"Walt, this deal was oversold to the military. You know it, and I know
it. Frankly, you helped oversell it."
Walter Stanton swung around angrily. "You're right, Mel. But the end
justified the means. We needed the funds; only the military could
provide them. And it _is_ useful to them; it will be, when it's
finished. It would be now, if--"
"If we could break the agreement and leave the Galapagos Islands for a
spin around the world."
"No!" Walter Stanton held his friend's eyes. "That isn't what I meant.
This platform wasn't meant for spying; the millions of man-hours
weren't spent for that. It's a UN deal, Mel, and we needed the
agreement; we had to see that the Russians kept hands-off. If the price
is an orbit that keeps us at earth-surface speed; if we have to stay
on our side of the iron curtain, OK. We agreed to it, and by God if we
grow roots down to Galapagos we're staying here."
Mel shrugged. "That isn't the point. The wheels know that in case of
war you'd change orbits. If they thought it was worth while, they'd
order you to. The UN could order you to. What they doubt is that if you
_moved_ your orbit in behind the Curtain you'd see enough to do any
good."
"I don't care to argue that point. Right now, probably not. When the
scope's completed and installed, we'll undoubtedly be able to spot
concentrations and new industries. The main thing would be to stay with
the station. But it's an academic question--"
"Is it an academic question whether they can blow us out of the sky?"