Back in the staff room, Cade told the others the latest news, and then went on to relate his conclusion that the strike on the mission hadn’t been ordered by Washington. It shook Hudro out of the stupor that had been gripping him. “Of course it wasn’t Terrans who give order!” Hudro exclaimed. “How do I not see it? Hyadeans in charge now—maybe Gazaghin. Is not good.”
Nyarl shook his head. “We had a channel working. . . .”
“And we can again—” Cade began. But before he could continue, the door opened and Clara came in with Di Milestro and Gerofsky. Di Milestro was pale. He faced the room while Clara closed the door. A hush fell. Something had changed very drastically in the last few minutes.
Di Milestro looked around. He had to take a long, shaky breath before speaking. “I’m breaking security on my own decision and telling you people what I’ve just learned because you might represent the only chance for averting a world-scale calamity.” Cade caught Clara’s eye with an incredulous, questioning look. But whatever this was about had apparently left her too numbed to respond. Di Milestro shifted his gaze to Cade. “Do you really think this thing you were telling us about could work?” he asked.
Cade nodded. “I believe it could work.” What else was there to say?
“Run it by me again.”
“Hyadeans see a different world here from what we see. Convince them that their government is about to destroy it and turn it into what they’ve got, and they’ll pull out the rug.” Cade flashed the Hyadeans a glance that let them know he was as mystified as they, then looked back. “What’s happened?”
Di Milestro swallowed. “Admiral Varney’s carrier group has been wiped out. A plane coming back off patrol shot the whole thing. I’ve just seen it upstairs. His flagship lit up like the Sun. There was nothing incoming on radar. The scientists are baffled.”
“But Sacramento isn’t budging,” Gerofsky told the room. “Jeye says he would rather go out fighting than submit to a tyranny. If this other way of yours has a chance, we’re going to have to do it ourselves.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
THE WALL SCREEN IN THE staff room showed a replay, wired from Sacramento at Di Milestro’s request, of the carrier and its closer escorts disappearing in a gigantic ball of fire and vaporized ocean. The wall of foam surging outward capsized the more distant ships or scattered them like toys caught beneath a waterfall.
“Neutron beam from orbiting warship,” Hudro pronounced. He explained that the flux would send critical any fission explosive not suitably shielded or designed to be resistant. Hence, it had detonated the carrier’s nuclear weapons inventory. Since neutrons were uncharged, Hyadean gravitic technology was necessary to create and focus the beams.
A watered-down press release issued from Sacramento an hour later stated merely that Varney’s task group had been “engaged” by hostile forces, implied to be the other two groups still with the Eastern Union. It was also announced that President Jeye would make a public address later that night. Di Milestro predicted it would be a rallying call for maximum effort and endurance side-by-side with the Asian allies now they were on the brink of success. Making the most of Gerofsky and his military credentials, Clara found working space in the communications section of the city administration’s emergency headquarters, located beneath the Corry Building, containing more offices and a meeting center, situated along the next block. It was a dismal setting of concrete walls, fluorescent lights, fireproof doors guarding vaults of generators and the air-conditioning plant, and a disaster relief shelter. The people in the building above had long ago christened it “the Catacombs.” Normally, nobody worked there, but since the Federation’s secession, a caretaker staff had been installed to maintain a state of standby readiness.
The first thing was to open a connection to Krossig’s group in Cairns. Yassem had kept a backup of the codes for linking to the Querl relays in a portable laptop-like device that she had taken with her to Edwards, so they were not lost. However, satellite communications were disrupted, and Gerofsky had to demand military priority before technicians established a land-line and cable connection through a Navy facility in San Francisco to Hawaii to Sydney, and from there to Cairns via the regular telecommunications system. Meanwhile, Di Milestro used his security clearances to get a line through to the Catacombs from an assistant in Sacramento who would keep him updated on developments. Cade and Luke got busy organizing contacts with wire services, news studios, military press officers, and other likely sources from Cade’s numerous acquaintances, in order to recreate as far as possible the collection center that Luodine had set up at the mission. Australia would need to move into Earth’s dark side before the link through Cairns, beaming outward toward the Querl relays, could be tested. This wouldn’t happen until the early hours of the morning, California time. The crew of the C22-E waiting out at Edwards were notified that departure was on hold for the time being.