Michael Shaara

“ A meteor like none that has ever been dreamed of, and it will be so great a coincidence that it should fall at this time, in this place, that they will be forced to their knees. The fools—the fat, weak, superstitious fools!—will say that it is God's will!"
Krylov roared again. And then he reminded Diavilev that it was his own idea.
There was more. Krylov even suggested that the moonlet would be humane. It was, after all, only a bomb. And if there was a war there would be many bombs. But now the Americans would not dream of bombs. There need not be a war at all. ”

“ After a while there was only one more bomb to go.
With Krylov, in the waning moments, Diavilev rode out with the timing equipment. In one of the small, light shuttle craft they went from the station to the main rocket from Earth, which was following the moonlet along its shortening curve. There was one more hour.
"Very soon now, eh?" smiled Krylov, looking quite deep into Diavilev's eyes.
"Yes," said Diavilev.
"We will see it go all the way down. I have arranged for a picture to be relayed to a television screen on the rocket. You will have the seat of honor." ”

“ It puffed up tightly to a silvery doughnut, and four men whose names were Krylov, Mirkov, Stolyakhin and Davchenko went to live inside. There was no ceremony. Out of a motionless rocket which hung in space nearby, other men came, trailing long wires. All the long black afternoon of that day these men clustered on the skin of the doughnut, fixing curved weightless slabs of carbon-coated aluminum to the sides. And within the station, where there was air and therefore a blessed noise, the four men worked with fluttery movements, attaching wires and steel ribs, adjusting, connecting. ”

“ I will say whatever they want me to say, I will not resist in the least. What does it matter? The world belongs to them, and if a man wishes to live he must be logical and agree. Let them do what they will, and I will applaud every step of the way.
He folded his hands in his lap.
After a long while the car stopped. The first army man gave him over to another army man whom he could not see in the darkness, and after many a salute he was conducted through a black iron gate. Within minutes he was aboard a plane with four more army men. No one would say anything. Pyotr Diavilev slept. ”

“ Krylov said carefully, "of a moon. It is not of course the moon with which you are familiar. But it is a moon circling the Earth, a second moon.
"It is a moon of which no one knows, excepting ourselves and the Kremlin. We discovered it shortly after we arrived, when it passed quite near the station. It is small and dark, too small and non-reflecting to be seen from Earth. It is approximately five miles wide.
"Do you understand?"
Diavilev who had had to digest a great many things in a very short while, was able to nod. Because this was, after all, Diavilev's field. ”

“ Diavilev nodded.
"Atomic missiles launched from this base may be guided exactly to any point on the surface of the Earth that we select, yet the station itself represents so small and distinct a target as to be virtually invulnerable. Russia, my friend, need fear no country on Earth. ”

“ Krylov said calmly, turning to watch him now with rock-like eyes. "At the speed with which it will hit it can have no tensile strength. Therefore the kinetic energy will be transformed into an explosive energy. The thing will blow up. It will devastate an area several hundred miles wide. It will kill quite a few million people." Krylov chuckled. ”

“ We, my friend, have picked the target. Your further work, therefore, is this: you will determine the point and the time at which the moonlet must be slowed in order to fall upon the target. It is a simple question of trajectory. ”