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  "We can, of course, provide allied forces," Adler said. "But creating our own space force is out of the question."

  "As it should be," Arjuna said. "I believe that we are looking at the question from the wrong perspective."

  "Go on," McMurry said, a touch suspiciously.

  "The problem is that we are viewing this as separate, and competitive, countries," Bhatnagar said. "When, in fact, we are all at risk. For once it is not a question of our own priorities but of the world's."

  "That's a very nice sentiment," McMurry said, frowning. "But so far it seems like the world's problems are, as usual, America's."

  "That is because you are a victim of your own success," Arjuna said, holding up a hand to forestall a reply. "Please, let me explain. I could play what-ifs about India had it not been so long under British domination, but I will not.

  "The United States has been a great success. Many logistic reasons for that, of course. Your people expanded across essentially untarnished terrain, built a great nation with very good structural conditions, the importance of the Mississippi River is vastly underrated, and now sit in a position of hyperdominance. And in this position of hyperdominance we now have a threat not to the United States but the world.

  "The world, however, is unwilling to contribute fully to its own defense. First, because they are, frankly, unused to the concept. The U.S. has been the ultimate protector for most of the world for a very long time. But more importantly, because no one believes the United States will fail to protect us. However much people may protest and complain about American power, rant about unilateral invasions, cowboys, warmongers, when we come to a time of decision and must find one group to depend upon, all the nations of the world have learned that the one untrammeled defender, the greatest friend and the most fearsome foe, is America."

  "Thank you," McMurry said solemnly. "You delivered that very well."

  "I'm a politician," Bhatnagar said, shrugging. "We do these things. You are, as I said, victims of your own success. No one, no one, really believes America can fail to defend the solar system. Your functional enemies," the prime minister glanced towards the cluster of leaders from Russia, France and China, "are more than willing to let you bear the burden of such a defense. They see it as a way to destroy you economically, as you once destroyed the Soviet Union."

  "Which is a pretty good bet," the President said.

  "I strongly disagree," Bhatnagar said, shrugging. "I suspect that those three are going to come out of this war in an even worse position than they already hold. But it is a question history will have to decide. The point is that there is no negative or positive pressure to support the U.S. Why should any country increase its defense spending when the U.S. can, and will, defend them quite well? As it must to defend itself."

  McMurry opened his mouth to reply then closed it. He took a breath, then shrugged.

  "So you don't think we're going to get much in the way of support?" McMurry said.

  "I intend to use this forum to declare the full support of India," the prime minister said. "We, too, are at threat. Furthermore, the world's largest democracy will not stand idly by while the world's oldest defends us."

  "Thank you, again," McMurry said. "But... while that's all very nice, are there hard numbers?"

  "Not at present," Bhatnagar said. "But I have caucused our leadership and we will begin a move to full war footing. We will supply personnel, equipment and supplies and pay for that to the extent that we can. What is beyond our grasp we will need support on. But the general number that we're discussing is up to thirty percent of our GDP."

  "That is a very large number," Adler said pensively. "It would be extremely hard for Germany to equal that percentage."

  "Better start thinking on how," McMurry said.

  "That sounded ominous," Dasher said, frowning slightly. "What are you thinking?"

  "That the U.S. isn't going to be made a patsy. Again. I need to go talk to some people."

  —|—

  "...in conclusion, while France stands by its ally of many centuries, the United States, the French government cannot, at this time, support further increases in defense spending. That concludes my statement."

  "The President of the United States?" The conference moderator was the prime minister of Switzerland. Fortunately, like most Swiss politicians he had the patience of a saint.

  "During this conference, I had hoped to find support for the U.S. defense of the Terran system," McMurry said, reading from notes. "While I have heard many fine words, what I have gotten to a much lesser extent is hard pledges or increased support. And those few which have been presented, mostly by our regular and standard allies, have been, in the main, pro forma. The exceptions are India, Canada, Britain, Finland and Australia, all of which have either increased defense spending to near U.S. percentages or intend to do so in the near future. The excuses are many. 'We are a developing country.' 'We have many domestic spending needs.' The theme is always the same. The U.S. must go it alone.

  "A point was made to me during the recess, one that has much been discussed in other venues as well, that to defend itself the U.S. must defend the world. And that, as such, there is no driver for other countries to increase their defense spending to support us. Why should they when the U.S. citizen has to defend them to defend ourselves? Thus the fine words and penurious actions that have characterized this conference. It really does make anyone with a touch of honor feel sick.

  "There is a movement in the U.S. to force other countries to match our contribution. I am not a proponent nor do I think that the U.S. public would ever countenance such an action. Furthermore, it would be quite difficult to do. I, and the U.S. government, reject the notion of imposing 'support' by violence. We are beyond Hobbesianism. To descend to such depths would make us no better than the Horvath or Rangora.

  "However, the U.S. is not willing to defend others if they are not willing to contribute to their own defense. Nor is it willing to sacrifice its treasure and blood when other countries stand idly by, supplying materials for great cost, reaping the benefits of American sacrifice while enriching themselves.

