“Over there, with all the extra guards around it, is Lancelot, our air-launched near-space weapon,” Jon went on. “It has a three-stage throttleable solid-rocket motor that gives it a range of over three hundred miles in a ballistic flight path or over one hundred miles in altitude in an antisatellite attack profile. They have extra guards because of Lancelot’s warhead: It carries the plasma-yield warhead. It’s most effective above thirty thousand feet, which makes it a perfect antiballistic missile and antisatellite weapon, but we can get a one-quarter- to one-half-kiloton-equivalent yield even at sea level. At higher altitudes, the plasma field created by the explosion is electronically selectable in both yield and size—at maximum yield it can destroy a target twice the size of the International Space Station, and at maximum size it can disrupt the flight path of incoming nuclear warheads spread out over four hundred thousand cubic miles of space. The plasma field does not just destroy a target: It converts it into a state of matter that exists in nature for only billionths of a second—or in the center of a sun.

“All of these weapons are designed to be carried by our combat aircraft, but they can be fitted to be carried by just about any combat-coded aircraft—even transport planes. You probably saw our DC-10 test aircraft outside—we can carry up to three FlightHawks or six Wolverines on board, and we can refit just about any cargo-category aircraft to launch them. The Lancelot, of course, has been deployed in the Air Reserve Forces and is fielded by the One- Eleventh Bombardment Wing, which is based here for now but will soon be based up in Battle Mountain Air Force Base here in Nevada.”

He then moved over to the first warplane. “This is one of our EB-1C Vampire battleships. As you know, it’s a highly modified B-1B Lancer strategic bomber. It can still carry all of the Air Force’s strategic and tactical air weapons, along with all of our new weapons. It’s faster, stealthier, and has longer range and greater warload than the active- duty or Reserve Forces models. It uses laser radar arrays for targeting and terrain-following—it is fully air-to-air capable and can even attack satellites in low-Earth orbit with Anacondas or Lancelots. We have six modified right now out of a planned twelve-plane force, all coming from the B-1B fleet once assigned to the Air Reserve forces.”

Kelsey Duffield had already stepped over to the second plane—she was gently touching it, running the very tips of her fingers across its smooth ebony surface as if it were a skittish young colt. Watching her carefully, she noticed, was the security guard Sandy, with Sasha the red Doberman right beside her. “This must be Dragon,” she said. “It’s very pretty.”