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СКАЧАТЬ hard to say, was it, Hal?”

      Brognola glanced across at Bolan. “Happy now?”

      “Getting there.”

      The President placed his coffee mug on the desk. He looked directly at Bolan.

      “One thing Senator Stahl and I agree on is the defense of the United States. Where we part company is on the application of any defense system. Eric Stahl is a ‘shoot first, consider the implications after,’ kind of a man. I have no problem with having the best defense system available so that we can, as a nation, be in the position of having full protection in times of crisis. I do not see a defense system as a means of threatening and bullying other nations. That isn’t going to get us anywhere.

      “However, we live in parlous times. We moved into a new era in the wake of September 11. No doubt about that. The world has changed. We need to change with it. Peace, however defined, has to be worked at. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of talking, and in the meantime there are still going to be those states and groups, terrorists if you will, who refuse to take the quiet option. So, gentlemen, we need to be able to protect ourselves from the rogue states until such times come that allow us to step back from the firing line. We owe that to the people of the United States.

      “Three years ago a project was conceived and initiated by the U.S. The project is called the Zero Option. In simple terms Zero is a self-sustaining, orbiting weapons platform. Its purpose is to act as a defensive deterrent. Because of its capability no potential enemy of the United States would be able to launch anything against us. Once Zero detects a launch, it responds by targeting it with its own built-in missile system. The incoming missile would be destroyed while it was still in flight. Zero is equipped with detection and tracking capabilities of the highest specification. The system has been tried and tested. The tracking system is locked into the Slingshot satellite ring we put up earlier.”

      “We had a run-in with the Chinese and the North Koreans over that,” Brognola said.

      “Some run-in,” Bolan commented. “From the way you’re talking about Zero, Mr. President, I’m guessing this orbiting platform is up and running.”

      “Construction and final interior equipping was completed six months ago. There was a great deal to do. You have to appreciate the sophistication of the interior systems. Once all that had been given the all-clear Zero came partially online. A secondary function of Zero is information gathering and transmitting to our Earth command station. Coupled with Slingshot, Zero can pinpoint any known location, listen and see what’s going on. That part of the Zero platform is already operating. We have, in essence, the best observation station in existence.”

      “That isn’t the whole story, sir?”

      The President glanced in Bolan’s direction. “No. Zero’s primary function is still on hold. And it will be until the final piece of the puzzle is in place. That brings me to why you’re here. But first I have to explain the way Zero will be controlled. A somewhat unique way.”

      “To do with Doug Buchanan?”

      “Doug Buchanan will be Zero’s guiding hand and decision maker. The platform can perform its mechanical functions, yes, but every one of those operations requires a command decision initiated by human intelligence. An intelligence that can assess the parameters and reach a decision based on experience and the capacity to make judgments with considerations for the consequences. Something a machine doesn’t always regard as necessary.”

      “So Buchanan will be in command of the platform?”

      The President looked across at Brognola.

      “This is where your knowledge of Zero stopped before, Hal. Now seems to be the time to bring you up to speed, as well as Striker.”

      If Bolan was surprised that Brognola already had insight into Zero, he didn’t show it.

      “Doug Buchanan will become part of Zero, yes, but I mean a part in the sense that a process will assimilate him, via what is termed a biocouch. His physical body will fuse to the couch, the connections being made by neural implants designed to merge living matter with the implants already within the couch. In the simplest terms Buchanan will become Zero will become Buchanan. Don’t ask me to go into too much detail because Saul Kaplan lost me after the first couple of pages.”

      Bolan considered what the President had told him. He was as aware of bio-and cybernetic engineering as most. He was not aware it had developed this far.

      “Research into this field has been going on behind the scenes for years,” the President said. “Saul Kaplan has been one of the most energetic participants in the advancement of this science. When he put his concept forward at the start of the Zero project we realized just how far he had gone. This man-machine bonding hadn’t been part of the Zero equation until Kaplan showed interest. The man is brilliant, creative, and he had everything mapped out when he made his presentation to the oversight group.”

      “How did Buchanan become part of this project?” Brognola asked.

      “You mean why would a man offer to put himself through such a trauma?”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Doug Buchanan is a serving officer in the U.S. Air Force. Impeccable record. He is also a man who loves his country and has dedicated himself to serving it any way he can. Not unlike the people in this room right now. We each do what we can in individual ways. In Doug Buchanan’s case he had reached a point in his life where he needed to make a critical decision. He has an incurable cancer. It will kill him, and there isn’t a damned thing anyone can do to stop it. That was true until Buchanan and Kaplan came together. Saul Kaplan offered Buchanan a way out. I have to admit it turned out to be the most dramatic way, but once Kaplan had explained it, Buchanan volunteered to join the Zero Option project.”

      “The merging of Buchanan to Zero means the biocouch will replace many of Buchanan’s bodily functions. Zero will both nourish and monitor his life patterns. It will, as I understand it, kill off the cancer cells and sustain his life for as long as he remains integrated. His life expectancy will be extended, and the pain he would have experienced from his cancer will be eliminated. There will be, of course, substantial changes in his level of physical ability.”

      “He won’t be able to leave this biocouch?” Bolan said.

      “Exactly. But as Buchanan himself said, by the advanced stages of his cancer he would be confined to a hospital bed anyway. At least with Zero he would still be able to contribute something.”

      The President paused. He sensed that both Bolan and Brognola were trying to come to terms with what he had just told them. He allowed them their time by getting up to refill his coffee mug.

      “Doug Buchanan is an intelligent, forward-thinking man. He took a long time considering the options open to him. There was no pressure put on him. No one had any right to push him into something like this. I made that a stipulation when Kaplan first came to me with the concept. Buchanan’s decision was related to his life as it would be if he decided not to join Zero. In the end he came to me and we discussed it at length. He saw the challenge in the project. Looked on it as a step forward in his own life and something important for the defense of the country.”

      “So what happened?”

      “The project was established at a facility in the New Mexico desert. This had been closed down some years previously, and when Zero came along it was decided this facility would СКАЧАТЬ