Brent slapped the table with his hand. "That doesn't answer my-" "In no case," Curtis cut him off, "was either vehicle shielded against a laser attack. A space station the size of Ice Fortress, assembled in space, can be armored to withstand as much direct energy as that nuclear power plant can put out. A beam of laser light, no matter how powerful, is still a beam of light-it can be reflected. I can have the researchers at Wright Patterson present a more detailed analysis, sir, but Ice Fortress can be protected."
"We're betting a lot of money on your analysis, General," Brent said, shaking his head.
"You're worried about the money, Mr. Brent-?"
"No, dammit," Brent said, exploding. "Mr. President, it's not only the risk of losing the hardware, sir-Ice Fortress represents the worst fears about the militarization of space.
Can we stand the pressure of world opinion if we launch that thing?"
"I'm more concerned about losing the ability to maintain deterrence," Curtis said. Perhaps you don't understand we have lost a good percentage of our strategic nuclear deterrent power. Right now, right this minute, Mr. Brent, we can't detect a missile launch from eastern Asia. There are twelve submarines docked at Petropavlovsk, each with an average of fifteen sea-launched ballistic missiles. Each of those carry three warheads, maybe more. Mr. Brent, we can't tell if the Russians launch those missiles until they are ten minutes from impact.
That's not speculative-that's fact. And the Soviets have demonstrated a capability of destroying our missiles in the boost phase. So, if they did launch those missiles, and we retaliated, a good percentage of our missiles wouldn't reach their targets.
Curtis had everyone's attention.
"It may be everyone's image of Armageddon," Curtis concluded, "but we need Ice Fortress. The risk of losing it is far outweighed by our need for a bargaining chip."
Brent offered no further argument.
"Marshall, draft a statement of protest to the Kremlin for my signature," the President asked. "Get with Karrnarov at the U.N. and ask him what the hell is going on. I want the Soviets to know they've committed an act of war and that we intend to respond.
"I'd advise against using such language, sir," Brent said.
The President glanced around the Situation Room chamber at the shaking heads. He too shook his head.
"An act of war, Marshall. That's what it is.that's what I said.
The United Nations, SEVERAL WEEKs LATER "It is an act of war!"
Marshall Brent sat back in his seat, turning down the volume of Dmitri Karmarov's tirade on the floor of the United Nations Security Council.
Beside him, Gregory Adams took careful notes, penciling in occasional comments.
Karmarov held aloft five books in his hands and waved them in the air for the rest of the Security Council to see. "Five treaties, fellow delegates. The United States has wantonly violated five important treaties with the Soviet Union and with this body. They have wrecked years of vital negotiations that have sought to bring a lasting peace to the world. "He threw the books into the aisle in front of him, and the delegate from Rumania quickly reached back to pick them up.
"They are useless. Wasted. Dust. "Karmarov waved away the five volumes, pointed a finger at the American delegation.
"The militarization of space is not merely a threat to the Soviet Union, fellow representatives. It is a threat to us all. The United States will now continue to build vast machines of destruction orbiting over our heads, over our homes, over our seats of government. This Ice Fortress of theirs may now be orbiting over the North Pole, as the Americans claim, but it has the capability to be instantly steered and repositioned anywhere over the Earth. Anywhere. Don't be fooled by comforting assurances. No one is safe.
"They say it has no nuclear weapons on board--they even offer to have observers come aboard and examine it, as if it took only a short boat ride to get to it. But don't be fooled.
They also say their carriers and warships that dock in Japanese ports carry no nuclear weapons, and they are technically correct-until all the critical components are assembled and the weapon is prearmed, no nuclear weapons exist. It is a sham."
Karmarov turned toward the American delegation. "I don't care," he said, "what possible reasons the United States could have for launching their Ice Fortress. Doubtless, they will blame it on the Soviet Union, as they have blamed so many incidents on us in the past. Doubtless, they will invent another tale of disaster. But there exists no possible reason on this earth for the United States to violate five international agreements and jeopardize the peace and well-being of not only the Soviet Union but of the rest of the world by launching this doomsday device.
"I call upon the United States to immediately deactivate their illegal Ice Fortress. Because it appears they cannot be trusted to abide by any agreements between nations, I call upon an independent United Nations team of observers to examine all future Space Shuttle launches to guarantee that they are carrying no weapons of any kind to be used aboard their space platform. I further demand that no corrections be made to the existing platform's orbit so that it may be allowed to reenter the atmosphere and be destroyed. "When Gregory Adams straightened to address the Council, Marshall Brent held his arm.
Keeping his hands folded before him on the long, curved table, he glanced around at the assembled delegates and began: "There comes a time," Brent said, "when international agreements lose meaning. There was a time when the government of the United States felt secure negotiating a lasting peace and true disarmament. Our respective governments hoped against hope that our talks would eventually lead to the elimination of all nuclear weapons from the face of the earth by the year two thousand. I assure you, our government is still willing to continue those negotiations... even though we have evidence that the Soviet Union has wantonly attacked American space vehicles, including a satellite, a missile testfiring, and a reconnaissance aircraft with the resultant loss of twelve innocent lives and a billion dollars worth of valuable equipment. We regretfully conclude that the Soviet Union will continue on its reckless course. The evidence is overwhelming, incontrovertible. No treaty of agreement, past, present or future, can oblige us to give up our ability to defend ourselves.
