Thomas Hoover - Project Daedalus

He leaned back to think. Given today's global realities, a deal like that had to be the tip of some gigantic iceberg. In diplomacy, there was always give and take.

"And you believe whatever's on this disk is somehow connected to the treaty?"

"That's precisely what I believe," she sighed. "The treaty has a secret protocol involved. It's hinted at in the intercepts, but never described. And I've got a feeling, somehow, that this is it."

"Doesn't sound like something that would delight Washington." He pondered. "On the other hand, what could the U.S. do anyway? The American military is a hell of a lot more worried about losing its bases in Japan, not to mention NSA's Soviet and Chinese listening posts, than the Japanese are about giving up our so-called protection. There's not a damned thing the U.S. could do about it."

"I'd guess whoever's behind this fully realizes that." She paused, letting a roll of thunder from above die away. "But the protocol… nobody has any idea what's in it, not even the KGB. I also know that from our intercepts."

"This is getting more interesting by the minute."

"Well, stay tuned. There's more still. As it happens, I'm also on NSA's oversight panel, the Coordinating Committee. We assemble briefing packages that bring together reports from all the departments, including PHOTOINT, photo intelligence from satellite surveillance."

"The 'spy in the sky' recon? Big Bird, KH-12, radar imaging?"

"Well, we review all of that, sure. But think about it. The Soviets have surveillance satellites too. And p.s., their Cosmos series can now relay down digital imagery in real time." She paused. "It's classified, but put two and two together. If NSA intercepts Soviet voice and data communications…"

"Stealing pictures from their spy satellites?" He knew about it. "Why not? All's fair in love and war, I think the saying goes."

"Okay, just pretend you dreamed it up." She sighed. "Now, from here on it gets a little off-the-wall. So off-the-wall everybody at NSA refuses to take it seriously. The committee keeps wanting to study everything, but I think time's running out. Something's going to happen any day now, but-"

"Something bad?" He tried to make out her eyes in the dark, wondering what she was still holding back.

"Michael, I shouldn't…" She reached over and took another cigarette out of her purse. "Anyway, the reason I wanted you here was to help me find some answers. Before somebody decides to try and make me disappear too. Like Jerry." She flicked at her lighter three times before it finally flared.

Maybe, he thought, she had good reason to be afraid. He remembered the odd sense that afternoon that they were being watched. And then Zeno mentioning a stranger carrying his book. It was beginning to seem less and less like a coincidence.

"But, Jesus," she went on. "Now they've found me. And I've drawn you into it. I'm really-"

"Just relax." Mainly now he wanted to calm her down. "Nobody's found-"

"Don't you see? Alex. Just happens to call you this morning as you were on your way here to see me. Don't flatter yourself. That call was about me. Which means he knows I've got…" Her hand quavered as she dropped the lighter back into her purse. "There's already been one murder-"

"Hey, slow down. Take it easy. Novosty's never scared me, even when he's tried. Just-"

"It's not him I'm worried about. Michael, if even a TDirectorate sleaze like Alex knows, then who else…" The darkened room fell silent.

"You'd better tell me all of it. Everything." Again he paused, thinking he heard a sound from somewhere in the dark. But it was impossible. Nobody could have followed them here.

"All right." She let the words tumble out, finally. "Yes, we intercept all the Soviet satellite photos. Just the way you thought." She exhaled, then rose and paced the room a moment, its walls now ghostly in the candlelight. "Well, lately for some strange reason their Soyuz series always seems to have a temporary malfunction whenever they pass over one certain spot on the globe. Almost as though somebody were turning off their KFA-1000 high-resolution cameras. I kept noticing it, but nobody else in PHOTOINT thought it was anything but a coincidence. Still, it got me wondering. What if somebody over there is pulling a number on the KGB, or the GRU? Keeping them from seeing something. So I had some of our own photos of that grid sent over, from the new KH-12."

"Where was it?"

"Well, it wasn't necessarily where you'd think. It was the Japanese island of Hokkaido. And the high-resolution grid missing was just the northern tip."

"So?"

"I went back and checked a series of KH-12 recon photos, taken over the last two years. There's something new there now, Michael. Just this last year or so. It's been partly camouflaged, but I think it's a new runway. Or launch facility. Or something. And the radar maps show some funny surface irregularities. At least I think they do. Nobody else at NSA…" She looked away. "But put it together. Maybe that's part of the treaty somehow, their secret protocol. Some joint-"

"A launch facility? Eva, that's impossible. The Japanese space program is all down on Tanegeshima Island, south of Tokyo. The island of Hokkaido is way up north. There's nothing up there but Holsteins and hay fields."

But, he thought suddenly, it's also just across from Sakhalin. The Soviet Far East. The place the party secretary who embezzled…

"This isn't hay fields, darling, believe me." Her voice seemed to drift out and blend with the rain. "Something you said this afternoon, that's what made it click. About the first man to leave the earth and soar into space…"

"You mean-"

"I didn't ask for this. Oh, Christ, how did I…" She paused again, uncertain. "You know, I finally think I've figured out what's happening, why it's so secret-the treaty, the protocol, cutting out their own intelligence. It's partly about space, all right. Has to be. Something's cooking, something they're eventually going to spring on the world like the first Sputnik."

"You still haven't decoded the damned thing."

"Okay, I'm guessing. But how's this? Somebody at the top, in the USSR, has decided to go for a giant gamble. To save their system, they've been forced to turn to some nutcakes in Japan who can loan them billions. And this project is part of it. The Soviets once cut a deal with Nazi Germany to buy time, so why not? The leadership needs time now desperately."

"And you think-?"

"Project Daedalus. That's the code name in the preamble. Think about it. You know what I believe? To get the money and technology they desperately need, the Russians have had to cave in and do the unthinkable. Form a new alliance. Michael, they're about to start rearming Japan."

Thursday 7:28 A.M.

"Hai, so deshoo," Taro Ikeda, project director, bowed into the red telephone receiver, using that breathy, clipped speech all Japanese reserve for their superiors. "Kore wa honto ni muzakashi desu. It has been difficult, but they have finally agreed on the revised schedule. In nine days-"

He paused to listen, then continued. "Hai, so. There is no other way. Hai. The Diet will never approve the treaty unless there is some dramatic symbol of the advantages of the alliance."

He halted. "Hai, security has been maintained here. With deepest respect, the problem would seem to be with your-" He paused again.

Now tiny beads of sweat were glistening on his brow. "Hai, we are ready. The vehicle is… hai." He bowed again. "Of course, there will be no delay. The revised schedule is firm. Hai, Mino-sama, we-" He was bowing ever more rapidly into the phone. "Hai, we have pushed them as hard as we can." He bowed even deeper. "Hai, by tomorrow's report. Of course, Mino-sama. Thank you, domo arigato gozaimashita…"