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

comment that the poor bastard was probably hiding under a rock somewhere, terrified out of his wits.
The comment had been flippant, but it brought to mind immediately the fate of Albrecht Mensinger, who
committed suicide when he realized the full implications of his work in refining the chronoplate.
Now, those same implications were forcibly driven home to each and every soldier in that room. The
theft of five thousand temporal transponders was unsettling in the extreme. Lucas realized his mouth had
gone completely dry and no one had paid any attention whatsoever to his shout of тАЬAs you were!тАЭ They
were all talking at once, shouting and creating a din that drowned him out. How in hell had the theft been
accomplished? Amalgamated Techtronics was a Top Security plant тАФthe Top Security plant. Whoever
accomplished the daring theft would still need an ERG, properly modified, for the transponders to be
keyed to. But if they were able to hijack a shipment from Amalgamated Techtronics, right from under the
very noses of crack troops, how difficult would it be for them to obtain the necessary plans to adapt an
industrial ERG for temporal translocation? The very fact the warp discs had been stolen suggested that
whoever had them also had the means or the means to get the means of using them. The transponders
that were stolen varied in classification from P-1 to V-20. V-20! Lucas shuddered. Just one of those was
big enough, at a diameter of about twelve inches, to transport something the size of, no, bigger than the
Washington Monument!
тАЬThey must have stolen them for ransom,тАЭ Finn said,standing beside Lucas. тАЬThey couldnтАЩt possibly
use them.тАЭ He licked his lips and glanced at Lucas. тАЬCould they?тАЭ Forrester waited patiently for them all
to become quiet. It was hardly the sort of news he could expect them to take calmly. When the noise
died down at last, he continued. тАЬI donтАЩt need to tell you people the potential for danger this situation
represents,тАЭ he said gravely. тАЬIf any word of it should happen to leak out, the media is going to play it up
for all itтАЩs worth and weтАЩll have a disaster on our hands. And thatтАЩs not even counting the disaster weтАЩre
already faced with in terms of the potential for temporal contamination. The entire Observer Corps has
been placed on the alert for temporal anomalies and the TIA has been working around the clock,
correlating all the data from field stations reporting in.тАЭ He paused significantly.
тАЬI realize itтАЩs going to be difficult, people, but IтАЩll expect you to restrain yourselves when I report their
conclusions. No computer data this time. Word of mouth only. WeтАЩve got some very frightened people
on this and the levels of paranoia have reached new heights. So listen carefully and IтАЩll open up the floor
to questions when IтАЩm through. I want no further outbursts. I trust IтАЩve made myself quite clear.тАЭ
Forrester waited a moment while they watched him with tense anticipation. He took a deep breath.
тАЬOn November 12, 1993, the Soviet Union reported the disappearance of their new Typhoon-class
ballistic missile nuclear submarine, Vostochnaya Slava, off Jan Mayan Island in the Arctic OceanтАФтАЭ
Lucas felt Finn DelaneyтАЩs hand grasping his forearm in a viselike grip. He glanced at Finn, seated
beside him, and saw that all the color had suddenly drained from his face. They exchanged quick glances
and Lucas saw the fear in Finn DelaneyтАЩs eyes. He tried to swallow and found himself unable to. His
throat felt constricted. The realization struck them both at the same time.
Whoever had stolen the warp discs had used them to hijack a Soviet nuclear submarine, a mobile,
submerged and therefore practically undetectable strategic missile base. And with a V-20 warp disc, the
Russian sub could be equipped for time travel and teleportation.

1
тАЬApparently,тАЭ said Forrester, тАЬno one knows exactly when the Soviet sub disappeared. Its
disappearance was officially reported on November 12, but the Kremlin was aware of it as early as two
weeks prior to that date. The head of the Observer Corps outpost in that time period and location is
Lieutenant Colonel Powers, whose cover is that of an agent for United States Central Intelligence
functioning as a mole within the KGB headquarters in Moscow. From him, we have the following:
тАЬJan Mayan Island is a small spit of rock of about 145 square miles located in the Arctic Ocean
between the northern part of Norway and Greenland. The island is owned by Norway and its remote
location, as well as the savage climate, in which temperatures fall between 40 and 50 degrees below zero
with a windchill factor of over 100 below, make it an ideal place for submarines keeping an eye on the