Behold Leviathan


" the Archangel Lucifer " by Franz von Stuck

Lago Vista, Texas

Just as Kase rushed through the front door of his lakeside house, to freshen up for his escapade with Nikki the ace Tribune reporter, the telephone rang. He let it ring. But some gizmo took the answering machine off the line and the telephone rang some more. That could only mean one thing: bad news from above.

Two months solid at the nuclear site and his radiation levels were low enough that he could leave for a short spell for some much needed R and R. Anxiously looking forward to some fun away from the Rock, the federales have to show up.

What they affectionately called the Rock was just a big peninsula in Lake Travis, the landed end pinched to almost make it an island. It used to house a Baptist retreat and was once quite a nice resort, Paleface Point. Now the island was barren. The military had barricaded the lake on either side, like a medieval moat around a nonexistent fort.

The only way off was to swim - close to half a mile, all under water. Air tanks or even an aqua-lung were not viable options, either. The patrols could detect most anything. Nor could you break surface, even with a small snorkel for air. Their laser imaging radar could spot a needle a mile away. They were not shy about heaving a few rounds at the slightest provocation, either. A whole regiment of the Army's best had been lost. They were madder than hornets.

Fortunately, his old lake house abutted the water, and Kase could reach it in a mad rush from the shore. Just as he broke surface off the shore, gasping desperately for air; a thought crossed his mind. Just my luck to make it all this way, only to get caught by the Lago Vista cops for public obscenity, running around in the middle of the night skyclad (stark naked).

Could it be only a few hours before that he had hustled into the house, got into some clothes, and sped into town to meet Nikki at the restaurant?

---

"Have a nice swim, buddy?" said a familiar voice. Kase was too offended to say anything.

"Saw it all on satellite, Kase. Don't worry, the Army will never know."

"That's reassuring." Then it dawned on him that they had no idea that he had been to Austin and back. Evidently, they were not as good as they thought.

"We lost a satellite today, Kase. The whole damn country has been without cell phones, pagers, and fifty percent of cable and telecommunications. The brass are freaking out - something about what if there had been a nuclear strike?"

"Got STK on line, Roger. That's Satellite Tool Kit for you technical illiterates in Washington," with more than a little bitterness in his tone. "Give me the orbital elements, will you? Just like they are on the two-line address."

Roger spoke a series of numbers slowly and carefully, punctuated by a period now and then. Kase confirmed receipt, and concentrated to set up the software to give a visual three-dimensional picture of the orbital trajectory of the satellite.

As he was building the satellite profile, Kase kept up a steady monologue. Roger answered as best he could.

"How come the bird didn't just correct its attitude and get right back on line?"

"We think the gyroscopes were damaged, or the software."

"Not good - must have been more than a stray meteorite, no? On the other hand, a heavy fuzz ball from an enemy satellite could knock her out. Well, unless it was a fuzzy ball with one hell of an electrostatic charge - enough to nix the electronics but good."

"We thought so too - got every body's hackles raised, it does."

"Shoot, Roger. I'd have thought, after you guys missed the boat on the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests and the satellite guidance technology to the Red Chinese, you would have a pretty thick hide by now. Not to mention that aseventy percent of the rocket launches in the last six months have never made it into orbit! "

"The must have given our best systems the red Chinese, eh? Now their rockets are so cheap - since they don't have to pay for the HUGE overhead; tens of billions of dollard in research and development - hell, they're putting us out of business, they're so cheap!" Then Roger didn't say anything, Kase tried to joke. "Damn, the good old Agency just is not what it used to be, is it?"

Roger just let Kase amble on, wondering just what he hoped to accomplish by simulating the satellite path on his computer.

"Oh Lord," Kase said a moment later, his voice suddenly laced with concern. Can you tell me where the bird lost a wing, Roger?"

"Yes, we know the coordinates - but this isn't a secure line, Kase."

"Then can you tell me about where it was?"

Silence.

"I'm going on the speaker phone then, Roger. I have to do some figuring on the black board, OK. This time there was no idle chatter, but Roger could hear Kase writing furiously on his chalkboard. A couple of profane words reached the microphone, then he yelled out across the room.

"Roger, was it over the Middle East or thereabouts?"