Contdown to midnight ver.., p.27
Contdown to Midnight vers 2, page 27
There were seven underwater floors beneath the golden dome, and Dr. Philip Vale’s assignment was to turn those seven floors into a factory for the construction of small atom bombs. Twenty-nine Nagasaki-sized fission bombs.
7 - August 1945
Howard Knopf Ramo worked as a dollar-a-year man for several years, the government consulting him on organizational matters for various secret projects. He gave as good advice as he could, without being told classified details.
In August, 1945, Ramo learned what that Manhattan Project had been all about.
8 - 5 April 1970—3 February 1972
Dr. Philip Vale was absorbed for several weeks in initial planning: flow charts, lists of necessary equipment and personnel, timetables, floor plans. The hardest part of his job was figuring out a way to steal a lot of plutonium without being too obvious about it. Ramo had some ideas, on this and other things, that Vale expanded.
By the middle of 197I there were thirty people living under Gravities, Inc., and plutonium had begun to trickle in, a few grams at a time, to be shielded with lead and cadmium and concrete and dropped into the Gulf of Mexico at carefully recorded spots within the one-mile limit. In July they quietly celebrated Ramo’s 75th birthday.
On 3 February 1972, Colonel Ronald Day joined Vale and the rest. The two shared the directorship amicably, Day suggesting that they go ahead and make several mock-up bombs, both for time-and-motion studies within the plant and in order to check the efficiency of their basic delivery system; an Econoline-type van, specially modified.
9 - Technological Aside
One need not gather a “critical mass” of plutonium in order to make an atom bomb of it. It is sufficient to take a considerably smaller piece and subject it to a neutron density equivalent to that which prevails at standard temperature and pressure inside plutonium at critical mass. This can be done with judiciously shaped charges of high explosive.
The whole apparatus can fit comfortably inside a Ford Econoline van.
10 - 9 September 1974
Progress Report
Delivery Implementation Section
TO: Ramo, Vale, Day, Sections 2, 5, 8.
As of this date we can safely terminate R & D on the following vehicles: Ford, Fiat, Austin, VW. Each has performed flawlessly on trial runs to Atlanta.
On-the-spot vehicle checks assure us that we can use Econolines for Ghana, Bombay, Montevideo, and Madrid, without attracting undue attention.
The Renault and Soyuz vans have not been road-tested because they are not distributed in the United States. One mock-up Renault is being smuggled to Mexico, where they are fairly common, to be tested. We may be able to modify the Ford setup to fit inside a Soyuz shell. However, we have only two of the Russian vans to work with, and will proceed with caution.
The Toyota’s suspension gave out in one out of three (Atlanta runs; it was simply not designed for so heavy a load, j We may substitute Econolines or VW’s for Tokyo and Kyoto.
Ninety per cent of the vehicles were barged to New Organs before the Atlanta run, to avoid suspicions at the Key ! Largo weigh station.
We are sure all systems will be in shape well before the I target date.
(signed) Maxwell Bergman,
Supervisor
11 - 14 October 1974
‘ Today they solved the China Problem: automobiles and I trucks are still fairly rare in China, and its border is probably ; the most difficult to breach. Ramo wants a minimum of three ; targets in China, but the odds against being able to smuggle out three vans, load them with bombs, smuggle them back in [ again and drive them to the target areas without being stopped— | the odds are formidable.
Section 2 (Weapons Research & Development) managed to compress a good-sized bomb into a package the size of a large suitcase, weighing about 800 pounds. It is less powerful than the others and not as subtly safeguarded—read “booby-trapped”—but should be adequate to the task. It will go in through Hong Kong in a consignment of Swiss heavy machinery, bound for Peking; duplicates will go to Kunming and Shanghai, integrated with farm machinery and boat hulls, respectively, from Japan. Section I (Recruiting) has found, delivery agents for Peking and Shanghai, is looking for a native speaker of the dialect spoken around Kunming.
12 - Naming
Ramo doesn’t like people to call it “Project Blackmail,” and so they just call it “the project” when he’s around.”
13 - 1 July 1975
Everything is in order delivery began one week ago. Today is Ramo’s 79th birthday.
His horoscope for today says ‘‘born today, you are a natural humanitarian. You aid those in difficulty and would make a Tine attorney. You are attracted to the arts, including writing. You are due for domestic adjustment, with September indicated as a key month.”
None of the above is true. It will be in October.
14 - 13 October 1975
7:45 on a grey Monday morning in Washington, D.C., a three-year-old Econoline van rolls up to a park-yourself lot on 14th Street. About a quarter mile from the White House.
The attendant gives the driver his ticket. “How long ya gonna be?”
“Don’t know,” he said. “All day, probably.”
“Put it back there then, by the Camaro.”
