Moonstruck by Edward M. Lerner

Author:Edward M. Lerner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-11-29T06:22:11+00:00

CHAPTER 25

"I think I misjudged you." Ryan Bauer, a water tumbler full of ice and amber liquid in his hand, flung himself into the captain's chair across from Kyle. "In a fingernails-across-the-blackboard sort of way, you're all right."

The borrowed private jet, most specifically not designated Air Force One, was plushly carpeted and richly appointed. There were no flight attendants aboard, in the interests of the trip's secrecy, but the Cessna's pantry came stocked for major partying. With the summit over, and serious attack-planning impossible until they got home, the passengers were taking advantage. "You'll turn my head, General. Or is it the bourbon speaking?"

"Scotch." Ice cubes tinkled as Bauer downed a healthy swig. "But in a good cause."

"Okay." Kyle had no idea where this was going.

"You're all right," the flyer repeated. "You have a good head on your shoulders and an insane willingness to speak your mind."

"So what good cause does the Scotch support?"

"My willingness to step onto a plane." Laughing, he nabbed a jumbo shrimp from Kyle's plate. "Not what you expected, was it."

"Most pilots actually like airplanes."

"It's not that." Bauer leaned forward conspiratorially. "You understand these things. I'll gladly fly after the Tea Party."

Tea Party was the code name for the as-yet unscheduled assault on the starship. What Kyle failed to grasp was what he supposedly understood. "Excuse me?"

"Beam weapons." Bauer expropriated another shrimp. "The lasers on the moon use visible-light frequencies, so that we can see the hologram. They took out the Atlantis and that Proton with microwave frequencies. The early-warning birds are being fried with X-rays. Why X-rays, do you suppose?"

"Because the atmosphere blocks X-rays. If the aliens had used microwaves, like they did with the Atlantis, we and the Russians would have had a better chance to see what was really going on, instead of automatically blaming each other for the saticide. Some of those downward-stabbing microwaves could have been detected on the ground. We don't have beam weapons in space, and neither do the Russians... as far as we know, anyway."

"Saticide. I like that. Hafta suggest it to someone at the Pentagon." Bauer admired the spectacular alpine scenery rushing by far below. "Swelk's ugly friends have lasers that are far too tunable for my liking. Now, whenever I'm flying, I feel like a sitting duck."

Tunable lasers. Microwave beams tuned to an excitation energy for liquid hydrogen had exploded the fuel tank of the Atlantis. X-rays from the same alien satellites continued to destroy Earth's satellites. The leisurely pace at which Earth's satellites were targeted had been a mystery. Since Swelk's defection, Kyle had come to believe it was plot-related. Film plot, that was. Rualf, no friend of Swelk's, presumably wanted his bugs to capture plenty of suspenseful scenes in the build-up to Armageddon.

"Kyle, buddy. Are you with me?"

Tunable lasers. How separated were the excitation frequencies of liquid hydrogen and jet fuel? They were surely much closer together than microwaves and X-rays. "Sadly, Ryan, I am with you... but maybe you're not worried enough. Why

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