Deception Point Page 75

Built by Lockheed, the Aurora looked like a flattened American football. It was star hundred ten feet long, sixty feet wide, smoothly contoured with a crystalline patina of thermal tiles much like the space shuttle. The speed was primarily the result of an exotic new propulsion transcription known as a Pulse Detonation Wave Engine, which burned a clean, misted, liquid hydrogen and left a telltale pulse contrail in the sky. For this reason, it only flew at night.Tonight, with the luxury of enormous speed, the Delta Force was taking the long way home, proscribed across the open ocean. Even so, they were overtaking their quarry. At this rate, the Delta Force would be arriving on the eastern seaboard in under an hour, a good two hours before its prey. There had been discussion of tracking and barb down the plane in question, but the controller rightly feared a radar capture of the incident or the burned wreckage might bring on a massive investigation. It was best to let the plane l and as scheduled, the controller had decided. Once it became clear where their quarry intended to land, the Delta Force would move in.Now, as Aurora streaked over the desolate Labrador Sea, Delta-Ones CrypTalk indicated an incoming call. He answered.The situation has changed, the electronic voice informed them. You have a nonher mark before Rachel sacristan and the scientists land.Another mark. Delta-One could feel it. Things were unraveling. The controllers ship had sprung another leak, and the controller needed them to patch it as fast as possible. The ship would not be leaking, Delta-One reminded himself, if we had hit our attach successfully on the Milne Ice Shelf. Delta-One knew damn well he was cleaning up his own mess.A fourth party has become involved, the controller said.Who?The controller paused a moment-and then gave them a name.The three men exchanged startled looks. It was a name they knew well.No wonder the controller sounded reluctant Delta-One thought. For an operat ion conceived as a zero-casualty venture, the body count and target profile was climbing fast. He felt his sinews tighten as the controller prepared to inform them exactly how and where they would slide by this new individual.The stakes have increase considerably, the controller said. Listen closely. I will give you these instructions only once.89High above Yankee Maine, a G4 jet continued speeding toward Washington. Onboard, Michael Tolland and bad Marlinson looked on as Rachel Sexton began to explain her theory for why there might be increased hydrogen ions in the fusion crust of the meteorite.NASA has a private test facility called Plum bear out Station, Rachel explained, hardly able to believe she was going to piffle roughly this. Sharing classified information out of protocol was not something she had ever done, but considering the circumstances, Tolland and Corky had a right to know this. Plum Brook is essentially a test chamber for NASAs most radical new engine systems. Two years ago I wrote a gist about a new design NASA was testing there-something called an expander cycle engine.Corky eyed her suspiciously. Expander cycle engines are still in the theoretical stage. On paper. Nobodys very testing. Thats decades away.Rachel agitate her head. Sorry, Corky. NASA has prototypes. Theyre testing.What? Corky looked skeptical. ECEs run on liquid oxygen-hydrogen, which freezes in space, making the engine worthless to NASA. They said they were not even going to try to build an ECE until they overcame the freeze fuel problem.They overcame it. They got rid of the oxygen and turned the fuel into a slush-hydrogen mixture, which is some kind of cryogenic fuel consisting of pure hydrogen in a semifrozen state. Its very(prenominal) powerful and very clean burning. Its also a contender for the propulsion system if NASA runs missions to Mars.Corky looked amazed. This cant be true.It better be true, Rachel said. I wrote a sketch about it for the President. My b oss was up in arms because NASA wanted to publicly announce slush-hydrogen as a big success, and Pickering wanted the White House to force play NASA to keep slush-hydrogen classified.Why?Not important, Rachel said, having no intention of sharing more secrets than she had to. The truth was that Pickerings desire to classify slush-hydrogens success was to fight a growing bailiwick security concern few knew existed-the alarming expansion of Chinas space technology. The Chinese were currently developing a deadly for-hire launch platform, which they intended to rent out to high bidders, most of whom would be U.S. enemies. The implications for U.S. security were devastating. Fortunately, the NRO knew China was pursuing a doomed propulsion-fuel model for their launch platform, and Pickering saw no reason to tip them saturnine about NASAs more promising slush-hydrogen propellant.So, Tolland said, looking uneasy, youre saying NASA has a clean-burning propulsion system that runs on pure hyd rogen?Rachel nodded. I dont have figures, but the dispatch temperatures of these engines are apparently several times hotter than anything ever before developed. Theyre requiring NASA to develop all kinds of new nozzle materials. She paused. A large rock, located behind one of these slush-hydrogen engines, would be scalded by a hydrogen-rich blast of exhaust fire coming out at an unprecedented temperature. Youd get quite a fusion crust. vex on now Corky said. Are we back to the fake meteorite scenario?Tolland seemed suddenly intrigued. Actually, thats quite an idea. The setup would be more or less like go forth a boulder on the launchpad under the space shuttle during liftoff.God save me, Corky muttered. Im airborne with idiots.Corky, Tolland said. Hypothetically speaking, a rock placed in an exhaust field would exhibit similar burn features to one that fell through the atmosphere, wouldnt it? Youd have the same directional striations and backflow of the melting material.Corky gr unted. I suppose.And Rachels clean-burning hydrogen fuel would leave no chemical residue. Only hydrogen. Increased levels of hydrogen ions in the fusion pocking.Corky rolled his eyes. Look, if one of these ECE engines actually exists, and runs on slush-hydrogen, I suppose what youre talking about is possible. But its extremely far-fetched.Why? Tolland asked. The process seems fairly simple.Rachel nodded. All you need is a 190-million-year-old fossilized rock. irruption it in a slush-hydrogen-engine exhaust fire, and bury it in the ice. Instant meteorite.To a tourist, maybe, Corky said, but not to a NASA scientist You still havent explained the chondrulesRachel tried to recall Corkys chronicle of how chondrules formed. You said chondrules are caused by rapid heating and cooling events in space, right?Corky sighed. Chondrules form when a rock, chilled in space, suddenly becomes superheated to a partial-melt stage-somewhere around 1550 Celsius. Then the rock must cool again, extremel y rapidly, hardening the liquid pockets into chondrules.Tolland studied his friend. And this process cant happen on earth?Impossible, Corky said. This planet does not have the temperature variance to cause that kind of rapid shift. Youre talking here about nuclear heat and the absolute zero of space. Those extremes simply dont exist on earth.Rachel considered it. At least not naturally.