The driver parks the van and turns on a switch under the dash. With a tiny voltmeter he checks the dead-man switch on his arm: a constant-readout sphygmomanometer wired to a simple signal generator. If his blood pressure drops too low too quickly, downtown Washington will be a radioactive hole.
Everything in order, he gets out and locks the van. This activates the safeguards. A minor collision won’t set off the bomb, and neither would a Richter-6 earthquake. It will go off if anyone tries to X-ray the van or enter it.
He walks two blocks to his hotel. He is very careful crossing streets.
He has breakfast sent up and turns on the Today show. There is no news of special interest. At 9:07 he calls a number in Miami. Ramo’s fortune is down to fifty million, but he can still afford a suite at the Beachcomber.
At 9:32, all American targets having reported, Ramo calls Reykjavik.
“Let me speak to Colonel Day. This is Ramo.”
“Just a moment, sir.” One moment. “Day here.”
“Things are all in order over here. Colonel. Have your salesmen reported yet?”
“All save two, as expected,” he says: everyone but Peking and Kunming.
“Good. Everything is pretty much your hands, then. I’m going to go down and do that commercial.”
“Good luck, sir.”
“We’re past the need for luck. Be careful. Colonel.” He rings off.
Ramo shaves and dresses, white Palm Beach suit. The reflection in the mirror looks like somebody’s grandfather; not long for this world, kindly but a little crotchety, a little senile. Perhaps a little senile. That’s why Colonel Day is co-ordinating things in Iceland, rather than Ramo. IT Ramo dies, Day can decide what to do. If Day dies, the bombs all go off automatically.
“Let’s go,” Ramo shouts into the adjoining room. His voice is still clear and strong.
Two men go down the elevator with him. One ii the ex-hit man, with a laundered identity (complete to plastic surgery) and two hidden pistols. The other is Philip Vale, who carries with him all of the details of Project Blackmail and, at Ramo’s suggestion, a .44 Magnum single-shot derringer. He watches the hit man, and the hit man watches everybody else.
The Cadillac that waits for them outside the Beachcomber is discreetly bulletproof and has under the front and rear seats, respectively, a Thompson submachine gun and a truncated 12-gauge shotgun. The ex-hit man insisted on the additional armament, and Ramo provided them for the poor man’s peace of mind. For his own peace of mind Ramo, having no taste for violence on so small a scale, had the firing pins removed last night.
They drive to a network-affiliated television station, having spent a good deal of money for ten minutes of network time. For a paid political announcement.
It only cost a trifle more to substitute their own men foe union employees behind the camera and in the control room.
15 - Transcript
FADE IN LONG SHOT: RAMO, PODIUM, GLOBE
RAMO
My name is Howard Knopf Ramo.
SLOW DOLLY TO MCU RAMO
RAMO
Please don’t leave your set; what I have to say is extremely important to you and your loved ones. And I won’t take too much of your time.
You’ve probably never heard of me, though some years ago my accountants told me I was the richest man in the world. I spent a good deal of those riches staying out of the public eye. The rest of my fortune I spent on a project that has taken me thirty years to complete.
I was born just twenty-one years after the Civil War. In my lifetime, my country has been in five major wars and dozens of small confrontations. I didn’t consider the reasons for most of them worthwhile. I didn’t think that any of them were worth the price we paid.
And at that, we fared well compared to many other countries, whether they won their wars ot lost them. Still, we continue to have wars. Rather…
TIGHT ON RAMO
… our leaders continue to declare wars, advancing their own political aims by sending sons and brothers and fathers out to bleed and die.
CUT TO:
MEDIUM SHOT, RAMO SLOWLY TURNING GLOBE
RAMO
We have tolerated this situation through all of recorded history. No longer. China, the Soviet Union, and the United States have stockpiled nuclear weapons sufficient to destroy all human life, twice over. It has gone beyond politics and become a matter of racial survival.
I propose a plan to take these weapons away from them— every one, simultaneously. To this end I have spent my fortune constructing 29 atomic bombs. 28 of them are hidden in various cities around the world. One of them is in an airplane high over Florida. It is the smallest one, a demonstration model, so to speak.
CUT TO:
REMOTE UNIT; PAN SHORELINE
RAMO
VOICE OVER SURF SOUND This is the Atlantic Ocean, off one of Florida’s Keys. The bomb will explode seven miles out, at exactly 10:30. All shipping has been cleared from the area and prevailing winds will disperse the small amount of fallout harmlessly.
Florida residents within fifty miles of Shark Key are warned not to look directly at the blast.
FILTER DOWN ON REMOTE UNIT
Watch. There!
AFTER BLAST COMES AND FADES
CUT TO:
TIGHT ON RAMO
RAMO
Whether or not you agree with me, that all nations must give up their arms, is immaterial. Whether I am a saint or a power-drunk madman is immaterial. I give the governments of the world three days’ notice—not just the atomic powers, but their allies as well. Perhaps less than three days, if they do not follow my instructions to the letter.