"Our original charges and the evidence we presented to support those charges stand. Absent the desired approval of this body, we must use our own resources to protect ourselves.
"The antiballistic missile space platform will remain until it is demonstrated to our satisfaction that.the Soviet Union will tellites and cease all attacks against our reconnaissance sa aircraft. We ask again that the Soviet Union show its good will by deactivating the Salyut Nineteen orbiting mirror spacecraft immediately We can wait no longer. "He bowed his head, "I am very sorry, we can trying to summon additional strength.
wait no longer."
He then stood and quickly left the Security Council, with Gregory Adams following close behind.
THE SPACE SHUTTLE, TLANTIS They were in business again.
Navy Commander Richard Seedeck prepared his spacesuit for his upcoming EVA, extravehicular activity-his space walk. The forty-two-year-old veteran astronaut, now on his second Shuttle mission, was having the time of his life.
Seedeck had just returned from Atlantis' flight deck, where he had been pre-breathing pure oxygen for the past hour. He was now in the airlock, smoothly but quickly putting on his equipment. Jerrod Bates, a civilian defense contractor on board Atlantis as an expert advisor and engineer, watched Seedeck put on his suit, marveling at the speed with which he dressed.
It always took Bates twice as long to accomplish the same task.
There was nothing like being in space, Seedeck thought, and nothing like being on board the Space Shuttle. No one on board was a passenger-everyone was a crewman, a necessity. Each was busy seventeen hours a day.
And there were fewer "mice and monkey" research flights, too. Like this one. This one was top secret all the way, all heavy-duty military hardware. Even the usual press speculation
about the payload was nonexistent-or it had been effectively quashed.
"What are you smiling about, Commander?"Bates finally asked.
"I'm smiling at how good this feels, Bates," Seedeck said, talking through the clear plastic facemask he was wearing. He finished donning the lower torso part of his spacesuit and unbuckled the upper part from a holder in the airlock. Bates reached out to hold the bulky suit for Seedeck to climb into, but that was unnecessary-Seedeck merely let go and weightlessness held the suit exactly where Seedeck had left it.
"I've been doing that for four days now," Bates said through his faceplate. "I forget-nothing falls up here."
"I still do it sometimes," Seedeck admitted. "But I've learned to use it. "And he did-Seedeck had his helmet, gloves, his "Snoopy's hat" communication headset and his POS, his portable oxygen system, all floating around the airlock within easy reach.
In one fluid motion, Seedeck held his breath, removed his POS face mask, and slipped into the upper torso part of his suit. If Seedeck started breathing cabin air, he would reintroduce deadly nitrogen into his bloodstream and risk dysbar ism, nitrogen narcosis, the "bends"-Bates had also been pre breathing oxygen for the same reason.
Still holding his breath, he attached several umbilicals from the huge life support backpack to his suit and connected the two halves of his suit together, nodding as both he and Bates heard a distinct series of clicks as the unions and interlinks joined.
Stu Bates couldn't believe the brush-cut veteran he was watching. It had been well over two minutes, and Seedeck was still holding his breath and still acting like a kid in a candy store.
Seedeck locked on both gloves, put on his "Snoopy's hat' communications headset, locked his helmet in lace, and watched the pressure gauge on his chest indicators as the suit pressure gradually increased to 28 kilopascals. When the suit was pressurized and Seedeck had double-checked that there were no leaks, he finally released his breath with a whoosh.
"I don't believe it," Bates said as he put on a mid-deck cabin headset to talk to Seedeck. "You went nearly six minutes without breathing.
"You'd be surprised how easy it is after pre-breathing oxygen for an hour," Seedeck asked. "Besides, I've done this once or twice before.
Check my backpack, please?"
"Sure," Bates said, and double-checked the connections and gauges on Seedeck's suit and gave him a thumbs-up. "It's goo d.
"Thanks. Clear the airlock. Admiral, this is Seedeck.
Preparing to depressurize airlock."
"Copy, Dick," the Atlantis' mission commander, Admiral Ben Woods, replied. "Clear any time. "Woods repeated the to Mission Control in Houston five hundred nautical message miles below them.ed the Seedeck turned to the airlock control panel and moved "AIRLOCK DEPRESS SWITCH" to 5, then to 0, and waited for air to be released outside. Three minutes later, Seedeck was exiting the airlock.
