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"Calm yourself," NORAD came back, "we're not going to murder your cities. We have something more effective in mind. The future of your cities will depend totally on your own action. You may recall NASA's Jupiter mission that was canceled four years ago. It was never meant to go anywhere. It's a military rocket. In about thirty minutes, when fuel loading is complete, the old C5 will lift a warhead launcher into orbit that has a hundred targetable devices on board. This automatic platform will be parked in a synchronous orbit near your border. And now you listen! Its warheads will be pre-targeted and a timer that must be reset at frequent intervals will control their release. If for any reason our communication link to the platform is lost, the timer will expire and a hundred warheads will descend onto your cities. You'd better be careful my boy! The least nuclear explosion anywhere will probably be enough to interrupt this vital communications link."
"You realize of course, that you're also putting your own head into this noose," Sergei replied. "If those warheads come down, all of our missiles will be launched immediately, as an automatic response."
"Certainly," Colorado agreed, "and then we will respond in kind. You should also realize that there is no telling for how long those hundred warheads can be held up there before a system failure occurs. I would urge you, therefore, to stop us from launching it. I've been informed by the president that our congress demands that you agree immediately to a total nuclear disarmament with unrestricted on-site verification...."
"You guys are crazy," said Sergei. "What is there to inspect? Half of your country will be polluted with fallout and you talk about inspection rights. We should talk about rescuing people!"
"That's inconsequential at the moment," said NORAD. "Remember you have less than thirty minutes to respond to our offer to prevent the liftoff at Cape Kennedy. If you're sincere and you have any influence at all in Moscow, I urge you to please use it. As far as we know at NORAD, Moscow isn't agreeable to anything. You should also realize that it would be extremely difficult for us to retract the space platform once it is launched. Its internal defense mechanism won't allow any approach of another spacecraft, not even our own space shuttle. So you'd better call Moscow right now!"
With that the telephone was hung up in Colorado.
Sergei and Peter stared at each other, stunned.
"Can they do this?" Peter asked.
"Yes Peter, I have seen the booster. It is an immense rocket. I was certain at the time that it was a remnant of the defunct Jupiter mission. But it also looked like it was launchable!"
"Maybe they are bluffing as you were when you sent them that page from your private file, suggesting that you could launch all our missiles?"
"Peter, they had no way of knowing that it wasn't real. Not even I know whether or not such a command frame actually exists. It's entirely possible. The Americans certainly couldn't risk the chance that it might be real."
"Don't you think Moscow isn't in the same bind right now?" asked Peter. "They may also be wondering whether the Americans are bluffing. How can anyone make a sound decision with no information to base it on? That super missile sounds like science fiction fantasy, but it may also be real."
"This one is real!" Sergei replied.
"You realize, of course, that you broke your own rule by pulling the first bluff," Peter reminded him, "and this at a time when trust is of utmost importance."
"I know," Sergei admitted quietly. "The important thing is to assume that the Americans are not bluffing. We could never risk calling this bluff."
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Stories
about
Healing
from novels by Rolf A. F. Witzsche
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