“What’s this?” the President asked.
Anna looked over from her chair and General Alan looked up from the sofa.
The President had stopped rocking and held up his reading device. “Do you know anything about the THOR Project?” he asked Alan.
Gaunt General Alan blushed, and he nodded, almost reluctantly.
“It’s says here this thing is a space weapon,” the President said. “I didn’t know we had any space weapons left.”
“We don’t exactly have one, sir,” Alan said, seeming to choose his words with care. “The THOR Project is still in the experimental stage, the early phase of testing.”
“So this is new?” the President asked.
“It’s an old idea that’s never been implemented before,” Alan said. “Otherwise, yes, it’s new.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
Anna glanced at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. She wasn’t sure, but his body language, the way his face seemed blank like a good poker player… Had Alan wanted to keep the project under wraps for now? If so, why would he keep it secret from David?
“Explain it to me,” the President was saying. “I’m interested. It says here the missiles will strike from space, literally like lightning from Thor’s hammer. That can’t be correct, can it?”
Alan cleared his throat. “In essence, sir, the missiles of the project act in a simple manner.” He frowned. “First, before I tell you any more, you should know that the missiles in question are the size of crowbars.”
The President pursed his lips. “What kind of warhead are we talking about?”
“None, sir,” Alan said. “The object is the warhead.”
“You’d better explain that one. It’s beginning not to sound like much of a missile to me.”
“Mr. President, I wouldn’t place much hope in these THOR—”
“Just tell me how this thing is supposed to work,” the President said, with the hint of an edge to his voice. “I’ve never heard about the project and I’m curious, very curious, in fact.”
Alan nodded, and he glanced upward. He did it as if searching for the answer, the extreme tops of his pupils disappearing for a moment.
After a moment’s contemplation, the general said, “Let me begin by saying that a satellite two hundred miles above the Earth’s surface has to travel seventeen thousand five hundred miles per hour to balance it against the gravity trying to pull it down. You see, its speed and orbital capacity are important for several reasons.”
The President closed his eyes, maybe to envision the data. Upon opening his eyes, he said, “I understand. Please, continue.”
“At seventeen five hundred miles per hour, the satellite completes an Earth orbit every ninety minutes.”
“That’s fast,” the President said.
“Yes,” Alan said. “I, um, should point out that the basic physics of orbital motion would give the U.S. global coverage with these. At least, it would with several thousand of them. We only have a few up at present.”
“What?” the President asked. “That’s amazing. We actually have satellites in orbital space? You should have told me the moment it happened. But I’m confused on one issue. China and the German Dominion and Russia, too, all have strategic laser defense stations. We have strategic laser defense stations to shoot down enemy satellites.”
Every important country had strategic lasers, Anna knew. It’s what kept the ICBMs from launching. If China fired thermonuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles to help with their invasion, the U.S. could shoot down the vast majority of them with the strategic lasers. It worked the other way, too, if America launched at China. Due to strategic lasers, big nuclear exchanges were a worry of the past. The lasers could take down anything in Near- Earth Orbit that they could see in a straight line of sight. With spaceborne mirrors, they could bounce the beam and reach even farther. That was one reason why each side’s ground control kept a constant and desperate watch on orbital space.
“We actually have a few satellites up there,” the President said, sounding bemused. “I didn’t think anyone did, at least not for very long. China has some in geosynchronous orbit over China, but that’s about it. How do you propose keeping our satellites up there for any length of time? Have we made some fantastic breakthrough in stealth technology?”
“No, sir,” Alan said. “There aren’t any breakthroughs.”
“Then how?” the President asked. “What’s our secret?”
“First, these are small satellites, bundles of crowbars, as I’ve said.”
“None of this makes sense,” the President said.
“It will in a minute, sir, if you’ll just bear with me.”
“I am, I am,” the President said. “Continue.”
Alan cleared his throat. “Under normal conditions, enemy radar stations could locate the satellites. But the conditions do not stay normal as we heavily wrap the satellites in stealth foam.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” the President asked. “Foam?”
“No, sir, I’m not kidding,” Alan said. “That’s exactly what we do. We wrap the satellites in special foam, making them incredibly radar-resistant. It’s extremely hard to get a visual on them, as well. The foam will also protect the satellite from a strategic laser, at least for several seconds, meaning the enemy has to keep on target for more than a microsecond burst. The foam would, of course, protect the missiles from any nearby nuclear blast.”
“Has anyone used nuclear bombs in space that I don’t know about?” the President asked.
Alan looked uncomfortable. “We know the Germans have plans in that regard.”
The President shook his head. “How
“That’s one of the things we’re testing, sir.”
“And?”
“Apparently, no one has spotted any of the packages yet.”
“This is unbelievable,” the President said. “I can’t understand why you haven’t said anything about this before now.”
On her device, Anna searched for the THOR Project. This sounded interesting.
“The project is in its infancy, sir,” General Alan said. “There are bugs, plenty of things that can go wrong with the system. It might not work as expected is what I’m trying to say. We have too many other projects that will work for us to spend too much time with these, um, impractical ideas.”
The President appeared not to hear the last part. “Didn’t you tell me the missiles don’t have warheads?”
“That is correct, sir.”
“Okay,” the President said. “That means they’re not nuclear, correct?”
“Yes, sir,” Alan said. “Nuclear-tipped missiles orbiting Earth are against every space treaty we’ve ever signed.”
“What a minute. You’re telling me these orbital missiles aren’t against international law?”
“That is correct, sir.”
The President laughed, but sobered a moment later. “So what good are they if they lack warheads? You do mean they don’t even have any conventional payloads.”
“That is correct, Mr. President.”
David frowned. “So…do they operate off kinetic energy?”
“Yes, sir,” Alan said. “That’s exactly right. It’s a kinetic strike.”
The President grinned at Anna. “That’s one you don’t have to worry about where the world turns against us in outrage.”
It took Anna a moment to understand what he meant. “Because they’re non-nuclear missiles?” she asked the President.
He nodded.
