"People under my protection have been kidnapped and killed, and those who knew about it did not so much as raise a token protest," said Kachoo. "Had I known about it at the time I could have nipped it in the bud, as it is they are preparing to use portable nuclear weapons in some of my cities. I shall not allow that."
"They're what?" Mercury stared at the alien. "They've got snoopies?"
"What's a 'snoopy'?" Moon asked. "Like the little dog?"
"They were given the name 'snoopy' because it has nothing to do with what they are," said Mercury.
"I found one easily enough, there are certainly more and if I am forced to go looking further they will be eliminated," promised the alien. A tentacle curled and a hologram of a briefcase appeared. "This is the one found. It has a safety and a 'deadman's switch' - once the safety is toggled off - the bomb will go off."
"Let the handle go, it blows up. Jar the case, it blows up. Timer runs out, it blows up." Mercury took a seat abruptly as if she were having trouble standing. "How big?"
"The actual explosion isn't that big," admitted Kachoo. "It's the plutonium dust and psychological impact that are problematic. If you think you're up to handling it... "
Mercury was almost ready to say just go ahead and destroy the people who would use such a thing. "Give us a chance. We can stop it."
"I'll give you three days," warned Kachoo. "At which point I give my ultimatum."
Governor Kemp drummed fingers on the desk. "Why can't he find them? If they're that poorly shielded, they'd be leaking radiation."
"Transmission distance and the briefcases are likely not the only shielding," guessed Cho.
"Extrapolation? Okay, I'll bite, what other shielding?" Kemp asked.
"I've accessed the satellite computer, who seems to be an incurable gossip. Using water or the bulk of a vehicle would shield the bomb from satellite detection," answered Cho. "The intercepted bomb was detected as the case had sprung a leak and was leaving a contaminated wake behind it."
"You know," said Kemp, "that people capable of using these things were running around prior to the alien's arrival does very little for my peace of mind. I have to wonder what other little nasties are out there."
"Including the Chinese biological weapons caches?" Cho asked.
"Great, I'm going to sleep so well tonight," said the governor. "See if you can come up with the most likely ways that someone would try to defeat aerial or space-based detection equipment, then work out countermeasures would you?"
"Working," agreed Cho.
"So Uranus is out on a date while the rest of us try to keep Russia from being annihilated," said Usagi. "Life is so unfair."
(Posted Tue, 02 Dec 2003 12:12)
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