Both of you talk as if Little Bear were a fact. I thought you said Little Bear was killed; dead, finished!' I pointed out.
The DNI started his unnerving tapping again. Mam'zelle Adele's long fingers tattooed on Nossi Be's head in sympathy. Hers looked like the long fingers of an artist, or a pianist. Where did she fit into this strange project?
No,' replied the DNI. On paper, Little Bear is finished. But MKG believes, as we do, that Little Bear is the ultimate. weapon which puts the West way out ahead. Officially, Little bear cannot be revived. But MKG, to prove its worth, will rocket to Santa Fe in Little Bear.'
Think,' added Mam'zelle Adele, the Vice-President of the United States.'
The nation's darling,' said Peace.
What about Cape Kennedy… I started to say.. ,
How?' asked the DNI. How could he use the facilities there for a project which has been axed?'
I shook my head.
Peace went on. ' Little Bear was practically complete when the axe fell. It was tested in secret. There are just a few Little Bear prototypes in existence. The one which MKG will use to Santa Fe will be readied by a small team-four or five American experts-under Dr Boz Blair, another genius from the Naval Research Laboratory at Anacostia, who is coming to Limuria for the launch. From our side, it will be us and Captain Trevor-Davis, the top British missileman who was with Geoffrey in Washington on the SNAP project. Our mission is, simply, to get MKG safely into space. The American experts will come out in a freighter carrying the missile, and MKG in the Navy's latest sub, U.S.N. Willowtrack.' My mind went back to the intruder. With so many people in the know, it is easy to see why the CIA became suspicious.'
The DNI looked uneasy, but retorted, ' No one could undertake a project of this magnitude without outside help. The U.S. Navy's in the know because they appreciate, as we do, the enormous implications of this ultimate of weapons. The
Navy was quite willing, for the sake of a man of MKG's status and prestige, to detach a nuclear sub to bring him to Limuria. The Navy also feels pretty sore about the Sirius rocket you must realize how bitter inter-Service rivalries are in the United States. The Air Force is now completely cock-a-hoop about Sirius and billions are coming its way for future moonshots. The Navy is solid behind MKG.' The Vice-President isn't only a man, he's a vital cog in the American constitutional system,' I objected. I don't see a Vice-President simply chucking everything overboard in order to be shot off secretly into space. Any man who acted so irresponsibly wouldn't be fit to hold the office of VicePresident.'
It was a big decision to take,' replied the DNI thoughtfully, and it could not have been done without the fullunofficial-endorsement of the President. The President, like 48
MKG and ourselves, appreciates the value of Little Bear. America will be supreme in a military sense for at least a decade by virtue of Little Bear. The President is taking a calculated risk. He's deputed Willowtrack with an S special Gold Crew to bring MKG out. Her skipper is Revs Tyler, and you know what that means.
Revs Tyler was the man who rose to fame and earned his nickname by taking a nuclear sub 1,000 feet under the ice of the South Pole to prove to the sceptics that a deep-water channel existed between the two halves of the Antartic continent, cut by a seasonal warm current. Tyler made the run at full speed, dodging ice projections the size of a skyscraper at 40 knots, knowing that one touch would have sent him and his crew to instant death. More revolutions, he demanded throughout this amazing voyage, always more revs.
' Is Revs in on the secret too?' I asked.
Up to a point only,' replied Peace. He and his crew naturally know they have the Vice-President aboard, but they believe he is to conduct firing tests on a new secret missile. After all, there's nothing unusual in that, except that it's so far away from home. Don't forget, either, that MKG'S a trained astronaut.'
There's a sword of Damocles over this whole mission,' said the DNI gravely. It's something you must not lose sight of.'I watched Peace's mouth go taut as the DNI said it and the cruel, ruthless lines assert themselves. Little Bear was not only a personal matter with him; the future of the new Royal Navy depended on it.
Willowtrack has orders to make the voyage submerged,' went on the DNI. But both the President and MKG were adamant that there should be a daily signal from Willow- track to the White House in code.' He smiled slightly. I suggested twilight every evening-as the U-boats used to do, when the light makes it the most difficult time of day to spot a sub on the surface.'
A nuclear sub doesn't have to surface,' I said.
I know, I know,' he replied impatiently. But it is a good time. Willowtrack will simply stick up a radio antenna and signal the White House. In order to preserve maximum security, no other signals or reception will be permitted. And if Revs Tyler's in command, he'll keep to that-he won't even listen to a newscast.'
Peace's face was bleak. I wanted full radio silence.'
The DNI went on: If, for any reason whatever in the intricate complex of the American political system, it is necessary for MKG to return to the United States, the mission will be called off. MKG'S first duty is to the American nation. not to Little Bear, the Royal Navy, or ourselves.' He turner on Peace, his voice very quiet. Do I make myself clear?'
Peace said nothing.
The DNI picked up the hammer and punch.
Tap-tap.
The prim voice was in deadly earnest. Unless I have a categorical undertaking from you, Geoffrey, the Little Bear mission is off-now.'
Peace looked down at his hands, the hands which had sent so many men to their deaths, turned the palms inwards and the knuckles outwards again, a strange, sinister gesture. He nodded. Adele's face was pale. Like me, she realized what it must have cost Peace to put a halter and bridle on a mission so close to his heart.
The DNI went on quickly, trying to obliterate the tension. The original plan called for Geoffrey to go to St Brandon in H.M.S. Devastation, our newest nuclear sub, and rendezvous there with Willowtrack and MKG. The two subs would then go to a remote island called Love-Apple Crossing. Willow-track would receive her onward briefing at St Brandon. Tyler doesn't know where the test-fire is scheduled from. As an additional security measure, we chartered a French freighter called the Semittante, trading to these waters, to carry Little Bear. Boz Blair and the scientists are signed on as ordinary members of Semittantes crew.'
Semittante-that was the name of one of Napoleon's frigates,' Mam'zelle Adele exclaimed.
Peace smiled for the first time. Not this Semittante-just an old battered tramp grown rusty humping guano and coconuts from Limuria to whoever wants them anywhere in the world.'
I said to Peace, ' I wondered why you took Bellatrix past LoveApple Crossing on our way to the Seychelles.'
Mam'zelle Adele smiled her strange smile. Another strange name!'
Love-Apple Crossing is a speck on the map (and most maps of Limuria are old) about 50 miles east of the beautiful twin island of Agalega, which is situated almost exactly halfway between St Brandon and the Seychelles. From Mahe it was. about 400 miles. East again of Love-Apple Crossing is a great collection of shoals and shallow banks, over 10,000 square miles each in extent, where the ancient peaks of Limuria project above the sea.
You say, original plan-what is the new one?' I asked. Peace glanced across at the DNI. The news of the firing of Little Bear has leaked out.'
The DNI added quickly, A partial leak only.'
I looked from one to the other. The CIA man at the coffin?'
It proved what we suspected,' said the DNI, and it doesn't make us any easier in our minds. Somebody in the United
States has been asking what MKG is up to. The President considered that it would be quite safe for him to be missing from the public scene on the grounds that he was carrying out secret work. He's a bachelor, as you know, so we don't have to worry about home security. But how would your mind work, if you were in the CIA or connected with it, or had confided in it, if suddenly both MKG and Peace were missing?'