His eyes bulging and his face sickly pale, Armstrong whispered the code. Blakers filed it to his unusually fantastic memory, then waited another minute. On the screen, Armstrong gasped silently as the last of the oxygen was sucked out of the room.
"Uh, sir..." Luke held the pistol in a trembling grip, not daring to point it directly at his commanding officer.
"Yes, Luke?"
"Aren't you going to repressurize the bay? He gave you the code."
With a sigh, Blakers pushed the control that would restore air to the cargo bay. "Done. I wanted to make sure Armstrong would be unconscious first. He might have still tried to destroy the laptop."
"I see... sir."
"Go to the cargo bay before he wakes up. Get the laptop and bring it here. I'll watch on the monitor and unlock the door for you, then seal it again when you have the computer. I want to be sure Armstrong gave us the right code."
Nodding, his face twisted with worry, Luke went to the cargo bay.
Blakers watched his old friend's unmoving form on the screen. It was too bad it had come to this, but he didn't trust Armstrong's nerve. If the radio reports were accurate, America was in trouble, and strong, manly leadership would be needed. The nukes were just a backup. Blakers had little doubt that he could intimidate a pack of feminists into obeying his orders.
Luke signaled his arrival over the comm and Blakers unlocked the bay door for him. The pistol was still in his hands, but he was sensible enough to strap it to his side while retrieving the laptop. The kid gave Armstrong a long, meaningful look before he left. Blakers hoped he wouldn't have to kill him. Sure, he was armed now, but the commander knew he was faster and more ruthless than the young man. One gun clenched in a sweaty fist would mean little if Blakers decided the kid needed to die.
When Luke returned with the laptop, Blakers had him set it up next to the comm. station, where it could interface with the ship's big antenna. If Armstrong had provided the right code, he knew he'd be able to remotely connect to the satellites, even though they were still held in the bay.
Tap, tap, tap. The code was entered. Now to wait for the satellites to respond.