“The fact is, the whole procurement system is so badly screwed up that Congress is about to intervene again, which is one reason we have a very good chance there.”

“That’s the official reason, you said? And the unofficial?”

“That’s where it gets interesting. Stanwyck, okay, he’s in the Pentagon. Three-star general. And General Jack James, out at Air Force Systems Command at Andrews Air Force Base, is a four-star general. And they know each other.”

Goldman looks at the palm of one hand, shakes his head. “It’s curious how these things last. They went to the Air Force Academy together, you see. They started the same year, they were classmates. And you know how the officers are graduated from the military academies in ranked order? Well, those two were the competition for number one. In the last year it got pretty intense.”

“You’re kidding me,” McPherson exclaims. “In school?”

“I know. It’s sort of unbelievable what’s behind these kind of conflicts, but several sources have confirmed this. I guess the whole thing was well-known in Boulder at the time. No one knows exactly how the rivalry started—some talk about a practical joke, others a disagreement over a woman cadet, but no one really knows—it’s just one of those things that got rolling and kept going. I personally think it was probably just the number one thing, the competition for that. And James ended up first in the class, with Stanwyck second.

“Ever since then James has always done just that little bit better in terms of promotion. But recently Stanwyck got assigned to the Pentagon. And since then he’s been a big force in the development of remotely piloted vehicles for combat missions. As you probably know, most of the Air Force brass has a strong bias against unpiloted vehicles, no matter how much sense they make in terms of current weapons technology.”

“Sure. If all combat planes become remotely piloted, it’ll be cheaper and fewer people will be killed, but where’s the glory?”

“Exactly. If it happens, the whole Air Force becomes nothing but air traffic controllers, and they can’t stand it. No more flying aces, no more right stuff, the whole tradition down the tubes. So it’s obvious why they’re so opposed to it. James among them, since he was a big flyer, one of the so-called flying colonels when they were choosing the design for the second generation ATF. But Stanwyck, now, he’s been on the ground for a long time. And he’d like nothing more than to ground the flyboys too, and have James know it was all his doing. Thus all James’s fault.