"What?"
With a heavenward roll of his eyes, Harriman explained, "Look, neither the United States nor the Soviets has enough ABM satellites in orbit to provide a fully effective shield against the other side's missile attack. Right?"
"Not yet."
"How many satellites have to be on station for an orbital ABM network to be considered workable?"
"That's classified information, Hugh." 386
"So's my hairy ass! Anybody with a pencil and paper can figure it out, for Chrissakes! You want to be sure you've got several satellites over every possible launching area —including all the oceans—every minute of the day. If the satellites are in low orbit, which they are, to save on laser power, then you need between a hundred and a hundred-fifty to do the job. Right?"
With a grin. Kinsman said, "You're making the numbers, not me."
"All right, how many working satellites does the U.S. have in orbit right now?" "Classified."
Harriman glared at him. "How many do the Russians have up?"
"Ask Leonov."
"How many are there between the two?"
Kinsman started to answer, then it struck him.
"Ah-hah!" Harriman crowed. "Dawn is breaking inside that murky skull. There are already more than a hundred satellites in orbit and in perfect working condition. Right? And if you and Leonov can grab all of them, Selene would have an ABM network that could prevent anybody from launching anything. Right?"
Kinsman heard himself say, "Including troop shuttles to take Selene away from us."
"Exactly!" Harriman said. "You get an A. Go to the head of the class."
Suddenly Kinsman was out of breath, winded as if he had sprinted through an obstacle course. He could feel his heart thumping inside his ribs. "Hugh, if we could do that . . ."
"It would guarantee Selene's independence, our freedom from attack, and it would prevent them from starting their war—at least, they wouldn't be able to launch missiles at each other."
"But ..." Kinsman was still trying to catch his breath. "But to seize control of the ABM networks we'd have to take over the manned space stations."
"Right. Which is probably why you didn't think of the idea yourself."
"Why?"