  "Let us, therefore, consider the VLA and missile attacks. Any battle will start, and hopefully end, around the gate area as the last did. But if the next attacker, and there will be a next attacker, chooses to fire some of their great store of missiles at Terra, all of them cannot be stopped during the first phase of battle.

  "Capital missiles go through three phases during an attack on Earth. The first is the initial boost. Generally, missiles expend eighty percent of their onboard fuel in this boost phase. Then they go silent and coast towards the Earth, often using stealth technologies and deception to cloak their movements.

  "The U.S. has, at enormous expense, constructed a fleet of satellites for the sole purpose of detecting and tracking such attacks. Managed by the AI Athena, the system picks up the initial boost traces from these gravitational detection satellites, then, using a series of sensors, attempts to find them in the vastness of space and destroy them before they become a threat. It is not well known but there were, in fact, twenty missiles fired in the direction of Earth during the last battle, all of which were destroyed by this system.

  "However, the last of those twenty was not detected until shortly before it would have gone into its terminal boost phase. When boosting the missiles are, once again, relatively easy to detect. But they are going very fast and in the event of there being more than a paltry twenty, as could be expected from a heavy Rangora attack, they have to be targeted and destroyed by the BDA cluster that, again at purely American expense, has been set up in orbit to defend Terra.

  "During the terminal boost phase it quickly becomes evident which countries, which cities, by and large, are being targeted." The President paused and looked up from his notes at the assembled leaders, many of whom suddenly looked far less smug. He looked back down, his face as set as stone, and continued reading. "In the event of a heavy attack that gets th
rough the gate defenses, that gets through the deep space defense network and has to be targeted by the BDA, certain... choices have to be made.

  "At the end of this conference I will announce that the U.S. is withdrawing from all standing mutual defense treaties. If the choice has to be made, the first choice will be to defend the citizens of the United States who are paying for that defense."

  "You cannot do that!" the president of France shouted. "You're dooming us all for your own folly!" He wasn't the only protester.

  "The first choice, again, will be to defend the United States," the President said, ignoring them. "And such allies as enter into a new treaty of mutual defense, the Terran Alliance. A full text will be supplied after this conference. The general standards shall be thus. There shall be three levels of commitment, low developing, high developing and developed. The standard for defense spending shall be based upon the defense spending levels of the greatest contributor, currently the United States. To maintain membership, a low developing country must spend one third the level of the lead country, again currently the U.S., on defense, which includes personnel pay, equipment production, supplies or such defense infrastructure developments as may be considered necessary by the Alliance paid for by the country and supplied to the Alliance. A high developing country is required to contribute one half and a developed country ninety-percent—"

  "Ninety percent?" Adler said, wincing.

  "As a percentage of GDP," McMurry said. "Furthermore, such countries must either be a democracy or agree to a timetable and follow the timetable to enact full democracy." He looked up at the Chinese premier and smiled. "Or be restricted from or stricken from the Alliance. Last, command of all forces shall be by Alliance officers, all forces shall meet Alliance standards of training and leadership, all materials will meet Alliance standards of quality and all designs for platforms and equipment will be Alliance designs to maintain standardization. For the time being, you may feel free to substitute 'American' for 'Alliance.'"

  "What if we don't like American designs?" the British prime minister asked.

  "The Constitution classes are designed and built by BAE," the President said. "That's a British company. They don't have to be designed in the U.S., just accepted for use by the DoD. The last point. In the event of an attack that enters the final defense zone, first priority will be given to allied countries and their ships, cities, materials, colonies, etc. Only after those missiles have been dealt with will the system shift to defending non-allied countries."

  "You will leave us defenseless," the French prime minister said.

  "Not at all," the President said. "You have left yourselves defenseless. The countries of India, Canada, Britain, Finland, Australia, Chile and Brazil all meet the requirements or come close enough to be automatic members, if they wish to accept the additional provisos. There are already British, Australian and Canadian members of the crew of the Troy. One can be assured that the U.S. will defend its true friends as if we were a single country.

  "The world has become used to the U.S. cleaning up its messes, defending it, stabilizing it and generally reaping the benefits of America's commitment to democracy, free trade and freedom without incurring any of the massive cost involved. Now the world expects the U.S. to defend it, again, reaping even more benefits, while America bleeds.

  "Not going to happen," the President said, looking around. "You can toss your ante on the table or you can damned well die. And that concludes my statement."

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  "I need to talk to the President."

  Lance Aterberry, secretary of energy, was a rarity in a cabinet position: Someone who actually knew something about their field. Most cabinet appointees had worked in the field they "covered" at one point or another, but most of them were not technical experts. Secretaries of defense had rarely been generals. Few secretaries of state had ever been ambassadors.

  Lance Aterberry, on the other hand, had a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and had worked in the field of power generation and supply for thirty years before he ran for Congress. He'd been picked as a natural to run the department and his biggest challenge so far had been dealing with the bureaucracy from on top instead of bottom. He was finding it no more comprehensible as the boss than as a customer.

