"Well?" Ryan asked Goodley. "What do you think?"

"It fits the SPINNAKER report. If the story about a flukey inventory of tactical nukes is correct, it certainly makes sense that it would have something to do with the pull-backs of their forward-deployed forces. Things get lost in transit all the time. I lost two boxes of books when I moved down here myself."

"I'd like to think that people take closer care of nuclear weapons than that," Ryan said dryly, noting that Goodley still had a hell of a lot to learn. "What else?"

"I've been looking for data to counter the report. The Soviet reason for their inability to deactivate the SS-18s on schedule is that the factory they built for the purpose is inadequate. Our on-site inspectors can't decide if it's true or not - engineering question. I find it hard to believe that if the Russians actually built the thing - and, hell, they've been building SS-18s for quite a while, haven't they? - they should be able to design a place to dismantle them safely. They say the problem is in the fueling systems, and the wording of the treaty documents. The -18 uses storable liquids and has a pressurized body - that is, the missile structure depends on pressurization to remain rigid. They can de-fuel in the silos, but then they can't extract the birds without damaging them, and the treaty requires that they be taken intact to the disposal facility. But the disposal facility isn't designed right for de-fueling, they say. Something about a design flaw and possible environmental contamination. The storable liquids are nasty, they say, and you have to take all sorts of precautions to keep from poisoning people, and the facility is only three kilometers from a city, etc., etc." Goodley paused. "The explanation is plausible, but you have to wonder how people could have screwed up so badly."

"Structural problem," Jack said. They have trouble placing facilities out in the boonies for the simple reason that there few people have cars, and getting people from their homes to their place of work is more complicated there than here. It's subtle stuff like that that drives us crazy trying to figure the Russians out."

"On the other hand, they can point to a basic mistake like that and try to explain all kinds of things away."

"Very good, Ben," Jack observed. "Now you're thinking like a real spook."

"This is a crazy place to work."

"Storable liquids are nasty, by the way. Corrosive, reactive, toxic. Remember all the problems we had with the Titan-II missiles?"

"No," Goodley admitted.

"Maintenance of the things is a bastard. You have to take all sorts of precautions, despite which you routinely get leaks. The leaks corrode things, injure the maintenance people "

"Have we exchanged positions on this?" Ben asked lightly.

Ryan smiled, eyes closed. "I'm not sure."

"We're supposed to have better data than this. We're supposed to be able to find things out."