Even if the Old Dog did survive the bomb would now fly itself to the target…
'Radar switching to target-tracking mode,' from Went.
'Prepare for ejection, crew,' from Elliott. 'Blinking lig coming on.'
He reached down to the center console a flicked on the ejection-warning switch. The large red lig between the two navigators began to blink furiously.
'Steady light is the order to eject-' 'No. Continue the break. If you do a complete one-eigh do another one to the right. Don't give up now-' 'If they let go with that laser there won't be time to eject' You'll be murdering this crew if you order us to eject McLanahan said.
'But the bomb McLanahan now acted on his own. He switched to the infrared display-the picture was near simulator-perfect. He could make out the 'warm' town above the 'hot' la complex, and the 'cold' Bering Sea beyond. He shifted the tracking handle slightly to the left, centering the aiming reticule onto the hottest infrared return in the complex. The Strike steering uplink system was working perfectly. The strapmini-rocket engine had not yet fired-it was flying over thousand feet higher than programmed, and the extra altitu meant a longer unassisted gliding ability The infrared orange laser site slowly began to enlarge as got closer-the Striker was locked onto a huge power substation. McLanahan was just about to switch to narrc field-of-view and begin precise aiming when he noticed another 'hot' object in the upper left corner of the infrar display, far above the main reactor complex in the valley He had only moments to study it before it went out of view but he could make out a huge complex… only the base was 'hot,' four-fifths of the structure was 'cold. 'Just before it went out of view he switched back to low- light Visual display In this visual mode there was no mistaking it. The dome, large as a stadium, was clearly visible, with a large rectangular slot open and pointing directly at the Old Dog. McLanahan remembered back to Elliott's first briefing on the Kavaznya site, when he passed around early reconnaissance photographs of the complex.
The mirror building.
McLanahan's reaction was instantaneous. He moved the tracking handle left and aft all the way to the stops to get the dome back on the screen.
Luger was watching his own monitor in shock. 'Pat…
what are you-?'
'The mirror,' McLanahan asked. 'It's the mirror building…
'But the substation McLanahan said nothing as he watched while a yellow SRB IGNITE appeared on the screen, indicating that the glidebomb's strap-on rocket booster had fired in response to new steering commands.
The substation slowly moved out of view.
'The substation Luger said again.
'I'm gonna punch a hole in the mirror building. Even if the bomb doesn't go off it should do enough damage to put this place out of commission. 'The visual scene began to grow darker as the rugged hills above the Kavaznya complex and the town rushed just below the visual display. McLanahan had to hold the tracking handle full-back as the rocky ridgelines grew closer and closer.
Luger yelled, 'It's going to crash.'
But a moment later the last rock-covered ridgeline disappeared from view and the huge mirror-housing dome filled the TV monitor. McLanahan pushed the tracking handle down and Both navigators watched in fascination as the dome rushed centered the aiming reticle on the top of the dome's pedestal.
forward right into the TV screen.
The six-inch glass eye of the Striker somehow stayed intact through the one-inch-thick fiberglass panels of the dome, so the two navigators were able to eavesdrop on the Striker's exact impact point-the steel girders and counterbalances supporting the massive mirror.
The robot eye passed precisely through two support arms, and the bomb came to rest on the very base of the mirror support-structure.
Instantly Russian technicians and security guards could be seen running around the weapon.
'It didn't go off,' Luger asked. 'It's a dud, it didn't go off-' 'Radar locked onto us,' Wendy broke through. 'Solid lock-on, they've got us McLanahan had tuned out the hubbub of noise inside the Old Dog and was staring, transfixed, at the Striker's TV screer More soldiers surrounded the Striker as it lay inside the mirror building.
'Crew, eject light coming on… get ready Ormack was rigid in his seat, his ejection levers raised, his control column stowed, ready for ejection. Elliott had just reached down to the center console and was about to flick the eject signal from WARNING to EJECT when something exploded off the Old Dog's right wing and a ball of flame hundreds of feet in diameter arched skyward, lighting up the entire coastline, the blast easily heard over the roar of the engines.
'What was that?' Ormack shouted, holding onto his seat a!
the shock wave rolled over the Megafortress. 'The reactor?'
'We got the mirror building, Patrick got the mirror. The thing went off. It wasn't a dud,' Luger reported, voice rising 'The radar's down,' Wendy said, 'no tracking signals from Kavaznya.
Elliott began to pick out the ridgelines looming toward them, and slowly lifted the Old Dog's nose above the ridgelines, desperately trying to trade some slowly buildin airspeed for life-saving altitude.
He noticed that most of the lights in the town above the laser complex were out 'The explosion must have knocked out power to the area Check your equipment are back on-line. 'He quickly synchronized the navigation McLanahan quickly scanned his instruments. 'Computer satellites to his computers, and the green NAV light snapped on.
Moments later the terrain data was reloaded from the game' cartridges.
'Terrain computers back up,' he told Elliott who reengaged the pitch autopilot to the terrain-dat computers, selected COLA on the terrain clearance-plan selector and watched as the long pointed nose again faithfully dipped earthward.
'Jesus,' Ormack asked. 'We actually did it.'
'Threat receivers and all jammers back up,' Wendy reported.
— my radar's back up,' Angelina said, as though back from the,Sdead.
Instrumentation check, crew,' Elliott ordered, switched the ejection arning light off, pulled the firefighter's oxygen mask to his face and breathed deeply 'The ride's not over yet,' he reminded them after his hit of oxygen. 'Those fighters will be after us any minute.'
McLanahan lay awkwardly in his seat, supported by his parachute harness straps that he never had time to tighten.
'True, General, but there's no denying that it's Miller time.'
'You're cleared to the potty, radar,' Elliott said, helping Ormack put on the oxygen mask. 'That's all. After that get back on watch. We're coming up on Ossora. Kavaznya may be down, but I repeat, four squadrons of MiGs will be after our butts.
McLanahan looked down at the warm stain between his legs.'it seems I don't need the john.'
Dave Luger managed an exhausted chuckle. Sorry for falling apart back there, partner. You can count on me from here on out-' 'Search radar at two o'clock. It's Ossora Airfield,' Wendy announced suddenly.
The two navs exchanged looks. 'Back to work,' McLanahan said, switching his attack radar to target-tracking mode.
OVER THE SKIES OF KAvAzNYA 'Radar contact is lost, Element Seven', Yuri Papendreyo, heard the Soviet radar controller say over his command radic 'Report your position immediately. 'As if in reply, a large re LOW ALTITUDE WARNING light came onto the contrc panel of Papendreyov's advanced MiG-29
Fulcrum fighter.
He muttered unhappily to no one in particular and started a shallow climb away from the inky blackness around him. Suddenly the earth was his enemy, as much an enemy as the American warplane he was chasing.
He held his headin steady and switched on his pulse-Doppler attack radar and nose infrared sensor pod.
He had been receiving steering signals from the radar site Kavaznya to the attacking American B-52 bomber, signals the fed a stream of missile-launch data to his missile fire control system and provided range and bearing data to intercept the B-52.With the Kavaznya radar operating he didn't need his Fulcrum's radar for hunting, a big advantage of the advance Russian interceptor. Nothing could jam the Kavaznya radar and without the Fulcrum's onboard radar acting like a locatir beacon the fighter could sneak up behind the American B-52 without being detected.
