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Atlantic was something the officials declined to comment on. They had no
better explanation.
But residents of Lubec wondered if the whistling sound and the huge splash
they had witnessed that morning had anything to do with the mystery of the
parboiled whale. Their reports of a column of steam seen rising from the Bay
of Fundy for several hours after the splashdown were dismissed as unusually
heavy winter fog.
At an open-air service under a clear Southern California sky, Dr. Quinton T.
Shiller exhorted his flock to dig deeper into their pockets.
"God bless you, my brethren," he said solemnly as coins and bills dropped into
the collection plates passing from hand to hand. He stood before the official
symbol of his Church of the Inevitable and God-Ordained Apocalypse, a cross
superimposed against a mushroom cloud. "For holy nuclear judgment is coming,
and when the end does come and you stand before the Almighty, the first thing
he's gonna ask is: did you contribute to the work of his close personal friend
Quint Shiller. So don't blow this golden opportunity. You never know when he
might lower the boom."
As if to credit his claim, air-raid sirens broke into song from the nearest
town.
"See?" Dr. Shiller said, congratulating himself that he had had the foresight
to bribe the Civil Defense warden. "That day may be nigh. So while there's
still time, let's see some coin."
Suddenly the air became parched. A shadow fell over the pinewood stage where
Dr. Shiller stood, resplendent in his white-and-gold vestments. The shadow
registered on the audience for a millionth of a second.
Then the stage was smashed to toothpicks under the crushing weight of a
116-ton Skoda locomotive. It obliterated Dr. Quinton T. Shiller in an instant,
and sent his flock scattering from the superheated mass of metal that stood in
his place.
Within a week, the congregation of the Church of the Inevitable and
God-Ordained Apocalypse, which had once booked Madison Square Garden for a
rally, couldn't displace water in a hot tub.
Under the red sands of the Lobynian Desert, Colonel Hannibal Intifadah cried,
"Load the next revenge vehicle! We are on a roll!"
Chapter 29
General Martin S. Leiber had his feet up on his desk when the chairman of the
joint Chiefs poked his head in. "Yes, Admiral?" Leiber said, dropping his
feet.
"Comfy?"
"Er, I'm waiting for an important callback."
"I was just speaking with the President. You remember the President, don't
you? The man who thinks you're God's gift to the Pentagon?"
"I never claimed that, Admiral Blackbird, sir."
"He's getting impatient. I don't think you're going to be able to buffalo him
much longer."
"Sir, I-"
The phone rang.
"That must be your call. I hope for your sake it's the answer you need." The
admiral shut the door.
General Leiber grabbed the telephone. "Major Cheek here, sir."
"What is it?" General Leiber demanded.
"Sir, this is incredible."
"Nothing is incredible anymore."
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"This is. We now understand why the last KKV didn't burn off any mass in
flight."
"Big deal."
"You don't understand, General. This is it. This is the lead we've been
looking for. The KKV was protected by an American product. We can go to the
manufacturer and trace all recent shipments. That should give us our aggressor
nation."
"Oh, thank God," General Leiber said fervently. "What is it?"
"It's called carbon-carbon."
"Carbon-carbon?" The general's voice shrank. He wasn't sure why it shrank. His
voice seemed to understand the significance of the major's report before his
brain did.
"Very crudely applied, sir. But it did the job because of the short flight
duration."
"Carbon-carbon," the general repeated dully.
"Yes. It goes by other brand names, but it's very expensive. Not exactly
available at the corner hardware. With your connections, you should be able to
trace it easily. All you have to do is find the culprit who sold this stuff to
unfriendlies."
"Carbon-carbon."
"Yes, sir. That's what I said. I knew you'd be interested."
"I think I'm going to be ill."
"Sir?"
Without another word, General Leiber hung up. Frantically he scrounged among
the litter of notes on his desk. Only yesterday he had received a recorded
incoming call informing him that henceforth the offices of Friendship,
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