Wendy hesitated a moment while giving him an appraising look. "All right," she said finally, "tonight it is. See you after dinner.
"Fine," McLanahan said. He waved to her as she disappeared inside the barracks. This may not be a bad TDY after all, McLanahan thought to himself.
THE UNITED NATIONS
Ian McCaan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, had just called the meeting of the United Nations Security Council to order when Gregory Adams spoke: "Mr. Secretary-General," Adams said, "information has been brought to the attention of the government of the United States concerning the incident described in the specification of charges against the government of the Soviet Union. I have been instructed by my government to allow the ambassador from the Soviet Union to respond to the charges in lieu of presenting evidence to the Security Council."
McCaan looked confused. "Am I to understand, Ambassador Adams, that your government is dropping its charges against the Soviet Union?"
"Allow me to explain, Mr. Secretary-General," Dmitri Karmarov interjected. "My government has been in careful negotiations with the American government since the charges were first preferred agahist us in the emergency session. The, sensitive research and development charges concern a high, facility in the Soviet Union, which my government would rather not discuss even in closed Security Council session.
Therefore, we have taken steps to enter into negotiations with the United States directly."
"I wish to make it clear," Adams immediately added, staring directly at Karmarov, "that the charges against the Soviet Union still remain. I am prepared at any time to present my evidence against the Soviet Union in this forum.
"That is understood, Ambassador Adams," Karmarov said.
"As part of the agreement between our governments, I would like to make the following statement: "The government of the Soviet Union pleads nolo contendere before the Security Council of the United Nations in response to the charges brought against us by the government of the United States. The Soviet Union acknowledges, incomplete evidence notwithstanding, that activity at the Kavaznya research facility may have caused a situation to develop in which an American aircraft in the vicinity may have experienced difficulties of an unknown type or severity. It is not known for certain if such difficulties resulted in the loss of the aircraft.
"The government of the United States acknowledges that their RC-135 intelligence aircraft was within the Air Defense Identification Zone at the time of question," Karmarov continued, "without proper identification, without a properly filed flight plan, and without clearance from any Soviet controlling agency. The United States has not confirmed that the plane was on a spy mission, which my government condemns, but-" "But that doesn't mean any-" Adams interrupted.
"I was going to say," Karmarov said, his voice rising, "that the military air defense operators on duty did not take the proper action in the case of such an intrusion, nor did they warn the aircraft of ongoing activity that may have serious effects on aircraft in the area.
"In the spirit of peace and international harmony, therefore, the government of the Soviet Union has agreed to cooperate in the investigation into the causes of the loss of the American spy plane.
In return, the United States has consented'to let the Soviet Union enter a plea of no contest to its charges until that investigation is completed. As to the matter of possible interference with free-flying aircraft and the alleged negligence of Soviet military operators, we request that the Security Council reserve judgment until a complete analysis of the controller's transcripts and records can be completed.
" Karmarov put his head down over his notes and, reading quickly and unemotionally, continued: "The Soviet Union extends its regrets to the families of those lost near our shores.
We assure all concerned that we will do everything in our power to resolve the matter. Thank you. "The Russian translator barely was able to spit out the last few sentences trying to keep up with Karmarov. The Russian put his notes down and glanced at the assembled ambassadors.
Ambassador Braunmueller, the representative from East Germany, stood and held out his hands to Karmarov. "Your statement, Comrade Ambassador," he said, "was magnificent.
The Soviet Union's willingness to cooperate with the investigation and their openness is to be commended.""They haven't admitted to anything… " Adams said, but he was drowned out by Braunmueller's booming voice.
"Mr. Secretary-General, I move that final judgment be reserved until the full results of the investigation are presented.
"Seconded," another ambassador said.
"I, too," McCaan said, "am impressed and heartened by the spirit of cooperation exhibited by the Soviet Union. I call for a vote.
Adams abstained. As he expected, the vote was unanimous.
"Nemine contradicente," McCaan announced. "Let the record show the vote is unanimous. The plea of nolo contendere is to be officially entered. The matter involving the charges against the government of the Soviet Union is hereby suspended indefinitely.
"The government of the United States is hereby requested by the Security Council of the United Nations to respect the spirit of cooperation exhibited by the Soviet Union by cooperating fully with their government in the investigation of the aircraft disaster and not to retaliate or otherwise impose any restrictions or sanctions against the Soviet Union because of this incident."
McLanahan was alone inside the bomber, inside the plastic skinned, stifling Old Dog. Hal Briggs was with him, watching the activities in the downstairs compartment and taking notes, but effectively McLanahan was alone with the bomber and its equipment.
They were flying three hundred feet above the high desert and looming mountain ranges of Nevada. McLanahan was studying the radar scope, which was now in TTG, or Target Tracking and Guidance mode, searching for attacking fighters.
If he spotted any fighters, he would put a circle cursor on it and tell Campos that he was tracking a target. The computer would feed range, azimuth, elevation, direction, and airspeed information to the Scorpion air-to-air missiles and with that information a hit was almost guaranteed.
But the scope was blank and had been for several minutes, and Wendy Tork in the electronic warfare section had reported no airborne interceptor radar signals. McLanahan could feel a j cold, prickly sensation on his neck. The mountains were too damn close.
He glanced at his chart. Some of the highest mountain ranges in southern Nevada were right off the nose, and he felt uncomfortable not monitoring their position by radar, even though the automatic terrain-avoidance system had proved its reliability.
Well, damn the fighters, McLanahan thought to himself. If the aircraft hits a mountain, the fighters won't matter.
"He punched a button, thinking about the twenty-first century equipment guiding their two-hundred-ton bomber. The blank track-while-scan radar scope changed into a mapping display of the terrain within thirty miles of the Old Dog. Guided by a ring of satellites and by a tiny "game-cartridge" of terrain elevations, the Old Dog was automatically diving and climbing, attempting to hug the ground as close as possible.
The satellites, orbiting in geosynchronous orbits twenty-three thousand miles above the Earth, told them exactly where they were; the Inertial Navigation System, INS, told them where they were going; and the computer, ROM, Reading Only Memory, terrain-data cartridge told them how high the terrain was.
A computer fed all this to the autopilot, which told the Old Dog-what a damn stupid name, McLanahan thought-when to climb or dive, and the autopilot would climb or dive in time to keep the plane within a few feet of the selected clearance plane setting. Simple.