the top five thousand e
mployees of the federal civil service. Roughly 10 percent are political appointees and are termed “noncareer.”
Standards and Regs—Office of Standards and Regulations. The office within EPA/DEP responsible for obtaining comments on and approval for proposed EPA/DEP rules by conducting the internal and external circulation and review of such rules.
STU-III—Secure Telephone Unit III. The latest generation of government-approved cryptographic (scrambler) telephones, available in desk and portable models.
Superfund—short term for CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act), the law which provides funding and guidelines for cleaning up abandoned hazardous waste sites.
TEMPEST—the study and control of spurious or compromising radio frequency emissions from electronic data processing equipment. TEMPEST standards are defined in National Communication Security Information Memorandum 5100A (NACISM 5100A).
Water Act—Clean Water Act. The primary federal statute protecting the water quality of streams, rivers, and lakes and restricting the discharge of pollutants into waters of the United States.
404 or Section 404—the section of the Clean Water Act requiring a special permit for any construction or usage of a land classified as a wetland. The permit is granted by the Army Corps of Engineers, but may be vetoed by EPA/DEP if the usage does not comply with the standing 404 criteria published by EPA/DEP.
Tor books by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Green Progression (with Bruce Scott Levinson)
The Magic of Recluce
THE ECOLITAN MATTER
The Ecologic Envoy
The Ecolitan Operation
The Ecologic Secession
THE FOREVER HERO
Dawn for a Distant Earth
Silent Warrior
In Endless Twilight
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
THE GREEN PROGRESSION
Copyright © 1992 by L. E. Modesitt, Jr., and Bruce Scott Levinson
All rights reserved.
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10010
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: January 1992
eISBN 9781466890619
First eBook edition: January 2015