Footfall

So safe, so harmless, asleep; but he was the only one who had fought back.

Greatly daring, Alice reached out and touched Wes Dawson’s wrist. Too little pressure would tickle him, too much would wake him.

He stopped breathing, and so did Alice. Then, “I can kill them. They can die,” Wes said. His face relaxed; his lips parted slightly and he was deep asleep.

After a moment Alice curled up beside him.

31. MAXIMUM SECURITY

Those who will give up essential liberty to secure a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

The helicopter settled onto the parking lot behind an odd gray building, granite base, brick towers at each corner. An elderly man waited with two others, all in tan uniforms. They held umbrellas against the drizzling rain. Je

“I’m Ben Lafferty. Sheriff. This is Deputy Young and Deputy Hargman. Anything you want, just ask them.”

“Actually, we’d expected to see the military intelligence people,” Je

Lafferty screwed his face into an exaggerated squint and eyed Je

Jack Clybourne reached into his pocket. Je

“And what’s that? What the hell are you people building down in that harbor? And don’t give me crap about greenhouses. Green houses don’t need big iron things brought in hung under barges.”

“There is a war,” Jack Clybourne said.

“So they tell us.”

“Tell you! If you’d seen that crashed ship—” In a moment Jack Clybourne had calmed himself, but the sheriff had backed away a step. “I brought some films and I can get more. I believe I can persuade you that there’s a war. We’re losing it. We need all the cooperation we can get.”

“Yeah, sure you do.” The sheriff glanced at his watch. “Okay. Hargman and Young will take care of you. I got to go.” He left the office without looking back.

“What was that all about?” Jack Clybourne asked.

Deputy Young looked thoughtful, then lowered his voice. “He has a point. We got along fine until all of a sudden they a

“Air Force,” Je

“That so? You still didn’t tell me why we need the Air Force to raise groceries. Or why all the security stuff.”

“There is a reason.”

Deputy Hargman snorted. “Sure there is. One good enough to get this town and everybody in it killed by a meteor.”

“Not if they think it’s a greenhouse,” Je

“How will they know that’s what this is?”

“Maybe you take your chances,” Jack said. “Just like the rest of the world. Look, one hint gets to the snouts that Bellingham has a secret, and—” He spread his hands.

“No more Bellingham,” Young said. “How would they find out?”

“TV. More likely radio. Police radio. Even CB.”

“Jeez,” Hargman said. “Look, just what is this secret we’re protecting?”

“What do you care?” Jack demanded.

Je

“Round up the CBs,” Hargman muttered. “Won’t be easy — hey, won’t that make the snouts suspicious? No CB chatter here at all?”

Jack’s chin bobbed up and down. “We’ll set up fakes. Lots of chatter, but it will be our people doing it. Thanks.”

“Sure,” Deputy Young said. “But — dammit, I don’t like not knowing what I’m protecting.”

“You don’t want to know,” Je

General Edmund Gillespie closed the door, and the sound of hammers and riveting guns died away. Je

Jack Clybourne removed his ear protectors with a look of relief.

“Max,” General Gillespie said, “you remember my wife’s kid sister. They promoted her. Lieutenant Colonel.”

A wide grin split Max Rohrs’ face. “Hey, Je

“And this is Jack Clybourne,” Gillespie said. “Max is the chief construction foreman on this job. Max, Je

“Okay,” Rohrs said. “I knew we were important…”

“Max, you’re all we have,” Je

“Yeah, I knew that.”

Gillespie waved them to chairs. “Drinks? We have a good local beer. I recommend it.” He opened a refrigerator and produce several bottles. They had no labels, and the bottles were not a alike.

“Sure,” Je

Jack frowned but accepted a bottle.

“So how are we doing?” Je

“Not bad,” Max Rohrs said. “Matter of fact, we’re way ahead of schedule.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, we got that nuclear sub hid out in the harbor. Plenty of electricity. And we’ve got every computer design system on the West Coast. That all helps. Mostly, though, it’s just there’s no paperwork,” Max said. “No telephone lines to Washington. The engineers plan something, the computer people check it out, E and I agree, and it goes in, no conferences and change-approval meetings. We just do it.”

“It helps that everybody busts ass,” Gillespie said.

“That’s for sure. We’re here to get this done, not make money and take coffee breaks.”

It shows, too, Je

Max looked thoughtful. “Supposed to take a year more, but I’ll be surprised if we can’t launch in nine months. Maybe sooner.” He unrolled a sheath of drawings. “Look, the heavy work is the base plate. The barges bring that in pieces, and we have to put it together. Heavy work, but it’s still just welding and riveting. Then there’s the gun that puts the bombs behind the butt plate. If that fouls… well, we’re putting in two separate TBGs.”

“What?”

“Thrust bomb guns.”

“Oh. But there’s all the electronics, and life support, and — don’t I remember they needed nine months just to change toilets on the Shuttle?”

“Sure, NASA style,” Gillespie said. “We just install the damn thing. Of course it helps that we’re not shaving off ounces. We’ve got plenty of lifting power.”

You sure do. “Is everything coming in on schedule?”

“No, but we’re dealing with it,” Gillespie said. “Maybe you’ve noticed, there aren’t many of my Air Police here, just enough to guard the i

“Which sped up deliveries something wonderful,” Rohrs said. “Here, let’s have another round.” He fished out more beer bottles.

“We’ve learned a lot of security tricks,” Gillespie said. “From Vietnamese, mostly.”

“Refugees?” Je

“Some refugees, but mostly former Viet Cong. They know a lot. Ways to hide convoys. Hollow out logs to transport steel. Tu

“Maybe you should have kept your security troops here,” Jack Clybourne said. “I don’t think your local sheriff is enthusiastic about your project.”