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"That's what I was hoping you'd do," Simmons said. "Get anything?"

Katharine removed her glasses. They were necessary only when her eyes tired from reading, but she wore them most of the time. She was twenty-nine, an age considered immature for strategic planning. By wearing glasses, adopting a severe hairdo, using little makeup, and choosing clothes of neutral shading, on occasion she managed to look over thirty. "I think I can answer your first question," she said. "In the past three days there has been intensified radioactivity in the upper air currents over Alaska and northern Canada, and some fallout on Hokkaido. Analysis and seismographic reports indicate that the Russians blew two thermonuclear devices or bombs on Tuesday and two more on Wednesday."

She rose, went to the side of the room, slid out a map of Asia, and ran her fingers along a loop of the Yenisei River, in Siberia. "I should say about here. The bombs--I believe they were bombs rather than devices--were of four distinct types. Two were rigged with U-238." She hesitated for a moment, and looked down at the others to invite absolute attention. "The yield of one of these explosions--the last--exceeded thirty megatons."