Act of God by John Maddox Roberts, Eric Kotani Page A

an education on Soviet plans for space for the next fifteen or so years. Listen attentively and don't interrupt except with questions of the greatest pertinence." Sam gazed at the ceiling in disgust but Novak went on obliviously. "The initial phase involves permanent space stations, which are very much in evidence these days, and high-power solar satellites. The second stage involves lunar stations; we know they're at it in earnest. The forthcoming phase is expected to be manned deep space probes, manned missions to Mars, Martian bases, exploration of asteroids, even," he paused dramatically for effect, "terra-forming of Venus."
    "Fly that last one past me again," Sam said.
    "Settle down. You'll get your chance for questions." Novak launched into his briefing. Apparently, it was one he was accustomed to giving for VIPs needing some background in Soviet developments in space. It seemed the Soviets had been investing a great proportion of their resources in Project Peter the Great. When a compromise accord had finally been reached in the East-West armament race, much of their ex-military industrial capacity was converted to the space program rather than toward production of more and better consumer goods. Much of this was in the name of efficiency, because of the common aspects of modern military technology and one space program. Instead of better ICBMs, they could develop better space trucks. Consumers could wait, as always. Patience was one of the Russian virtues.
    More importantly, the Soviets saw little chance of winning the contest against the capitalist nations commercially or politically. In fact, they had been losing ground steadily for a number of years. They could from time to time establish some puppet government in some poverty-stricken part of the world, but keeping it within the Soviet sphere afterward was difficult and expensive. War, of course, was out of the question. It had been Russian military policy since Czarist days never to commit the nation to military solutions without at least a two-to-one superiority in armament. So far from achieving any such superiority over the West, their efforts to maintain mere parity had bled the economy white.
    As soon as the armaments accord had been reached, the new program, long on the back burner, had been put into effect: If the East were to be victorious over the West, it would be through a vigorous exploration of space and utilization of its unlimited resources. Best of all, immense prestige would accrue to the Soviet Union and nobody could accuse them of military expansionism. The timing was perfect. The West seemed to be losing interest in the challenge of the space age. Political and industrial leaders advocated squandering the limited terrestrial resources for essentially nonproductive purposes. Those advocating the cause of the high frontier were ridiculed as space cadets.
    CIA information on Project Peter the Great was not as complete as they would like, nor was it as up-to-date as Novak would have preferred. However, one of the programs that the Soviets were working on most feverishly was the development of an ion-drive engine for constant-acceleration flight in deep space. CIA information on it was fragmentary, but apparently the Soviets were on the verge of some breakthrough.
    "Is this true?" Laine asked, interrupting for the first time. "An ion-drive engine?"
    Novak cocked an eyebrow at her, savoring his little triumph. "Surprised we know about the project? It's supposed to be top secret, you know."
    "Of course, I was not told of the project," Laine went on, unperturbed. "My work was in astronomy, not spacecraft engineering. But a constant-boost engine would open up all sorts of possibilities in space. Imagine! I had thought that it would be at least several decades before that sort of thing would become practical engineering." She was working hard at not being enthusiastic. She didn't want to appear to be rooting for the wrong side.
    Sam was intrigued by this