Resting on the table in front of Hood were McCaskey's paper and the photo the NRO had sent over showing extensive troop movements around Pyongyang; beside it was the just-wire-photoed snapshot taken by Judy Margolin from the Mirage. They showed no tanks moving out, no artillery ringing the city, and no other preparations indicating that the DPRK was preparing to go to war. "What do you make of the discrepancy, Matty? Other than that it can't happen."

The portly Operations Support Officer sighed bitterly. "The key landmarks in both photographs are the same, so the satellite wasn't just misdirected, taking pictures of someplace else. They're both Pyongyang."

"We had NRO send us an update," Herbert said, "and I confirmed it with a secure call. The photo on the monitor showed a natural progression of the deployment seen in the first photograph."

"A deployment which probably isn't taking place," McCaskey pointed out.

"Correct."

"So, Matty?" Hood said. "I'm due at the White House in just about a half hour. What do I tell the President?"

"That there's a software glitch of some kind. A glitch like we've never seen before."

"A glitch!" Herbert roared. "In twenty million dollars worth of computer widgetry that you designed?"

"That's right! Sometimes bright guys miss something, and sometimes trucks full of bombs get through cement barricades--!" Stoll regretted he'd said it even as the words were coming out. He pressed his lips together and slumped in his chair.

"Nice one, Matt," Coffey said to break the tense silence.

"I'm sorry, Bob," said Stoll. "That was out of line."

Herbert glared at him. "You got that right, techboy." His gaze fell to the leather seat of his wheelchair.

"Look," Liz said, "we're all going to make mistakes. But we can work them out better if we cooperate rather than point fingers. Besides, guys-- if this is how we're going to react in the early stages of a crisis, we'd all better think about new lines of work."

"Point well taken," Hood said. "Let's move on. Matty, give me your best guess as to what it is we're dealing with."

Stoll sighed even deeper. He didn't look at Herbert. "My first thought was that when we went down, it was just a display of some kind. Someone showing us that they'd gotten into the system somehow and could do it again. I half expected we'd get an E-mail ransom note when we came back on-line."

"But we didn't," Coffey said.

"No, we didn't. Still, I figured there was a bug in the original program or one that slipped in with some software, and that it went from us to DOD to the CIA or vice versa. Then the photo came in from Osaka, and now I'm thinking that that was when we were really invaded."

"Explain," said Hood.

"The shutdown was either a smokescreen or a distraction to cover the real goal, which appears to have been the compromising of our satellite surveillance system."

"From space?" Coffey asked.