It was a sight he would never get used to-the mindboggling sight of the Earth spinning above him, the colors, the detail, the sheer size and spectacular beauty of Planet Earth five hundred miles away. Atlantis was "parked" right over the North Pole, and Seedeck could see the entire Northern Hemisphere-the continents of North America, Europe, and Asia, as well as the North Arctic region and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Clouds swirled around the globe like g Ising strokes of a painter's brush, occasionally knotting and pu the Shuttle's normal as a storm brewed below. Because of his upside-down orientation, Earth would actually be his "sky" during the entire E.V.A. Seedeck closed and locked the airlock hatch, clipped a safety line onto a bracket near the hatch and began working his way hand-over-hand along the steel handholds to where Atlantis' three MMUs, manned maneuvering units, were attached inside the forward bulkhead of the cargo bay. He He inspected one of the bulky, contoured devices, then uncapped it from its mounting harness.
Miming around so his backpack was against the MMU, Seedeck guided himself back against it. He felt his way back with his knees and sides until he heard four distant clicks as the MMU locked itself in place on his backpack.
"MMU in place, Atlantis."copy.
With his safety line still attached, Seedeck made a few test hruster shots then unclipped his safety line from the MMU's tether and moved himself out of the MMU's holder. Pushing gently, he propelled himself away from Atlantis' cargo bay and out into space.
"Clear cargo bay, Atlantis. Beginning MMU tests."
Seedeck knew that Admiral Woods, who would be watching him from one of the eight cameras installed in the cargo bay and remote manipulator arm, was choking down a protest, but Seedeck had an urge he couldn't ignore and this was his time.
A normal MMU maneuverability test consisted of short distances, short-duration movements, all with a safety tether connected. He was supposed to go up a few feet, stop, do a few side-to-side turns and try some mild pitch-ups, all within a few feet of the airlock hatch and manipulator arm in case of trouble.
Not Seedeck. With his safety line disconnected, Seedeck nudged his thruster controls and Performed several loops, barrel rolls, full twists, and lazy-eight maneuvers several meters above the open cargo bay doors.
"MMU maneuvering tests complete, he finally reported as he expertly righted himself above Atlantis'
cargo bay.
"Very Pretty, " Woods asked. "Too bad NASA isn't broadcasting Your Performance in Prime time."
Seedeck didn't care There was only one word to describe this feeling---ecstasy Without a tether line, he was another planetary body in the solar system, orbiting the Sun just like the planets, asteroids, comets, and other satellites around him.
He was subject to the same laws, the same divine guiding force as they were.
Seedeck floated, for a few moments before bringing his thoughts back to the business at hand. He spotted his objective immediately "Inventory in sight , Atlantis. Beginning translation."
They weren't allowed to call it anything but on an open radio channel.
The Atlantis had be "the inventory" six hundred meters away from the huge object, en Parked about e the closest the -it would be a short translation, w re allowed to approach it Y jargon for space-walk, over to it. Seedeck opened a bin in the center of the right side of the cargo bay and extracted the end of the steel cable from its reel mounted on the cargo bay walls, attached the cable to a ring on the left side of his MMU, then maneuvered back into open space and headed for the object floating in the distance.
It was the first time Seedeck had seen it, except of course for photographs and mock-ups. It was a huge steel square, resembling some sort of massive POP-art decoration suspended in space. Each side of the square was a hundred-foot-long, fifteen-foot-square tube. One large rectangular radar antenna, two thousand square feet in area, was mounted on each of two Opposite sides of the square, pointing earthward. Mounted on transmission dish antennas, one Pointing earthward, the Other one Of the other two sides of the square were two smaller data r pointing spaceward. On the remaining side was an eighteeninch diameter cylinder twelve feet long with a large glass eye at one end, also pointing to Earth. Enclosed within heavily armored containers on the four sides of the square were fuel cells, rocket fuel tanks, fuel lines, and other connectors and control units running throughout the steel frame.
Mounted in the center of the square was a huge cylinder, seventy feet in diameter and thirty feet long, armored and covered in shiny aluminum-Atlantis had to move its position now and then to keep the brilliant reflection of the sun from MP ruining its cameras. The spaceward end was closed, but the earthward side had a removable armor cover that revealed five shining, polished walls inside, all empty.
fifteen-foot-diameter tubes, earthlight reflecting around the This was Ice Fortress.
n all the articles, presentations, and drawings, it looked like a Rube Goldberg tinker-toy contraption, but out here in position it looked awesome and as mean as hell. The two large radar antennas, Seedeck knew, were target-tracking radars searching for sea- or land-launched intercontinental ballistic missi
les. The smaller dish antennas were data-link antennas, one for transmitting steering signals from the platform, the other for receiving target tracking data from surveillance satellites at higher orbits around earth. The large cylinder with the glass eye was an infrared detector and tracker designed to search and follow the exhaust of an I.C.B.M in the boost phase.
The radars could track warhead carriers, "busses," in the midphase or even individual reentering warheads as they plunged through the atmosphere, and it could even differentiate between decoy warheads and the real thing.
The large center cylinder was the "projectile" container, which housed the launch tubes for Ice Fortress' weapons. The entire station was armored in heat-resistant carbon-carbon steel, and smooth surfaces and critical components like the missile cylinder covers and fuel tanks were also covered in reflective aluminum film. Seedeck had heard rumors about all these strange additions to Ice Fortress, but that wasn't his concern.
Dale Brown - Flight Of The Old Dog Page 20