“Do we know what happened to Messinger and Benthic Ranger Two?” said Admiral Smith.
“The submersible and its crew are gone, disappeared. There was no trace of the submersible anywhere in the search area,” said McHugh.
“Do we think the Russians have this sonic technology?” said the President.
“None of our intelligence agencies have been able to detect anything like that in the Russian arsenal,” said Gooding.
“What if it came from the Sentinel?” said Tillingham.
“I would recommend some planning for that eventuality,” said McHugh.
The President looked up toward McHugh, as if hearing the word for the first time. “How’s the integration of the military going at CSAC, Bob?”
“Very well, Mr. President. As you know, we have been quietly building up our military response capabilities. All Delta Force level men and, er, women under a unified command. Couldn’t have asked for a more dedicated team — all seasoned troops, Granada, Iraq, Afghan, Bosnia, name it.”
“Afghan?” said Secretary Littleton.
“Yes, Jason,” said the President. “Some things are better left unasked.”
His face flushed at the last remark, but Littleton knew when to press a point, and this was not the right time.
“What about the attacks on our CSAC agents?” said Reddington.
Judge Alexander nodded. “My agents uncovered a KGB ring of moles that had been sent to infiltrate American society. The KGB colonel general and resident agent for this group, code-named Project Cicada, was acting on his own. The leader, as he was called, didn’t want his life’s work to go down the drain with the rest of the USSR. When the Kremlin fell apart, General Lechenkov decided to freelance, to demonstrate the importance of his group.
“His agent in the Pentagon, who incidentally was his illegitimate son — a natural born American, had tapped into the CSAC communications network and knew the travel plans of our agent/couriers. We believe that we’ve been able to eradicate the main force behind this cell of spies. Lechenkov left some pretty good records, which we’re going through at this moment. We think that we can wrap up this ring in short order.
“One critical part of the ring, an agent with the code name Dimitri, did manage to escape, but we’ve alerted Interpol. This Dimitri used an auto repair shop as a cover. He is apparently quite good at what he does and may give us more headaches in the future.”
The President turned to General Ryder who was sitting to his right. “General, where do we stand with the strategic defense initiative?”
“Mr. President, the latest round of debates frankly has us scared. It seems that too many people are demanding the so-called ‘peace dividend’ right away. Although we anticipated some fall-out from the collapse of the Soviet Empire, we didn’t expect that SDI would be curtailed so drastically. We’re doing our best, sir, but we need more funds.”
Turning to Bo Reddington, the President said, “Bo, what are SDI’s chances in Congress?”
“Not good, Mr. President. The other guys are clamoring for the peace dividend just like General Ryder said. It’s become a hot topic.”
“What about the strategy that we need this technology for Nemesis?”
“We’ve made some progress on that front. Seems we struck a chord with some civilian scientists who have been monitoring asteroids and their orbits. The theory that the dinosaurs were annihilated by a comet crashing into the Yucatan Peninsula has captured the popular imagination. The possibility of a dark star, Nemesis, somewhere flinging comets and other debris at the Earth has also captivated the people. But, with all candor, Mr. President, I think we need to have a high level meeting with Speaker Ronerson.”
The President winced at the name of his own nemesis. Speaker Mitchell Ronerson, the current speaker of the House of Representatives was from the opposition party. He had made it his mission in life to make the President’s life, to say the least, interesting. The President did not like the portly gentleman from Montana and thinking that he would have to win his vote on this critical matter seemed abhorrent.
“Thank you. What about the message?” said the President.
“Here it is, Mr. President,” said Mike, taking the metallic file from his briefcase and handing it to the President.
The President ran the file through the encoder device held out by Mike and opened the folder. He sat down behind his desk in the Oval Room and read the short message.
The message read:
Third Planet, NG-33 System, Galaxy 1530-G, 1300 Starlengths. Planet under Severe Environmental Stress. Despite Our Efforts to Stabilize Political Imbalances By Elimination of One Competitor, Species Unable to Unify for Environmental Action. Ozone Depletion Approaching Critical Phase. Species Can Not Be Depended Upon to Further Manage This Asset. Council Has Directed Management of Resources To Be Fundamental Component of Utilization Plan for Third Planet. Intervention Imperative to Preserve Resources. Estimated 1300.2 Starlengths.
The President reread the short message several times, the import of the message sinking deeper and deeper with each reading. Finally, he put down the slip of paper and looked up to McHugh and Mike.
“What does starlength mean?”
“Apparently, each starlength equates to one of our centuries. Therefore, Starlength 1300.2 probably means 2013, about twenty years from this date,” said McHugh.
Looking past McHugh and Mike to the assembled group, the President said, “Gentlemen, it looks as if we have our work cut out for us. God, let’s hope that SDI works.”
The author of Falling Star is Philip Chen, like the character of Mike Liu, was involved with ocean research engineering during his early career and later moved on to other endeavors including trial law and investment banking. This is his first novel.