Cobb stared emptily over Van’s right shoulder. "You have to imagine," Cobb told him, "trying to stuff one hundred and eighty thousand pounds of laser equipment into one 747 cargo jet. That’s the Airborne Laser. They need fourteen laser modules to shoot down missiles, and six of them already outweigh any jet’s lifting capacity. Chemical laser. Huge, flying tanks of chlorine, iodine, and hydrogen peroxide. The devil’s brew, that stuff. It sloshes. Oh, boy, it sloshes." Cobb leaned way back, lifting his free arm. "You are trying to aim that giant, flying chemical laser at a rising missile that is clearing a silo . . ."