Deception Point by Dan Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

could process them. A NASA discovery? Recent intelligence updates had suggested nothing out of the ordinary going on with the space agency. Of course, these days a “NASA discovery” usually meant realizing they’d grossly underbudgeted some new project.
    “Before we talk further,” the President said, “I’d like to know if you share your father’s cynicism over space exploration.”
    Rachel resented the comment. “I certainly hope you didn’t call me here to ask me to control my father’s rants against NASA.”
    He laughed. “Hell, no. I’ve been around the Senate long enough to know that nobody controls Sedgewick Sexton.”
    “My father is an opportunist, sir. Most successful politicians are. And unfortunately NASA has made itself an opportunity.” The recent string of NASA errors had been so unbearable that one either had to laugh or cry—satellites that disintegrated in orbit, space probes that never called home, the International Space Station budget rising tenfold and member countries bailing out like rats from a sinking ship. Billions were being lost, and Senator Sexton was riding it like a wave—a wave that seemed destined to carry him to the shores of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
    “I will admit,” the President continued, “NASA has been a walking disaster area lately. Every time I turn around, they give me yet another reason to slash their funding.”
    Rachel saw her opening for a foothold and took it. “And yet, sir, didn’t I just read that you bailed them out last week with another three million in emergency funding to keep them solvent?”
    The President chuckled. “Your father was pleased with that one, wasn’t he?”
    “Nothing like sending ammunition to your executioner.”
    “Did you hear him on Nightline? ‘Zach Herney is a space addict, and the taxpayers are funding his habit.’ “
    “But you keep proving him right, sir.”
    Herney nodded. “I make it no secret that I’m an enormous fan of NASA. I always have been. I was a child of the space race— Sputnik, John Glenn, Apollo 11 —and I have never hesitated to express my feelings of admiration and national pride for our space program. In my mind, the men and women of NASA are history’s modern pioneers. They attempt the impossible, accept failure, and then go back to the drawing board while the rest of us stand back and criticize.”
    Rachel remained silent, sensing that just below the President’s calm exterior was an indignant rage over her father’s endless anti-NASA rhetoric. Rachel found herself wondering what the hell NASA had found. The President was certainly taking his time coming to the point.
    “Today,” Herney said, his voice intensifying, “I intend to change your entire opinion of NASA.”
    Rachel eyed him with uncertainty. “You have my vote already, sir. You may want to concentrate on the rest of the country.”
    “I intend to.” He took a sip of coffee and smiled. “And I’m going to ask you to help me.” Pausing, he leaned toward her. “In a most unusual way.”
    Rachel could now feel Zach Herney scrutinizing her every move, like a hunter trying to gauge if his prey intended to run or fight. Unfortunately, Rachel saw nowhere to run.
    “I assume,” the President said, pouring them both more coffee, “that you’re aware of a NASA project called EOS?”
    Rachel nodded. “Earth Observation System. I believe my father has mentioned EOS once or twice.”
    The weak attempt at sarcasm drew a frown from the President. The truth was that Rachel’s father mentioned the Earth Observation System every chance he got. It was one of NASA’s most controversial big-ticket ventures—a constellation of five satellites designed to look down from space and analyze theplanet’s environment: ozone depletion, polar ice melt, global warming, rainforest defoliation. The intent was to provide environmentalists with never before seen macroscopic data so that they could plan better for earth’s