At 0850 Mike gave me a voice countdown–didn’t need his attention; he could have programmed it full automatic any time earlier.
0851–0852–0853. . . . one minute–59–58–57 . . . . half minute–29—28–27 . . . . ten seconds–nine–eight– seven– six–five–four–three–two–one–
And suddenly that grid burst out in diamond pinpoints!
26
We hit them so hard you could see it, by bare eyeball hookup; didn’t need binox. Chin dropped and I said, “Bojemoi!” softly and reverently. Twelve very bright, very sharp, very white lights in perfect rectangular array. They swelled, grew dimmer, dropped off toward red, taking what seemed a long, long time. Were other new lights but that perfect grid so fascinated me I hardly noticed.
“Yes,” agreed Mike with smug satisfaction. “Dead on. You can talk now, Man; I’m not busy. Just the backups.”
“I’m speechless. Any fail to get through?”
“The Lake Michigan load was kicked up and sideways, did not disintegrate. It will land in Michigan–I have no control; it lost its transponder. The Long Island Sound one went straight to target. They tried to intercept and failed; I can’t say why. Man, I can abort the follow-ups on that one, into the Atlantic and clear of shipping. Shall I? Eleven seconds.”
“Uh– Da! If you can miss shipping.”
“I said I could. It’s done. But we should tell them we had backups and why we aborted. To make them think.”
“Maybe should not have aborted, Mike. Idea was to make them use up interceptors.”
“But the major idea was to let them know that we are not hitting them as hard as we can. We can prove the other at Colorado Springs.”
“What happened there?” Twisted neck and used binox; could see nothing but ribbon city, hundred-plus kilometers long, Denver-Pueblo Municipal Strip.
“A bull’s-eye. No interception. All my shots are bull’s-eyes, Man; I told you they would be–and this is fun. I’d like to do it every day. It’s a word I never had a referent for before.”
“What word, Mike?”
“Orgasm. That’s what it is when they all light up. Now I know.”
That sobered me. “Mike, don’t get to liking it too much. Because if goes our way, won’t do it a second time.”
“That’s okay, Man; I’ve stored it, I can play it over anytime I want to experience it. But three to one we do it again tomorrow and even money on the next day. Want to bet? An hour’s discussion of jokes equated with one hundred Kong dollars.”
“Where would you get a hundred dollars?”
He chuckled. “Where do you think money comes from?”
“Uh–forget it. You get that hour free. Shan’t tempt you to affect chances.”
“I wouldn’t cheat, Man, not you. We just hit their defense command again. You may not be able to see it–dust cloud from first one. They get it every twenty minutes now. Come on down and talk; I’ve turned the job over to my idiot son.”
“Is safe?”
“I’m monitoring. Good practice for him, Man; he may have to do it later by himself. He’s accurate, just stupid. But he’ll do what you tell him to.”
“You’re calling that computer ‘he.’ Can talk?”
“Oh, no, Man, he’s an idiot, he can never learn to talk. But he’ll do whatever you program. I plan to let him handle quite a bit on Saturday.”
“Why Saturday?”
“Because Sunday he may have to handle everything. That’s the day they slam us.”
“What do you mean? Mike, you’re holding something back.”
“I’m telling you, am I not? It’s just happened and I’m scanning it. Projecting back, this blip departed circum-Terra parking orbit just as we smashed them. I didn’t see it accelerate; I had other things to watch. It’s too far away to read but it’s the right size for a Peace cruiser, headed this way. Its doppler reads now for a new orbit circum-Luna, periselenion oh-nine-oh-three Sunday unless it maneuvers. First approximation, better data later. Hard to get that much, Man; he’s using radar countermeasures and throwing back fuzz.”
“Sure you’re right?”
He chuckled. “Man, I don’t confuse that easily. I’ve got all my own lovin’ little signals fingerprinted. Correction. Oh-nineoh-two-point-forty-three.”
“When will you have him in range?”