  The fortunate fact was that the increasing access to Glatun designed He3 power plants had made his job easier and easier. Glatun plants produced no radiation, were relatively cheap to run compared to the power they put out and had a very small footprint. Even Florida and California were catching up on their energy requirements, leaving him free to attempt to reform the most moribund and entrenched bureaucracy in the U.S. with the possible exceptions of Agriculture and Education.

  All that relative ease had just gone out the window, however, with the blockade of the Terran system.

  "Everyone needs to talk to the President," the chief of staff said. "There's a war on, you know. Unless it's a warning that the Rangora are coming through the gate—"

  "How about all the lights are about to go off?" Lance said. "I'm serious. I need to talk to the President now."

  "What do you mean the lights are about to go off?" the chief of staff said.

  "We've converted fifteen percent of our power generation to He3," Lance said patiently. "The only source of He3 is the Glatun. Do the math."

  "Holy..." the chief of staff said. "I'll call you back."

  —|—

  "How did we go to fifteen percent of our power depending on an interstellar energy source?" the President asked, looking around at the assembled group of advisors. It was late at night on Air Force One and he wasn't enjoying the discussion.

  "Because it's clean, cheap and easy," Aterberry said. "Companies have been shuttering other plants because they get less trouble from environmentalists using annie plants than coal, nuclear or even hydro. And we had a lot of plants damaged or destroyed in the bombardments. It just made more sense to build annie plants."

  "Except it is a strategic handicap," the secretary of defense said. "It's one that we've been bringing up in meetings. But it's not just energy production. All our ships run on He3."

  "Tell me there's an answer," the President said. "Isn't Apollo working on a plant in the Wolf system?"

  "They're at least three months from being online," the SecEng said. "And they won't go to full production right away. Figure six months before we'll have the same access to supplies that we got with the Glatun. And the total available He3 in the system will last us about three weeks."

  "We need that fuel for the fleet," the secretary of defense said. "We'll need all of it."

  "Forget the fleet," the SecEng said. "Forget the construction on new hulls. They're going to have to be orbital babies for the time being. Troy runs on He3. No power, no air, no water, no Troy. No food and material resupply."

  "How much fuel do ships use?" the President asked, confused. "They don't use that much energy, do they?"

  "Yes, sir, they do," the SecDef said, looking pensive.

  "There's no free lunch, Mister President," the SecEng said. "To boost out of the atmosphere, to accelerate in free-fall, requires energy. Just because they don't have big, thundering rockets, doesn't mean they're not expending as much energy. A Constitution class can lift itself out of the grav well, technically. Imagine the number and size of rockets that would require to lift something twice the size of a supercarrier up to orbit. That's how much energy they use, Mr. President. And it all comes from He3."

  "Can we make them nuclear somehow?" the President asked.

  "No," the SecDef said. "First of all, it would require so much refitting that we'd use up too much fuel doing the work. Second, they can't dump the heat well enough."

  "Troy might be able to," the SecEng said thoughtfully. "It's actually pretty cold."

  "We have six plants from Los Angeles-class subs that haven't been torn down," the SecDef said. "Actually, I think they've already been transferred to your department. Any idea if they can be i
nstalled in the Troy?"

  "I'm not sure about the construction requirements and getting the plants to them would be a stretch..."

  "When I was in Switzerland I kept thinking that there was someone missing from the summit," the President said. "Anyone know where Tyler Vernon's got to?"

  "He was in the Wolf system last week," the SecDef said. "Checking on the construction of the new fabber, some quality issues from the current one and the fuel plant."

  "I think we need to see if we can track him down, don't you?"

  —|—

  As the Starfire cleared the gate, Tyler's implant dinged for attention.

  "Hello, Argus," Tyler said. "Is there any good news?"

  The pilot of the Starfire suddenly made a sharp maneuver. Due to the inertial controls, Tyler didn't even feel it. But the chunk of metal the maneuver avoided was clearly visible as it flashed by the crystal wall making up one side of the Starfire.

  "Not as such," Argus said. "There is a critical issue having to do with fuel."

  "I was discussing that in Wolf," Tyler said.

  "On that subject," Argus said. "The President of the United States has been trying to get through to you."

  "I had my com on hold," Tyler said. "I was trying to think of a way to find more fuel. Go ahead and put him through."

  The entire battlefield, dispersed as it was, was visible as the shuttle slowly accelerated towards Earth. Tyler tried not to curse. He'd have to shut down all the salvage operat—

  "Mr. Tyler, this is the President."

  "Good afternoon, Mr. President," Tyler said chipperly. "How are you today?"

  "The Rangora declared war, I declared that we're not going to fight it alone, the stock market just tanked and we don't have enough fuel to support our fleet, or Troy. I've just found out that we can't even feed the terrestrial power plants, which means people who are already sacrificing are going to be without power. My advisors say that you probably don't have enough fuel on hand to complete your fuel plant. The French option is looking better and better. Other than that, things are dandy. You?"