Read Online Edge of Apocalypse by Tim Lahaye, Craig Parshall - Free Book Online

to comply with our request, frankly, would look pretty shaky."
    Joshua nodded. "In one sense, you're right. The use of lasers to transmit data has been used recently in other limited applications. You know, in the old days lasers were used to simply destroy things. Like high-energy bullets. Blunt instruments. Then those of us working in this area started to see other possibilities. A number of years ago the wires connecting circuits in computers were replaced with tiny lasers, which could then shoot data back and forth from the chips at higher speeds than wires could. Then there was the successful test where a German satellite and a satellite from our U.S. Missile Defense Agency communicated information back and forth over three thousand miles using only lasers. What we did at Jordan Technologies was to refine those concepts considerably, and with a revolutionary application. As a result, our RTS is capable of sending a laser message to the computer in the nose cone of the incoming missile--with a data-directive that captures the current trajectory flight plan. Then a second laser beam transmits a mirror opposite of that trajectory, reversing it one hundred and eighty degrees. The point is this, Senator, we can't--our nation can't--afford to let this technology get into the wrong hands."
    Senator Hewbright glanced at his watch, nodded, and then gave a quick, "Good luck to you, sir." Then he excused himself.
    Now it was Senator Straworth's turn. And he stared straight into Joshua's eyes.

TWELVE
    "Mr. Jordan," Senator Straworth smiled as he began grilling Joshua, "you just said you have a concern about your RTS technology getting into the wrong hands. Correct?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "And who exactly do you think of as the 'wrong hands'?"
    "I think the wrong hands are anyone outside of the United States."
    "By 'outside the United States' do you mean our allies too?"
    "Yes, sir," Joshua answered forcefully.
    "So you would deny our allies the same defense measures as we have?"
    "No, sir." Joshua's lawyer leaned in to whisper something urgently to Joshua, but Joshua just shrugged him off. "I believe we should share our technology with our most trusted allies, but we shouldn't just hand it over to them."
    "Hand it over to them?" Straworth feigned ignorance.
    "This isn't just another weapons system we can sell to the highest bidder. This system--my system--can alter the nuclear balance for the better of our country, for the better of the world, but only if we maintain strict control over it. Imagine if every missile, any missile, fired at us could be turned back on itself. With my Return-to-Sender system, there is a probable certainty that any missile attack by a rogue nation would result in their own self-destruction. So the threat of a nuclear missile attack on our country or our allies drops to almost nothing."
    "If your system works the way you say it does," injected Straworth.
    "I think we proved that two weeks ago, don't you?" Joshua shot back. "Just as when we put nuclear weapons into Western Europe to deter the Soviet menace in the 1980s, we did not turn over our nuclear arsenal to the Europeans, even though they were our allies. That way we could assure the world the weapons wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."
    "And I am here to assure you, Mr. Jordan," said Senator Straworth, "that we have the same concern today."
    "That's good to know." Joshua relaxed. This was easier than he thought.
    "But I think you have things turned around, Mr. Jordan."
    "Oh?"
    "Yes," the senator said, his voice now building in intensity. "You see, protecting military secrets, with all due respect, is not the province of some private businessman like yourself. It is the province of the United States government. That's our job. Not yours."
    "I think you're forgetting something," Joshua said.
    "And what's that?"
    "I'm part of the United States government. Not because I work for the Pentagon, but because I'm an American citizen. I'm part of 'we the people' in