“It won’t affect our positioning with the rectenna, will it, sir?” Brad asked.
“A delay will degrade the test a little, depending on how many days it takes for the fix,” Kai said. “We moved Armstrong into what is called a sun-synchronous orbit for this test, which means we pass over the same spot on Earth—the rectenna site at the White Sand Missile Test Range—at the same mean solar time every day. But because our altitude is lower, we move a few degrees away from the ideal spot every day, so our time within view of the rectenna will get shorter and shorter, all the way down to less than a minute. The situation reverses itself eventually, but it takes twenty-four days to get back to the ideal position. We’re in that ideal time right now, with the maximum exposure available at the target’s latitude. We just have to hope the relay works when it’s time to open fire.”
“God, it had better,” Jodie said, patting her laptop. “C’mon, baby, you can do it.”
“It might be a little embarrassing if it won’t fire, with the president due to observe the test,” Brad said. “Is there something else we can try?” He looked around the command center and noticed the empty control console for the Skybolt laser. “What about Skybolt?” he asked.
“Skybolt is a free-electron laser, Brad,” Kai said. “It’s been deactivated so we could install your microwave cavity.”
“What about Skybolt’s power source, the magnetohydrodynamic generator?” Brad asked.
“You mean, use power from the MHD instead of the solar energy you’ve collected?” Valerie Lukas asked with a hint of a smile. “Wouldn’t that be like cheating?”
“We’ve been collecting power with the nantennas and storing electricity in the capacitors, Sergeant, so we know all that works,” Brad said, “and we’ve done discharge tests on the microwave cavity, so we know we can produce maser energy. All we need to do now to validate the project is hit the rectenna with a maser and have it produce electricity on the ground. Maybe we can do that with the MHD instead of the energy in the capacitors that we can’t get to.”
Valerie turned to Kai and shrugged. “We did get permission to activate the MHD and test it,” she said. “We’ve run several full-power tests on it.” To Casey, she asked, “What sort of power do you need, Casey?”
“We were planning on sending five hundred kilowatts per minute through the microwave cavity,” Casey replied.
Valerie shrugged again. “We’ve done ten times that amount, but for much shorter periods of time,” she said. “But I don’t doubt the MHD can do it. We’ll have to watch the heat levels in your microwave generator and in Skybolt’s magnetic reflectors, collimator, and electrical assemblies, but we’ve already determined that the Skybolt subsystems can handle the energy coming from the lithium-ion capacitors—I’m sure they can handle the same power level and discharge durations from the MHD generator.”
“Just one last thing to do, then: get the go-ahead from the man himself,” Kai said.
They did not have long to wait. About ninety minutes later, President Kenneth Phoenix entered the lab and greeted all who were there, ending with Lane and Jodie. Cal Poly president Marcus Harris made the introductions. Phoenix shook Jodie’s hand first. “How do you do, Miss Cavendish?”
“Fine, Mr. President. I’m the nanotechnology team leader. Lane Eagan is the team leader for computers and software.”
The president shook Lane’s hand. “And how are you today, young man?”
“Great, Mr. President,” Lane said. He handed the president a silver-ink Sharpie, then stretched out a blank spot on the front of his blue-and-red Project Starfire nylon windbreaker. “Please, Mr. President?” Phoenix smiled and autographed the front of Lane’s jacket in big cursive letters.
“May I introduce you to the other Project Starfire team leaders, Mr. President?” Jodie said. She motioned to the large monitor on the wall. “Inset at the upper left is Jerry Kim, team leader for power and control systems, hooked up via satellite from the White Sand Missile Test Range, where the receiving antenna is located; and in the main window aboard Armstrong Space Station are Casey Huggins, directed-energy team leader, and our overall team leader—”
“Brad McLanahan, I know,” the president interrupted. Most everyone in the lab blinked in surprise—Brad McLanahan was an acquaintance of the president of the United States? “We’ve met many times, although you were pretty young and probably don’t remember.”
“No, sir, I remember,” Brad said. “Nice to see you again, sir.”
“You guys having fun up there?” the president asked. “I know my trip up there was an experience I’ll never forget.”