"Forgot to phone Smith."
"Emperor Smith may wait. It will gladden his heart that we have returned to safeguard his beleaguered shores."
"Hope he dug up something useful, or we went a long way for nothing."
"Smith's oracles are almost infallible."
"Speaking of failure, Colonel Rushenko should be worm food about now."
"If you struck the Blow of Delayed Peace correctly . . ."
"Right between the shoulder blades. He'll never know what snuffed him."
"It serves him right for ordering my death," Chiun sniffed. "It was inconsiderate, not to mention foolhardy."
"Wake me up when we're on the ground." And Remo dropped off to catch some much-needed rest.
Somewhere over the dark Atlantic, he awoke to find the Master of Sinanju looking out into the night sky.
"Star gazing?" he asked.
"I am watching for the sun dragon."
"Feel free."
"Sun dragons and arrow stars are harbingers of disaster, Remo."
"Show me a time when there weren't disasters. Comets don't affect events on earth. That's as squirrelly as astrology."
"Spoken like a true Virgo," sniffed Chiun. His nose was to the glass, his hazel eyes questing.
A thin line of light against the night caused his eyes to open up. Then they subsided.
"What was that?" asked Remo.
"Only a dung star."
"A what?"
"You would call it a meteor."
"Why is it called a dung star?"
"Because it is known to Koreans that so-called meteors are but the falling dung of true stars. And not to be confused with sun dragons."
"Korean astronomy sounds as screwy as astrology-"
"You will speak differently should you confront the sun dragon."
"Never happen."
Chiun's eyes became reflective. "Remo, you asked me if there were any legends attending the reign of Master Salbyol. There was one."
"I'm listening."
"It was prophesied that when the sun dragon next returned, the Master at that time would ascend into the Void to do battle with the awesome beast."
"Reigning Master or just Master?" asked Remo.
"The prophecy omitted that stipulation. But obviously Salbyol had to have meant Reigning Master. For he is the more important of the two."
"So you figure you're going to climb into the Void to fight a comet?" said Remo.
"Sun dragon. But that is not what worries me. For those who enter the Void, as you know, do not return to the living." Chiun's voice was hollow. "Remo, I am not yet prepared to die."
"How did Salbyol come up with this prediction?"
"How else? By consulting the stars."
Remo snorted. "If Korean astrology is anything like Korean astronomy, you don't have a thing to worry about."
Chiun grew deep of voice. "You are wrong. For I have felt the hot breath of the sun dragon, and you have felt it, too," said the Master of Sinanju, padding off the the rear of the cabin to be alone with his unspoken thoughts.
Remo let him be. He figured they'd both cross that bridge when it presented itself to them.
Chapter 36
At the SPACETRACK nerve center in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, all eyes, electronic or otherwise, were on Object 617, which was just sweeping down from the North Pole on its periodic polar path.
This time its orbit would take it over western Europe. Its last two orbits had covered the flat heart of the Asian republics on Russia's eastern flank, where SPACETRACK had no ground cameras and NATO had no eyes.
It was while Object 617 was approaching France that its radar signature abruptly shifted.
"Major, it's moving," a radar technician said.
Any eye that wasn't on Object 617 now shifted to track it on the giant projection screen with its Mercator projection of Earth's orbital envelope. Over eight thousand objects, ranging from one yard in size to space junk as small as a pea, each tagged by a green ID number, were displayed and accounted for. Object 617 had been designated a highest priority, and its radar blip was flashing red.
Amid the sea of phosphor green objects, it stood out like a bloodshot eye.
Object 617 was changing position. Its path was taking it toward the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
"That thing is maneuverable," the major growled.
"It's also coming into GEODES acquisition range, sir."
GEODSS was the ground-camera backup to SPACETRACK's radar net. Grabbing a dedicated line, the major put in a call to his counterpart at GEODES.