A general stir fills the low ceilinged conference room, the stuffy air feels suffocating and smells faintly of sweat Why do none of these Rhandians ever wash? thought Ray Hammond to himself. He was disgruntled. He had spent the last three hours on a flight to Rhand to attend a press release by the Rhandian Secretary of Defence, only to arrive, be whisked away, searched and then crammed into this nightmarish place; sometimes he hated being a security correspondent.
A small stir was created as a few men walked onto the stage. Two sat either side of the podium whilst the grey haired officious looking man took to it.
"I expect you will all be wondering what this release has been called for, and why you have been so thoroughly searched?" he pushed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose with his knuckle to add a dramatic pause. "Without further delay I present to you the RNR-09, or the Plutus." At this the lights dipped and a projector flashed up an image of what looked like an enormous jet engine on the back of a train carriage "Rhand has observed the rise of fascism across the planet with much trepidation. We realise now that it is not enough to simply wait for the inevitable rise of global communism, but rather that if we are to be a beacon of righteousness against the forces of capital and reaction, that we must take measures to defend ourselves."
He looked around the room and seemed pleased with the general solemn mood of the audience.
"The Plutus therefore is the newest addition to our arsenal. For too long we have relied on conventional forces to act as a deterrent, but this changes all that. For those of you who are still confused as to exactly what Plutus is, it is our first long range nuclear cruise missile. It works on the principle of ramjet technology, with the heat being generated by an active nuclear reactor which makes up most of the mass of the weapon. The nosecone contains radar and navigational instruments and towards the center is the warhead compartment. You will of course remember that we tested a nuclear device some time ago and agreed to discontinue development under anti-proliferation agreements, we have decided now to reinitiate our weapons programme for the purpose of the Plutus project."
Now looking pleased with the shocked silence he continued.
"The Plutus is launched by conventional rocket boosters which gets it up to ramjet speed, at this point the nuclear reactor kicks in and the boosters are jettisoned. It is then capable of flying until its fuel supply is depleted, a period of a few months at least. In times of tension which look to escalate to possible nuclear conflict we will launch these weapons, they will fly in holding patterns at failsafe over the ocean or arctic for as long as necessary before being deployed. Once a target has been defined for the missile it is non-recallable and will drop down to treetop level before proceeding to its target destination. I would however like to make it very clear that we appreciate the dangers of nuclear warefare and would never use such weapons offensively, it is our hope that our glorious new nuclear age will ensure peace for years to come, thankyou very much."
He turned to the left and began to make his way off of the stage, the audience in one body stood up pads held in their hands, barking questions. As the two other men followed him out of the room one of them had the courtesy to inform them that the Secretary would not be answering any questions. They were then cleared out of the room by stern faced guards.
Ray Hammond stood in the chill night air outside the conference centre, he couldn't quite come to terms with the new world he had just witnessed born, and whilst he stood there conscious of the new dangers the world faced he realised, he was the only one from his country who was, and it was him who had to tell them.
