Missile Loading Ramp

The missile loading ramp is an external launch platform built into the sloping concrete of an armed installation. Floodlights ring the sprawling structure, casting harsh yellow glare across metal gangways and the dark underside of a missile mounted on its launch rails. Air hums with the pulse of machinery and the metallic tang of rocket fuel, the acrid smell carried on a cold wind blowing across the tarmac. The ramp sits separated from the main building by at least a hundred yards of open ground, its remoteness echoing the calculated separation of sacrifice. Rails and loading winches stretch toward the angled missile, its external casing marked with military warnings and identification numbers. Here, where purpose reduces human scale to absent details, explosives can be deployed without regard for life.