Room 318, Saturday Morning
Well, glad that was over.
Not that the interlude with Natalie had been bad or anything, but Peter had a high workload - who knew what could've exploded just over the past week? - and he needed more than a few hours' respite to dig through all of it.
So when he woke up that morning actually feeling up to the task of focusing on something that required higher brain functions, he practically dove at his desk and started sorting through his email. And damn-- had he almost missed some really vital information. First, there was this:
From:Graff%pilgrimage@colmin.gov
Re: Please forward
> From:Carlotta%agape@vatican.net/
orders/sisters/ind
> Re: Please forward
> The attached file is encrypted. Please wait twelve hours after the time of sending and if you don't hear from me, forward it to Bean. He'll know the key.
And after that, there was, of course, the really important thing...
To: Demosthenes%Tecumseh@freeamerica.org
From: Unready%cincinnatus@anon.set
Re: Air Shanghai
The pinheads running this show have decided not to share satellite info on Air Shanghai with anyone outside the military, claiming that it involves vital interests of the United States. The only other countries with satellites capable of seeing what ours can see are China, Japan, and Brazil, and of these only China has a satellite in position to see it. So the Chinese know. And when I'm done with this letter, you'll know, and you'll know how to use the information. I don't like seeing big countries beat up on little ones, except when the big country is mine. So sue me.
The Air Shanghai flight was brought down by a groundto-air missile, which was fired from INSIDE THAILAND. However, computer time-lapse tracking of movements in that area of Thailand show that the only serious candidate for how the ground-to-air missile got to its launch site is a utility truck whose movements originated in, get this, China.
Details: The truck (little white Vietnamese-made "Hog-type vehicle) originated at a warehouse in Gejiu (which has already been tagged as a munitions clearinghouse) and crossed the Vietnamese border between Jinping, China, and Sinh Ho, Vietnam. It then crossed the Laotian border via the Ded Tay Chang pass. It traversed the widest part of Laos and entered Thailand near Tha Li, but at this point moved off the main roads. It passed near enough to the point from which the missile was launched for it to have been offloaded and transported manually to the site. And get this: All this movement happened MORE THAN A MONTH AGO.
I don't know about you, but to me and everybody else here, that looks like China wants a "provocation" to go to war against Thailand. Bangkok-bound Air Shanghai jet, carrying mostly Thai passengers, is shot down, over China, by a g-to-a launched from Thailand. China can make it look as though the Thai Army was trying to create a fake provocation against them, when in fact the reverse is the case. Very complicated, but the Chinese know they can show satellite proof that the missile was launched from inside Thailand. They can also prove that it had to have radar assistance from sophisticated military tracking systems-which will imply, in the Chinese version, that the Thai military was behind it, though WE know it means the Chinese military was in control. And when the Chinese ask for independent corroboration, you can count on it: our beloved government, since it loves business better than honor, will back up the Chinese story, never mentioning the movements of that little truck. Thus America will stay in the good graces of its trading partner. And Thailand gets chiseled.
Do your thing, Demosthenes. Get this out into the public domain before our government can play toady. Just try to find a way to do it that doesn't point at me. This isn't just job-losing territory. I could go to jail.
Well, thought Peter. If Bean was annoyed with him now, he was probably going to become really furious after this one.
Not that he cared. Bean's terrible prioritizing was none of his concern. He kept the new email open in a separate window, opened up his writer program, and started typing.
[[ open! emails taken from Shadow of the Hegemon ]]
Not that the interlude with Natalie had been bad or anything, but Peter had a high workload - who knew what could've exploded just over the past week? - and he needed more than a few hours' respite to dig through all of it.
So when he woke up that morning actually feeling up to the task of focusing on something that required higher brain functions, he practically dove at his desk and started sorting through his email. And damn-- had he almost missed some really vital information. First, there was this:
From:Graff%pilgrimage@colmin.gov
Re: Please forward
> From:Carlotta%agape@vatican.net/
orders/sisters/ind
> Re: Please forward
> The attached file is encrypted. Please wait twelve hours after the time of sending and if you don't hear from me, forward it to Bean. He'll know the key.
And after that, there was, of course, the really important thing...
To: Demosthenes%Tecumseh@freeamerica.org
From: Unready%cincinnatus@anon.set
Re: Air Shanghai
The pinheads running this show have decided not to share satellite info on Air Shanghai with anyone outside the military, claiming that it involves vital interests of the United States. The only other countries with satellites capable of seeing what ours can see are China, Japan, and Brazil, and of these only China has a satellite in position to see it. So the Chinese know. And when I'm done with this letter, you'll know, and you'll know how to use the information. I don't like seeing big countries beat up on little ones, except when the big country is mine. So sue me.
The Air Shanghai flight was brought down by a groundto-air missile, which was fired from INSIDE THAILAND. However, computer time-lapse tracking of movements in that area of Thailand show that the only serious candidate for how the ground-to-air missile got to its launch site is a utility truck whose movements originated in, get this, China.
Details: The truck (little white Vietnamese-made "Hog-type vehicle) originated at a warehouse in Gejiu (which has already been tagged as a munitions clearinghouse) and crossed the Vietnamese border between Jinping, China, and Sinh Ho, Vietnam. It then crossed the Laotian border via the Ded Tay Chang pass. It traversed the widest part of Laos and entered Thailand near Tha Li, but at this point moved off the main roads. It passed near enough to the point from which the missile was launched for it to have been offloaded and transported manually to the site. And get this: All this movement happened MORE THAN A MONTH AGO.
I don't know about you, but to me and everybody else here, that looks like China wants a "provocation" to go to war against Thailand. Bangkok-bound Air Shanghai jet, carrying mostly Thai passengers, is shot down, over China, by a g-to-a launched from Thailand. China can make it look as though the Thai Army was trying to create a fake provocation against them, when in fact the reverse is the case. Very complicated, but the Chinese know they can show satellite proof that the missile was launched from inside Thailand. They can also prove that it had to have radar assistance from sophisticated military tracking systems-which will imply, in the Chinese version, that the Thai military was behind it, though WE know it means the Chinese military was in control. And when the Chinese ask for independent corroboration, you can count on it: our beloved government, since it loves business better than honor, will back up the Chinese story, never mentioning the movements of that little truck. Thus America will stay in the good graces of its trading partner. And Thailand gets chiseled.
Do your thing, Demosthenes. Get this out into the public domain before our government can play toady. Just try to find a way to do it that doesn't point at me. This isn't just job-losing territory. I could go to jail.
Well, thought Peter. If Bean was annoyed with him now, he was probably going to become really furious after this one.
Not that he cared. Bean's terrible prioritizing was none of his concern. He kept the new email open in a separate window, opened up his writer program, and started typing.
[[ open! emails taken from Shadow of the Hegemon ]]