"Leo Frankowski & Dave Grossman - The War With Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Frankowski Leo)

"Some are always sacrificed for the good of the many, Mickolai. It has always been
that way, all through history."
"Well, damn them all, and damn history, and damn you too. But tell me about this
construction or tunneling project that we have been on for the last four or five years. Has
this tank just been sitting here?"
"No," Agnieshka said, "We have been very productive. We, and eighty thousand
others have been building an underground transportation system, the 'Loway,' on New
Yugoslavia, and we've been at it ever since the second week after you enlisted."
"Even then? And tell me more about this underground system."
"You can't see it from the surface, but it's a beautiful thing nonetheless. It consists of
eight layers of tunnels. Every tunnel is six meters in diameter, and is metal lined for
safety. They all have cobalt-samarium magnets in the roadbed to magnetically float the
cars, trucks, and other vehicles. The top two layers exist only in the built-up areas of the
cities and the suburbs, or where future cities are planned. The first is typically thirty
meters down, and it has a north or south road every hundred meters. The next is ten
meters deeper, and has east and west roads, again every hundred meters. These two are
connected at every intersection by a saddle-shaped circular road. Personal garages and
commercial loading docks will be built later on this grid. The design speed for these
upper layers of local roads is fifty kilometers per hour."
Agnieshka was waxing enthusiastic, trying to get me involved with the construction
project. And, truth to tell, it was working, a bit. Back on Earth, I had studied to be an
engineer, and this was taking my mind off my problems. She always did know exactly
what I was thinking. Literally, since she was connected inductively to my brain and
spinal column. I sat back in my Dream World cottage and let her continue her spiel.
"The rest of the system covers the entire planet, and will soon be on every island
more than fifteen kilometers long. At fifty and sixty meters down, there is a second set of
tunnels spaced a kilometer apart, again with circular saddles for intersections, with a
design speed of three hundred kilometers per hour. At seventy and eighty meters below
the surface, there is a set with the roads spaced five kilometers apart. These tunnels are
evacuated of all air, and designed to carry vehicles traveling at three thousand kilometers
per hour. Below that, there is a final grid with ten-kilometer spacing that is oriented forty-
five degrees from the others, northwest and northeast, which is again evacuated for high-
speed travel. Of course, each grid ties in with the grid above it.
"Where the roads cross tectonic plate boundaries, there are special flexible sections to
bridge the gaps. All told, the system permits very rapid transportation from any point on
the planet to any other point.
"And the road system isn't the only thing we've been building. There is a planet-wide
water and sewage system nearing completion, as well as a communication system, and a
superconducting power net. All of it is underground, as are a number of automatic
factories that we are installing, mostly for food processing. It is the greatest civil
engineering feat ever attempted, and we will have it done, less than two years from now.
Similar systems are being started on many other planets as well."
"Wow. And the Yugoslavians are paying for all of this?"
"Yes, and paying us a good profit on it as well, although most of them think that they
are paying for a war. When the war is over, we will announce that we built the system to
rapidly transport our fighting forces to the battle front, and give it all to the various
Yugoslavian countries as a gift."
"I'm supposed to believe in that much generosity? After all the filthy lies that have
been going on?"
"Our profits for building all this are decent enough, but we'll really cash in when we