Part 88 (1/2)

”Well, congratulations.”

”Wait till Cally hears about this. She just may go into orbit herself.”

”You've been on the phone for an hour.” After Peretz was carried out, he had collapsed onto the couch in Bates' office and tried to go to sleep, but the goings-on had made it impossible. Bates had been talking nonstop. ”What else is happening out there in the world Ramirez was planning to nuke?”

”He did nuke it. He just didn't manage to nuke it the place he intended.” Bates leaned back in his chair. ”Well, it turns out good news travels fast. Since VX-1 is up, our two prime banks in Geneva are suddenly engaged in intimate contact between their lips and my nether parts. 'Roll over your obligations? _Mais oui, Monsieur Bates.

Certainement. Avec plaisir. _Will you need any additional capitalization? We could discuss an equity position.' The c.o.c.ksuckers.

It was almost a shame to p.i.s.s away that weapon on empty s.p.a.ce. I could have thought of a much better use.”

”Hallelujah.” He felt his spirits momentarily rise, though not his energy. ”Maybe this means all that stock you paid me for the boat will end up being worth the paper it's printed on. Truthfully, I was beginning to worry.”

”Told you it'd all work out,” he grinned. ”No faith. Come on, amigo, I've got to break the news to the troops.” He strode to the door, or the opening that was left after the C-4 had removed the door, and surveyed the remains of Command. The technicians and systems a.n.a.lysts were filing back in, but mostly it was a scene of purposeful lethargy.

The horror of the last day and a half had taken a terrible toll. Eyes were vacant, hair unkempt, motions slow and aimless. Several of those who had previously quit smoking were b.u.mming cigarettes.

He whistled with two fingers, and the desultory turmoil froze in place.

”Okay, everybody,” he said, his voice not quite a shout. ”It's official. We're back in business. You've all still got a job.”

The gla.s.sy-eyed stares he received back suggested n.o.body's thoughts had extended that far yet. n.o.body was in a particular mood to let themselves think about the future.

”That's the good part,” Bates went on, oblivious. ”The other news is there won't be bonuses or stock dividends this year. We'll be lucky just to service our debt. But anybody who hangs in there for twelve months gets half a year's pay extra, as a bonus. I'll do it out of my own pocket if I have to. And if you play your cards right, we could be talking stock options, too.”

There were a few smiles and thumbs-up signs, more to hearten Bates, whom they revered, than to celebrate. n.o.body had the capacity left to feel particularly festive. At the same time, n.o.body was about to abandon s.h.i.+p. Not now, now that they were needed more than ever.

Vance was leaning on the wall behind him, watching it all and thinking.

Okay, so Bill was about to be rich, and SatCom had gotten enough free publicity to last into the next century. But the real notoriety should be going to the question that had haunted the world for four decades: what would happen if terrorists got their hands on a nuclear device?

This time the consequences--although intended to be devastating--had in fact been peripheral, an inconsequential detonation somewhere halfway into s.p.a.ce. But the question that still hung over the world was, what would happen the next time? It was a question Bill Bates had too much on his mind today to think about. Maybe he never would.

9:51 A.M.

J.J. shook his head in disgust as he looked over the shambles that was the gantry. Dr. Andros had just phoned from Command, asked him to undertake a preliminary a.s.sessment of the condition of the facility, just to ballpark the extent of damage. The a.s.signment was already depressing him. Still, from what he could see so far, things could have been worse. There was no obvious physical injury to VX-2 or to the transmission antennas up on the hill, though the testing and corrections could take weeks. The gantry was a total loss, no doubt about that, but otherwise the major physical structures on the island appeared unscathed. The main reason, naturally, was that almost everything important--including the superconducting coil and the Fujitsu--was well underground.

The main scene now was all the bodacious helicopters, Hueys, on the landing pad and all the Army commandos milling around. Jesus! How did everybody in Launch Control miss what was really going on? Looking back, the whole thing was fishy from the word go.

Now the Army types were collecting the bodies of the terrorists and acting like they had cleaned up the place all by themselves. Guess that was going to be the official story. . . .

Mr. Bates had already come down to Launch, shook everybody's hand, and thanked the crews for hanging in there. He looked a little shook up, but he wasn't talking like it. Totally upbeat. You had to love the guy.

He also delivered the news that as soon as things settled down, SatCom was going to kick some a.s.s in the s.p.a.ce business.

Jordan Jaegar looked up at the brilliant Greek suns.h.i.+ne and grinned in spite of himself. s.h.i.+t, he couldn't wait.

10:22 A.M.