Atomic bombs at least equivalent to the ones that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been placed in the following cities:
MCU RAMO AND GLOBE
RAMO
TOUCHES GLOBE AS HE NAMES EACH CITY
Accra, Cairo, Khartoum, Johannesburg, London, Dublin, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Warsaw, Budapest, Moscow, Leningrad, Novosibirsk, Ankara, Bombay, Sydney, Peking, Shanghai, Kunming. Tokyo, Kyoto, Honolulu, Akron, San Francisco, New York, Washington.
The smaller towns of Novosibirsk, Kunming and Akron—’ one for each major atomic power—are set to go off eight hours before the others, as a final warning.
These bombs will also go off if tampered with, or if my representatives, are harmed in any way. The way this will be done, and the manner in which atomic weapons will be collected, is explained in a letter now being sent through diplomatic channels to the leader of each threatened country. Copies will also be released to the world press.
A colleague of mine has dubbed this effort “Project Blackmail.” Unflattering, but perhaps accurate.
CUT TO:
LONG SHOT RAMO, PODIUM, GLOBE
RAMO
RAMO
Three days. Good-by.
FADE TO BLACK
16 - Briefing
“They didn’t catch him?” The President was livid.
“No, sir. They had to find out what studio the broadcast* originated from and then get—”
“Never mind. Do they know where the bomb is?”
“Yes, sir, it’s on page six.” The aide tentatively offered’
the letter, which a courier from the Polish embassy had brought a few minutes after the broadcast.
“Where? Has anything been done?”
“It’s in a public parking lot on 14th Street. The police—”
“Northwest?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good God. That’s only a few blocks from here.”
“Yes, sir.”
“No respect for… nobody’s fiddled with it, have they?”
“No, sir. It’s booby-trapped six ways from Sunday. We have a bomb squad coming out from Belvoir, but it looks pretty foolproof.”
“What about the ‘representative’ he talked about? Let me see that thing.” The aide handed him the report.
“Actually, he’s the closest thing we’ve got to o negotiator. But he’s also part of the booby-trap. If he’s hurt in any way …”
“What if the son of a bitch has a heart attack?” The President sat back in his chair and lowered his voice for the fust time. “The end of the world.”
17 - Statistical Interlude
One bomb will go off if any of 28 people dies in the next three days. They will all go off if Ronald Day dies.
All of these men and women are fairly young and in good physical condition. But they are under considerable strain and also perhaps unusually susceptible to “accidental” death. Say each of them has one chance in a thousand of dying within the next three days. Then the probability of accidental catastrophe is one minus .999 to the 29th power.
This is .024 or about one chance out of 42.
A number of cautionary cables were exchanged in the first few hours, related to this computation.
18 - Evening
The Secretary of Defense grips the edge of his chair and growls: “That old fool could’ve started World War III. Atom ’ . . bombing … Florida.”
“He gave us ample warning,” the Chairman of the AEC reminds him.
“Principle of the goddamn thing.”
The President isn’t really listening; what’s past is over and there is plenty to worry about for the next few days. He is chain-smoking, something he never does in public and rarely in conference.
“How can we keep from handing over all of our atomics?” The President stubs out his cigarette, blows through the holder, lights another.
“All right,” the chairman says. “He has a list of our holdings, which he admits is incomplete.” Ticks off on his fingers. “He will get a similar list from China: locations, method of delivery, yield, Chinese espionage list from China: locations, method of delivery, yield, Chinese espionage has been pretty efficient. Another list from Russia. Between the three, that is among the three, I guess—” Secretary of Defense makes a noise. “—he will probably be able to disarm us completely.”
He makes a tent of his fingers. “You’ve thought of making a deal, I suppose. Partial lists from—”
“Yes. China’s willing, Russia isn’t. And Ramo is also getting lists from England, France and Germany. Fairly complete, if I know our allies.”
“Wait,” says the secretary. “France has bombs too—” “Halfway to Reykjavik already.”
“What the hell are we going to do?”
Similar queries about the same thing, in Moscow and Peking.
19 - Morning
Telegrams and cables have been arriving by the truckload. The President’s staff abstracted them into a 9-page report. Most of them say “Don’t do anything rash.” About one in ten says “call his bluff,” most of them mentioning a Communist plot. One of these even came from Akron.
It didn’t take them long to find Ramo. Luckily, he had dismissed the bodyguard after returning safely to the Beachcomber, and so there was no bloodshed. Right now he is in a condition something between house arrest and protective custody, half of Miami’s police force and large contingents from the FBI and CIA surrounding him and his very important phone.
He talks to Reykjavik, and Day tells him that all of the experts have arrived: 239 atomic scientists and specialists in nuclear warfare, a staff of technical translators and a planeload of observers from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.
