“General Raydon, this is the part of the Space Defense Force I never understood: why have all this orbiting Earth?” President Phoenix asked. “This is very much like command centers already existing on Earth, and in fact it looks identical to an Airborne Warning and Control System radar aircraft. Why put the same thing in space?”
“Because we’re much more secure and protected here in space, which makes it ideal for any command center, sir,” Raydon replied.
“Even with a list of dangers as long as your arm, as you put it, General?”
“Yes, sir, even with all of the dangers of traveling in space,” Raydon said. “The enemy is less likely to completely blind the United States with an orbiting command center. The enemy could destroy a base, ship, or AWACS radar plane, and we’d lose that sensor, but we can grab sensor data from elsewhere, or use our own sensors, and quickly fill the gap. Plus, because we’re orbiting Earth, we’re less likely to be successfully attacked. Our orbit is known, of course, which makes finding, tracking, and targeting us easier, but at least for the near term, attacking this station is far more difficult than attacking a ground-, ship-, or air-based command center. The bad guys know where we are and where we will be, but at the same time we know precisely when their known antisatellite bases would become a possible threat if an attack was launched. We track those known sites constantly. We also scan for unknown attack bases and prepare to respond to them.”
“I think in a broader sense, sir,” Trevor Shale said, “that manning the station and making it an operational military command post, rather than just a collection of sensors or laboratories, is important for the future of America’s presence in space.”
“How so, Mr. Shale?”
“I compare it to the westward expansion of the United States, sir,” Trevor explained. “At first, small bands of explorers went out and discovered the plains, the Rockies, the deserts, and the Pacific. A few settlers ventured out after them, lured by the promise of land and resources. But it wasn’t until the U.S. Army was sent out and established camps, outposts, and forts that settlements and eventually villages and towns could be built, and the real expansion of the nation began.
“Well, Armstrong Space Station is not just an outpost in Earth orbit, but a real military installation,” Shale went on. “We’re much more than computers and consoles—we have twelve men and women aboard who monitor and can control military operations across the globe. I think that will encourage more adventurers, scientists, and explorers to come to space, just like the presence of a U.S. Army fort was of great comfort to settlers.”
“Space is a lot bigger than the Midwest, Mr. Shale.”
“To us in the twenty-first century, yes, sir,” Trevor said. “But to an eighteenth-century explorer who first sets eyes on the Great Plains or the Rockie Mountains, I’ll bet it felt like he was standing at the very edge of the universe.”
The president stopped to think for a moment, then smiled and nodded. “Then I think it’s time to take it to the next level,” he said. “I’d like to talk with my wife and Vice President Page, and then get ready for my address.”
“Yes, sir,” Raydon said. “We’ll put you in the director’s chair.” The president carefully maneuvered himself over to Raydon’s console and wedged his feet into the stirrups underneath, standing before the console but feeling as if he were floating on his back in the ocean. The large monitor in front of him came to life, and he saw a tiny white light under a small lens at the top of the monitor, and he knew he was online.
“You finally stopped gawking around and decided to give us a call, eh, Mr. President?” Vice President Ann Page asked, her face visible in an inset window on the monitor. She was in her midsixties, thin and energetic, with long hair unabashedly allowed to stay naturally gray, tied up off her collar. Until recently, with all of the cuts in the U.S. budget, Ann had taken on many tasks in the White House along with her duties as vice president: chief of staff, press secretary, national security adviser, and chief political adviser; she had finally ceded most of those additional duties to others, but continued to be Ken Phoenix’s closest political adviser and confidante as well as White House chief of staff. “I was starting to get a little worried.”
“Ann, this is an absolutely incredible experience,” Ken Phoenix said. “It’s everything I imagined it would be, and a whole lot more.”
“I’ll have you know that I’ve had one justice of the Supreme Court standing by round the clock to administer the oath of office, in case any of the thousands of things that could go wrong did go wrong,” Ann said. “I will continue to insist on that long after your return.”
“Very wise decision,” the president said. “But I’m fine, the trip up was incredible, and if I’m doomed to turn into a meteorite on the return, at least I know the nation will be in good hands.”
“Thank you, sir.”