"Frankowski,.Leo.-.Conrad.Starguard.7.-.Conrad's.Time.Machine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

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ЧLeo Frankowski
Tver, Russia
2002
CHAPTER I
Sad Leavings

The war in Vietnam was heating up, half the people in the country
were smoking dope, and the Flower Children were sprouting
peace and free love all over the place.

I was only vaguely aware of it.

It was 1968, and I was leaving.

The Air Force never said goodbye, but I didn't love them either. I'd
made a few good friends in the service, but Chris was in the guard
house again, SelfCheck had been discharged the week before,
Crazy Mormon was on leave, and Johnny Sleewa was on duty at
the time. No one was there to see me off. I finished up my
paperwork, gathered my few belongings, and walked past the dead
trees in front of the squadron area.

They were my one lasting accomplishment in the United States Air
Force.

It happened like this. Last fall, I'd gotten a whole weekend off, and
I figured to make it with this girl I knew in Toronto, which was a little
outside of the hundred mile limit they had us on. I'd put a fictitious
address on the official checkout sheet, but left the chick's phone
number with Johnny, so if something really important happened, he
could get in touch with me.

Around one-thirty on a Saturday morning, I'd just gotten to her
place when a sergeant phoned. He asked for me, and said that I
was scheduled for "special duty" at eight that morning. He didn't
know what it was all about, but I'd better be there.

Well, I thought it must have been important or Johnny wouldn't
have handed out the number. See, I was one of only three techs
who were trained to fix the Alert Transmit Console, and it was
about the only piece of equipment at The Notch that wasn't
duplicated.

The machine had a keyboard on it that was used to send
messages like "fire all of your missiles," but it wasn't a QWERTY.
The keys were arranged in alphabetical order.

None of the officers could type, since among our masters, such