report wasn’t much more than what he’d already seen — it was a field briefing forwarded from the scene to a CIA reviewing team — but it did include a set of digital photographs. The shots were a bit grainy, but one thing that caught Howe’s attention were two large arrangements of tubes at one corner. At the center of each one was a large, elongated tube that looked like the cans used on dairy farms to collect milk. Around them were clusters of smaller cans or pipes, like coffee cans soldered on. They looked somewhat like rocket motors, though Dalton pointed out they were too large to fit in the rear of the UAVs.
“Besides, if they’re rockets — and I’m not saying they are — they’d be solid fuel boosters,” added the scientist. “If you used them to propel the plane, you couldn’t shut it off. You’d have the rocket ignite, boost you to altitude maybe, then glide back?”
“Why not?” asked Howe.
Dalton shrugged. He leaned over, trying to get a better look at the photos. “Not enough detail to know what’s going on.”
“I know the guy who took the photos and wrote the report,” said Howe. “Maybe he can tell us something more.”
“Can’t hurt.”
It took Howe’s secretary only a half hour to run down Major Tyler in Korea — one more measure of the power and reach of NADT. It was a little past midnight there, and Tyler sounded as if he’d dragged himself from bed.
Which, he told Howe, was the case.
“Only for you, Colonel.”
“I appreciate it. I’m looking at some pictures you took at the UAV base. There’s some tubes and things on the side of the hangar. Would you mind if one of my technical people went over it with you?”
“Tell you the truth, Colonel, I haven’t a clue what any of that stuff is. I took a whole set of pictures just because of that. I’m lucky I knew which one was the UAV.”
“There are only three pictures attached here, and only one of the hangar.”
“Yeah, probably all they forwarded because of the bandwidth. I have the flash card.”
“Can we get it?”
“I think we can e-mail it over a secure network.”
“Let me see about the arrangements.”
An hour later Dalton went over the images with Howe.
“My guess is that it’s some sort of booster system. This here, this is definitely part of a solid fuel rocket system: The design looks pretty basic, something you’d see around 1960, 1965, but it looks sound.”
Dalton slapped the keys, bringing up a photo of the underside of the robot plane. “It would elevate the aircraft: It would be like something you’d use for a takeoff. I’m not a propulsion expert, but I know rocket-assist packs have been used to help heavy bombers off airfields. This might be something similar, except that my feeling is this aircraft could take off from a really short field as it is.”
“So why would you need them for a UAV?” said Howe.
“I don’t think that you would. Maybe for a really quick takeoff, but this can use a short field as it is.” Dalton shrugged. “Until we have that UAV here, it’s impossible to say if they’re related.”
“How much of an airstrip would those aircraft need to take off?” asked Howe.
“Have to have the engineers do the numbers once they have the aircraft and can model it, but I’d guess not much. Any military field in North Korea would have been more than adequate. I think they could come off a road. Maybe even my driveway.”
“Could the boosters lift them straight up?”
“Not straight up. You’d need a bit of an open area to climb out and get altitude, but not much. I don’t see why you’d need it, to be honest. You have the airfield, so this is a lot of trouble for nothing.”
“I’m guessing there’s a reason,” said Howe. “We just haven’t figured it out yet.”
Chapter 21
Dr. Blitz eased away from the Philippine ambassador, squeezing into the press of UN delegates in the center of the reception. The President’s speech had gone reasonably well, though a final assessment on audience reaction wouldn’t be possible until later in the day, after the delegates began cabling home with their true reactions.
A new era for Asia. Or more precisely, the foundation of a new era for Asia.
Japan could now safely remain on the pacifist course America had steered for it at the end of World War II. That in turn reduced the pressure on China to expand its military capacity, at least in the short term. Naturally the President had not put it so baldly, speaking only of peace and economic opportunity.
Those were the ultimate goals, and they were achievable as long as America retained its power in the region. There were many in this hall — too many — who did not understand or fully appreciate that; they looked at America ’s military and economic might as potentially evil things. They did not completely understand the U.S, its historic perspective and foundation. But then, they could hardly be blamed for that: Many of the people in Congress didn’t understand it.
History wasn’t taught in the schools anymore, Blitz lamented to himself as he smiled his way past several African delegates. Kids didn’t even know the dates of the American Revolution, let alone the Korean War.
A waitress passed nearby, offering a plate of Thai shrimp. Blitz declined: Spicy food at receptions always gave him heartburn.
A buzz at the other end of the hall indicated that the President had changed his mind and decided to attend after all. Blitz took a step toward him but found his way blocked by the Chinese representative to the UN. Xi Hiang was too important to duck; Blitz bowed his head and greeted the man properly.
“Peace, then?” asked Xi.
“Peace, yes,” said Blitz.
“ Korea is an interesting country,” said Xi, still speaking like a sphinx. Much like Blitz, Xi had an academic as well as government background, and the national security advisor waited for the lecture about history or at least a remark in that direction. But Xi said nothing else, and Blitz was moved to ask if his country was afraid of peace, aware that he was being provocative.
“Afraid?” Xi spoke English as well as Blitz but he said the word as if he did not understand the meaning.
“Afraid of the future?” prompted Blitz, trimming back the question slightly. “The uncertainty.”
“One should never be afraid of the future,” said Xi. “For it comes of its own. As for peace…”
An aide tapped the UN representative on the arm, and Xi turned before finishing. Blitz, too, was interrupted: France ’s UN representative told him she thought the President had done very well.
“I’m going to stay in New York this afternoon and into the evening,” the President told Blitz a few minutes later. “We can sneak over to the NCAA championships.”
“Presidents can’t sneak anywhere.”
“Relax, Doc. The IBM box has already been reserved, and we have Secret Service people flanking it. You just don’t want to see Syracuse win,” added the President. “Come over with us. Take the night off.”
“I have a pile of work.”
“State will be there. And I think Claussen from the CIA.”
The President was teasing him: He often joked that if he wanted Blitz somewhere, all he had to do was invite his rivals. Obviously the President was feeling good about the speech and Korea — and maybe even the basketball game.
“Oh, I suppose I can go back later with you,” said the national security advisor.
“Who says there’s room on the plane?” said the President before turning away.
