She went on, "They said they're going to bring us to Washington next week for a press conference. You live in Washington, don't you? I've never been there before and Ralph says he can't take any days off to come with me. I'll be alone in the city,"
"Where will you be staying?"
"Some government hotel, I guess. They haven't told us where."
Kinsman nodded. "Well, I'll find out and phone you when you're in town."
"Oh, that'd be wonderful' Do you have a card or something, so I can call you? That'd be easier . . ."
"I'm afraid I can't give out my phone number," Kinsman said, taking on a man-of-mystery disguise.
She fell for it. "Really? Why?" 238
He put a finger to his lips. "I'll find out where you're going to be staying and give you a call when you get into town. Trust me."
She nodded slowly, her eyes filled with something ap- proaching awe.
And that was the last time he thought about her.
As soon as he arrived back in his one-room apartment Kinsman phoned Fred Durban. But the old man had slipped into a coma and the hospital would allow no visitors except family.
Then he called Colt and invited himself to Frank's apartment for a drink.
Colt's pad was lush compared to Kinsman's Spartan little cell: richly carpeted living room with a balcony that over- looked Arlington National Cemetery; big bedroom with a fake zebra hide thrown over the water bed.
Scotch in hand, Kinsman explained his idea to Colt. The black officer listened silently, stretched out on his synthetic leather recliner.
". . . and that's it," Kinsman finished. "We mine the ores on the Moon, process them there, ship them to orbital factories, where they're manufactured into the antimissile satellites. Instead of working against the SDI Office, we make Moonbase a partner of theirs."
For a long moment Colt said nothing. Then, "People talked about building the satellites in orbit when the SDI idea was first proposed."
"I know. But we can do it now. All the pieces are in place—almost."
"You got all the pieces tied together," Colt said. "One big program that's got something for everybody. Moonbase becomes an important mining center instead of a geriatrics hospital. The big corporations get Uncle Sam to finance factories in orbit for them. And the Star Wars guys get their ABM satellites deployed for half the cost of building them on Earth and launching 'em from the ground."
"Not really half the cost," Kinsman said. "It won't be that cheap, I don't think. They'll want to continue to build the first-generation satellites on the ground. The space- manufactured stuff is for the next generation, the satellites 239 that'll be carrying the high-power lasers."
Colt kicked his recliner upright and bounced to his feet. "Shee-it, man, you've got it made! You've pulled the two projects together into one big beeyootiful program that makes sense! Nobody could vote against it! It'd be like spittin' on the motherlovin' flag!" Colt laughed and stuck his hand out to Kinsman, palm up. "Man, it's the best piece of strategical thinking since Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt!"
