Sixth Column by Robert A. Heinlein Page B

cars housed here in the Citadel. By
    refitting them with power units of the Calhoun type they can be made faster
    than anything the enemy can put into the air. We will mount on them the
    heaviest projectors and attack. With overwhelmingly superior weapons it is
    only a matter of time until we will have the PanAsiatic empire beaten to its
    knees!"
    Ardmore wondered how any man could be so blind. He did not himself
    wish to argue against Calhoun; he said, "Thank you, Colonel. I'll ask you to
    submit that plan written up in more detail. In the meantime does anyone wish
    to amplify or criticize the colonel's suggestion?" He waited hopefully, then
    added, "Come now, no plan is perfect. You must have some details to add, at
    least."
    Graham took the, plunge. "How often do you expect to come down to
    eat?"
    Calhoun cut in before Ardmore could call on him. "Well, I'm damned! I
    must say that I consider this no time for facetiousness."
    "Wait a minute," protested Graham, "I didn't mean to be funny. I'm quite
    serious. That's my department. Those scout cars are not equipped to keep
    the air very long, and it seems to me that it will take quite a long time to
    reconquer the United States with a dozen scout cars, even if we located
    enough men to keep them in the air all the time. That means you have to
    come back to base to eat."
    "Yes, and that means the base will have to be held against attack,"
    Scheer put in suddenly.
    "The base can be defended with other projectors." Calhoun's tone was
    scornful. "Major, I really must ask that the discussion be confined to sensible
    issues."
    Ardmore rubbed his chin and said nothing.
    Randall Brooks, who had been listening thoughtfully, pulled a piece of
    paper out of his pocket and began to sketch. "I think Scheer has something,
    Dr. Calhoun. If you will look here for a moment here, at this point, is your
    base. The PanAsians can encircle the base with ships at a distance greater
    than the range of the base projectors. The greater speed of your scout cars
    will be unimportant, for the enemy can well afford to use as many ships as
    necessary to insure our craft not getting past the blockade. It's sure that the
    scout cars will have the projectors with which to fight, but they can't fight a
    hundred ships at once, and the enemies' weapons are powerful, too-we
    mustn't forget that."
    "You're right they're powerful!" added Wilkie. "We can't afford to have a
    known base. With their bombardment rockets they could stand back a
    thousand miles and blow this whole mountain out of the ground, if they knew
    we were under it."
    Calhoun stood up. "I'm not going to remain here and listen to misgivings
    of pusillanimous fools. My plan assumed that men would execute it." He
    walked stiffly out of the room.
    Ardmore ignored his departure and went hurriedly on, "The objections
    made to Colonel Calhoun's scheme seem to me to apply to every plan for
    open, direct combat at this time. I have considered several and rejected them
    for approximately those reasons, at least for reasons of logistics-that is to
    say, the problem of military supply. However, I may not have thought of some
    perfectly feasible solution. Does anyone have a direct warfare method to
    suggest, a method which will not risk personnel?"
    No one answered. "Very well, bring it up later if you think of one. It
    seems to me that we must necessarily work by misdirection. If we can't fight
    the enemy directly at this time, we must fool 'em until we can."
    "I see," agreed Dr. Brooks, "the bull wears himself out on the cape and
    never sees the sword."
    "Exactly. Exactly. I only wish it were as easy as that. Now do any of you
    have any ideas as to how we can use what we've got without letting them
    know who we are, where we are, or how many we are? And now I'm going to
    take time out for a cigarette while you think about it."
    Presently, he added, "You might bear in mind that we have two real
    advantages: the enemy apparently has not the slightest idea that we