"Lee Edgar - Princess 04 - Checkmate for a Princess" - читать интересную книгу автора (Edgar Lee)

'The receiver is attached to a thermonuclear device which is part of the
self-destruct mechanism at the tracking station on nearby Pic Neulos. If
anything was to happen to me, everything within twenty miles of that spot
would be totally obliterated, including all these ships.'
'Good God,' said Captain Whittaker, sitting down. 'I think I need a drink.'
'Then I suggest a drink to d├йtente, gentlemen,' proposed the Admiral.
Drinks were served and Suzette was left facing the Russian Colonel.
'I...I...' he started.
'You nearly killed us all, Colonel Narovic.'
'What can I say?'
'Nothing. You would simply have done what you felt you had to do.'
'But the chess? You say you have never played before?'
'I didn't say that. I simply said that no-one had trained me and that you were
my first real opponent.'
He was utterly perplexed. 'But the game, the strategy.'
'Computers, Colonel. When I completed my training course at S.I.E.D., my
brother gave me a high-level computer programme which no-one had ever beaten.
He bet me that I couldn't master it.'
'Did he now?'
'Yes. And if I won, he promised he would tune my car for me.'
'Your car?'
She smiled. 'It goes very fast now.'
'You beat the computer?'
Suzette nodded. 'Eventually. You see, I have a very useful photographic memory
and every time I made a mistake, and at first I made a great many, I watched
how the computer reacted to them and remembered each and every move. It was a
very complex programme, designed by an expert but, after a hundred or so
tries, I learned to beat it. Now, I get bored, because I know the moves better
than the software does.'
He laughed to release the tension. 'Then, in a manner of speaking, I was
really playing against a computer.'
'Colonel,' she joined in the merriment. 'You didn't stand a chance.'
'But tell me. What if you had not beaten the computer? You would have lost
your bet. What would your brother have asked of you in return?'
'Roger didn't ask. But he knew me well enough to know that whatever he asked
for, I would have given.'
'Anything?' he queried, his right eyebrow raised.
'If you knew me better, Colonel, you would not need to ask such a question. I
love my brother very much and trust him implicitly. He would never do anything
to harm me.'
'Beware of trust, Miss Blackman,' said the Russian soberly. 'Someday, you
might find it has been misplaced.'
~~~~~
THURSDAY 12th AUGUST - 0900 hrs.
They were invited to stay the night on Columbia with the two Russian
submarines moored alongside the massive aircraft carrier as the water lapped
against their hulls. A close watch was kept by both nations upon each other's
fleet but without incident. Perhaps a kind of peace had been reached at last.
Breakfast was a relatively sober affair due to the fact that a considerable
amount of Rye and Vodka had been consumed to celebrate their new-found