The nuclear explosion would create a massive wave of X-rays that would be focused and concentrated through the Pulse rods. The X-ray energy would create an extremely powerful laser burst that would travel down the rods and out in all directions. Any object within a hundred miles of the satellite would be bombarded into oblivion in milliseconds.
The explosion, would, Of course, destroy the satellite, but the awesome power of the X-ray laser blast would decimate dozens, Perhaps hundreds, of I.C.B.Ms or warheads at on time-a very potent and, if nothing else, cost-effective device.
Seedeck knew a lot about the X-ray laser satellites that would be used with Ice Fortress-the Atlantis carried five of them in her cargo bay, and it would be Seedeck's job to load them into the launch cylinder on Ice Fortress.
Seedeck now attached the cable to the front of the central launch cylinder and turned back toward Atlantis. While Seedeck had been inspecting Ice Fortress, Bates had been putting on his own spacesuit and was just emerging from the airlock when Seedeck completed his inspection.
"Seedeck to Atlantis. The inventory appears OK.No damage. We'll be ready to proceed at any time."
"COPY," Woods replied.
"This is Bates. I copy. "Bates had moved into Atlantis, cargo bay and had begun to unlock the canisters containing the partially disassembled Ice Fortress satellites. His job would be to remove the mountains of packing material from the satellites, then reassemble the component parts. It would not and it would become an actual nuclear device until reassembly, not even be possible to arm it until it was installed in its launch tube on Ice Fortress.
Meanwhile, Seedeck had returned to Atlantis. He maneuvered over to the cable reel and activated its motor, tightening the cable. He double-checked the controls. To avoid breaking the cable, a friction clutch device would keep the cable tight during small shifts in distance or motion between Atlantis and Ice Fortress and an emergency disconnect button would open the pawl on Ice Fortress and release the cable. The release could be activated by Bates from the cargo bay, by Seedeck from Ice Fortress, or by Woods inside Atlantis. Seedeck then attached a plastic saddle onto the cable that rode along it on a Teflon track.
"Guide ready, Atlantis," Seedeck reported. He carefully maneuvered closer above Bates, who was putting the finishing touches on the first X-ray laser satellite. The satellite, its leadzinc rods folded along its sides, was well over ten feet in diameter and, at least on earth, weighed over a ton; Bates handled the massive object like a beachball.
"Ready," Bates said, and unhooked the remaining strap holding the huge satellite from its stowage cradle in the cargo bay. Using a hydraulic lift on the cradle, Bates raised the cradle a few inches, then suddenly stopped it. The satellite continued to float up out of the cargo bay and right into Seedeck's waiting arms.
Seedeck grabbed a handhold on the satellite and steered it easily toward the saddle. As if he had been doing this procedure all his life, he expertly clamped the cylindrical satellite onto the saddle and steadied it along the cable.
Although the satellite was weightless, Seedeck was careful not to forget that the thing still had two thousand pounds' worth of mass to corral-it was hard to get it to stop moving once it got going. He attached a safety line between the saddle and the satellite, and the satellite was secured.
"Heading toward the inventory with number one," Seedeck reported.
Despite himself, Bates had to chuckle at the sight.
Seedeck had maneuvered over the satellite and had sat down on top of it, as if he were sitting on a huge tom-tom drum. He was gripping the satellite with his boots and knees, riding atop five hundred pounds of high explosives and ninety-eight pounds of uranium. One tiny nudge on his right-hand MMU control, and he and the satellite slid along the two-thousand-foot-long cable toward Ice Fortress.
It turned out to be a very efficient way of getting the X-ray laser satellite to the platform. In two minutes, Seedeck and his mount eased their way toward Ice Fortress, carefully slowing to a stop with gradual spurts of the MMU's nitrogen-gas thrusters. As Woods and the crew of Atlantis watched through telephoto closed-circuit cameras, Seedeck jetted away from the satellite, maneuvered underneath it, unhooked the safety strap and latch, and slid the satellite away from the saddle.
Seedeck gave the saddle a push, and it skittered back down the cable to Atlantis.
Using a set of utility arms mounted on the MMU, Seedeck guided the satellite toward the open center launcher. With the ease acquired from several days practicing the maneuver in the huge NASA training pool in Texas, Seedeck guided the device straight into the launcher. Once the laser satellite was inserted a few feet into the tube, a pair of fingerlike clips latched onto the satellite and pulled it back into the tube. Seedeck waited until he felt a faint CLICK as the unobtrusive yet frightening device seated itself against the arming plate at the back of the tube.
"Atlantis, this is Seedeck. Confirm number one latched into position.
"Stand by," Woods told him. He relayed the request to Mission Control.
The answer came back a few moments later.
"Seedeck, this is Atlantis. Control confirms number one in position.
" "Roger, Atlantis. Returning to Orbiter."
It took Seedeck two minutes to return to Atlantis' cargo bay, where Bates had another satellite ready for him. The saddle had slid the two thousand feet all the way back to Atlantis with Seedeck's one little push.
"Seedeck is back in the bay, Admiral," Bates reported.
"Copy. Stand by. "Woods relayed to Houston that no one was near the Fortress.
A few minutes later Woods reported: "Control reports full connectivity.
The inventory is on-line. Good job, Rich. You're hustling out there.
Seedeck nodded as Bates gave him a thumbs-up. The Fortress was now operational. It was America's first strategic defense device, the first of the "Star Wars" weapons-and the first time nuclear weapons had been placed in orbit around the Earth.
"Forty-five minutes from start to finish each," Seedeck asked. "Should be done by dinnertime."
"It's my turn to cook," Admiral Woods asked. "Thermostabilized beef with barbecue sauce, rehydratable cauliflower with cheese, irradiated green beans with mushrooms. Yurn.
"I ordered the quarter-pounder with cheese, Admiral," Seedeck protested. Bates was smiling as he watched the navy commander maneuver the second X-ray laser satellite onto the saddle. Moments later, Seedeck was riding along the cable toward the menacing latticework square in the distance.
"That's the one thing I miss up here," Bates said as he turned back toward unpacking and reassembling the next satellite.
Bates noticed the first light, a bright deep flash of orange that illuminated everything. It got brighter and brighter until it flooded out his eyesight, then turned to bright white. It was as if Seedeck had come back and pushed him in the side, rolling him over, or as if Seedeck had slid the saddle back along the cable and it had come back and hit him in the backpack. Bates sn't wearing an MMU, but he was secured to the forward bulkhead of Atlantis above the airlock hatch by his tether.
There was no sound, no trace of anything actually wrong. It felt… playful, in a way. It was easy to forget you were in space. The work was so easy, everything was so quiet. It felt playful Bates spun upside down and slammed against the left forward corner of the cargo bay. Some invisible hand held him pinned against the bulkhead. The only sound he heard was a hiss over his headset. He tried to blink away the stars that squeezed across his vision.