"Simon Hawke - Time Wars 05 - The Nautilus Sanction" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

Eventually, the ERGs made possible the creation of a bridge to neutron stars within the galaxy and a
number of on-line ERGs were bridging to Orion. It was not until a research scientist in the Ordnance
Section of Temporary Army Headquarters came up with the idea of reversing the process, in 2615, that
the principles of Einstein-Rosen were applied to military weaponry. The result was the warp grenadeтАФa
combination nuclear device and time machine.
Lucas had used one for the first time on his last mission. Since then, they had already been refined to
achieve pinpoint intensity control. The device was called a grenade only because it approximated ancient
hand grenades in size and general appearance. A warp grenade could be set manually with a timer or
thrown set for air burst. The result was instant holocaustтАФonly, capable of being totally controlled. It
could be set to wipe out a city, a city block, a building on that block, a room within that building, or a
spot within that room no larger than a fist. The variable factor in the classification of warp grenades was
one-to-nine megatons. Lucas had used one of the least powerful ones and the thought of using a
nine-megaton grenade made his knees weak. He could not imagine a situation in which such a necessity
could arise. At the instant of detonation, the particle-level chronocircuitry within the device clocked the
тАЬsurplusтАЭ energy of the explosionтАФthat which was not needed to do the jobтАФthrough an Einstein-Rosen
Bridge via transponder link to an on-line ERG. In the case of a nine-megaton grenade, 90 percent of the
explosionтАЩs energy could be clocked to the Orion Nebula, safely out of harmтАЩs way. Or, more to the
point, to where it could safely do no harm. Nevertheless, the remaining energy would be equal to the
blast that had destroyed Hiroshima, and the thought of carrying such power in his pocket was enough to
make Lucas break out in a sweat. The blast he had set off on his last mission was nowhere near as
powerful, but its results had been frightening just the same. Lucas had caught some residual radiation,
though not enough to cause any more damage than prolonged exposure to the sun during a beach
vacation in St. Croix. Yet, somewhere in the Orion Nebula at that instant, there had been one whale of a
big bang. All Lucas had done was use an infinitesimal part of it.
As the upshot of that flash of insight on that research scientistтАЩs part, the brains in the Army think
tanks suddenly realized the obvious possibilities for further temporal-military applications of those same
principles. Even while the warp grenades were being perfected, the Temporal Army research scientists at
Heinlein University on Dyson were already constructing the prototype temporal transponders to replace
the chronoplates. Utilizing the same Einstein-Rosen Generators that provided power for utilities, they
made some inspired modifications (the plans for which were immediately classified Top Secret) to enable
the power drawn through time and space to provide the energy for travel through time and space via
temporal transponders designed on the micro-molecular or particle level. Each soldier of the First
Division, chosen as the first to be issued what the commandos quickly nicknamed тАЬwarp discs,тАЭ now
wore a temporal transponder on his wrist. If necessary, the warp disc could be taken off its bracelet and
worn on a neck chain, camouflaged as some other piece of jewelry or hidden somewhere on oneтАЩs
person. Now, instead of a bulky chronoplate and flexible, bimetallic border circuits, all it took to
transport a man of approximately six feet and two hundred pounds through time was a wafer-thin
transponder disc no larger than an ancient twenty-five-cent piece. The transponders were made
correspondingly larger according to their purpose, hence their classification designations. Lucas wore a
P-1 disc. An entire battalion of soldiers could be teleported via a field provided by a T-25, a disc no
more than eight inches in diameter. The actual power dilator, or ERG, could be anywhereтАФat Pendleton
Base or even in ancient Mesopotamia. Theoretically, since the power supply was limitless to all intents
and purposes, the entire planet could be teleported elsewhere with a large enough temporal transponder,
though that was a possibility no one seriously entertained. Soldiers joked about it, but the laughter always
had a slightly strained note to it. On that scope, it was just a bit too weird to even think about.
Every soldier of the First Division had been issued an тАЬEyes OnlyтАЭ Top Secret manual to scan, or
rather, they had been given access to the data under top security conditions. Lucas had studied his while
actually under armed guard. It did not escape his notice, or anyone elseтАЩs for that matter, that the
research scientist in Ordnance who had started the whole thing was never named. All attempts at
discovering his or her identity were summarily discouraged in no uncertain terms. Finn had made a