Ben Bova - Able One

A few more nervous titters out there in the darkness. Good, thought the President.

“And things are going to be tough for a while. It will take weeks, maybe months or even a year or more, before we get full satellite services going again.

“What caused this enormous breakdown? A nuclear bomb exploded in orbit by a dissident element of the North Korean army.”

That got them! The audience gave a collective gasp. Rumbles and murmurs swept the shadowed rows of onlookers.

“I say again”—the President raised a slim finger— “that the bomb was set off in orbit by a dissident group of the North Korean army. Not by the government in Pyongyang. The entire civilized world has been attacked by a fanatical group of… well, they’re fanatics. What else can we call them?”

More grumbling and muttering from the audience. That giant beast out in the shadows was starting to growl.

The President held up both his hands, palms out,’ and the beast quieted. “The regular North Korean army is rounding up these dissidents. They’ll be captured and dealt with by North Korean justice. Which, I may tell you, is a lot tougher and swifter than our own.”

He hesitated a moment.

“But before these fanatics could be captured, they launched two more missiles. Toward America. We have every reason to believe those missiles were armed with nuclear warheads.”

Now they really stirred. But the President grinned and, raising his voice slightly, told them, “Now the good news. Both those missiles have been shot down. We’re not entirely sure where they were aimed at, because they were shot down within a minute or so of being launched. They might have been aimed right here, at San Francisco. They might have been intended to kill me. And you.

“But they were both shot down by an American plane flying over international waters off the coast of Korea. That plane was armed with a high-power laser that destroyed both those missiles within a minute or so after they were launched.

“So, the good news is that we have a missile defense system that works. The North Korean fanatics who launched those missiles are being rounded up and will be swiftly punished.”

They broke into applause. The audience rose to its feet like one single organism and cheered long and hard and loud. The President stood before them in the spotlights, smiling his boyish smile, thinking that the next thing he had to explain was that the North Koreans were in no way associated with Islamic terrorists. I don’t want this to spill over into a new war in the Middle East, he told himself. We’ve got to avoid that. By all means.

The rain had stopped. Cool moonlight beamed down out of a silver-clouded sky. The Secretary of State watched the clouds gliding across the moon as she listened to the President’s speech on the little plastic radio one of her aides had placed on her desk. His voice sounded scratchy, tinny, streaked with static. Cross-country television had been down since the commercial satellites were knocked out, but radio reception was still serviceable.

Sitting before her were General Higgins, freshly shaved and wearing a new, crisply creased uniform; Zuri Coggins, looking wilted in the same red jacket suit she’d been wearing all day; and that annoying Jamil fellow, with his sliver of a beard and his dark, probing eyes.

Farther back in the room sat a trio of her aides. The Secretary had forbidden them from making a transcript of this impromptu meeting, but she knew that her personal assistant had set up the digital recording system in her desk before she’d gone home for the night. No one else had access to it. I’ll be able to review what we say here but no one else will, she reassured herself. If necessary I can erase the record entirely.

The roar of the crowd sounded in the little radio like surf crashing on a rocky beach.

“They like what he has to say,” Zuri Coggins murmured to no one in particular.

The Secretary of State saw that although Coggins’ clothes might be wrinkled, the woman herself was still intense, still sharp, her eyes bright, her attention focused on the President’s words and the crowd’s reaction to them as she sat hunched slightly forward in the big leather chair.

“He hasn’t mentioned China,” muttered Michael Jamil.

The Secretary of State flared inwardly. There he goes with that China business again!

But she smiled cordially at Jamil and said mildly, “Let’s hear the rest of what he has to say before analyzing it.”

The President’s voice sounded strong, assured. “So I want the people of America—and our allies—to rest assured that we have a missile defense system that works. There will be no nuclear Pearl Harbors as long as we have fine, committed men and women in our military and civilian defense establishments.”

Thunderous applause. It died slowly.

The President resumed. “And I want the people of the world to know that we have entered a new era, an era where the most terrifying weapons of war are no longer supreme. An era where we can defend ourselves and our allies against surprise attack.

“And finally, I offer this pledge: The United States will work with any nation that is willing to work toward peace with the mutual understanding that we promise to use our missile defenses to shield them as well as ourselves. Against the threat of rogue states or terrorists, we must all stand together to build a world of peace and safety. That is our goal and we will not settle for anything less. Thank you and good night.”

The cheering erupted before the President finished his last line and went on and on until at last the Secretary of State reached out and snapped the radio’s off switch.

For several moments no one said a word. The cheering from San Francisco seemed to reverberate in the spacious office.

“Well,” the Secretary of State said at last. “Any comments?”

Zuri Coggins immediately replied. “He’s offering to turn this near disaster into an opportunity for better international cooperation.”

“Like Kennedy did after the Cuban missile crisis,” said Jamil. “It led straight to the Limited Test Ban Treaty.”

General Higgins shook his head. “What he’s really saying is that we can shoot down attacking missiles. That changes the whole strategic picture.”

“Yes, it does,” State said softly, “doesn’t it.”

She looked past the general to her aides, seated on the other side of the room. They glanced at one another, but none of them offered a word of advice or analysis.

Turning her cobra smile to Jamil, the Secretary of State asked, “Do you still believe that China was behind this?”

Without a heartbeat’s hesitation, Jamil replied, “Yes, ma’am, I do. But we’ll never know, will we? Those rebel North Korean army officers know they’re as good as dead. They won’t let themselves be taken alive.”

“You think not?”

“I’m certain of it.”

“So Pyongyang can tell us the DPRK government had nothing to do with this, and Beijing can sit there and say nothing.”

“The real test,” Jamil said, “will be how Beijing reacts to the President’s initiative.”

“Share our missile defense system with them?” State scoffed at the idea.

“Promise to build a system that can protect them against rogue nations or terrorists with missiles.”

Coggins shook her head. “The Chinese will want to build their own defenses.”

“Good!” Jamil snapped. “Fine. Defensive systems don’t threaten anybody.”

General Higgins made a sour face. “You don’t understand, young man. They’ll use their defense system to protect themselves, but they’ll still have all their offensive missiles. They can attack us and defend themselves against our counterstrike.”