"Evan Innes - America 2040 01 - America 2040" - читать интересную книгу автора (Innes Evan)

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ONE

To American President Dexter Hamilton, entering Greater Moscow in the spring of 2033 was a fifty-year
leap into the past, an enigmatic separation from his familiar, changing, bustling world. The impressive
modernity of Gagarin Airport, the cityтАЩs newest civilian and military aviation facility, had not prepared him
for the real Moscow. Although it was spring, there was snow in the city, grayed, trodden, piled. Along
the motorcade route he caught glimpses of real antiques: diesel-powered trucks spouting the
contaminants of burning fossil fuel to cloud the chill air. People swaddled in animal furs. Drab, stern,
slab-sided apartment buildings that had been built shortly after World War II.

A curious nation, Russia. A country for the most part unchanged since the late 1900s, though if one stood
outside and got an unobstructed view of the sky, there would be a glowing dot that might well be one of
the USSRтАЩs space stations, whisking across the heavens, laden with enough destruction to lay waste a
continent. The motorcade itself was also somewhat anachronistic. Hamilton had never ridden in one
before. The assassination of President Tony Healy in 2016 had ended that practice in the United States;
no President wanted to risk the violent inventiveness of terrorists. Healy, protected by hordes of men,
including army units in armored vehicles, had been killed, along with many others, when a disgruntled air
force pilot dived an advanced fighter plane nose on into the presidential limo. Apparently it was different
in Moscow, he thought, probably because the Russian people had been under totalitarian control for well
over a hundred years. The Moscovites, in fur hats and massive coats, waved dutifully as the motorcade
passed, but they waved in unsmiling, almost eerie silence. As the luxurious electric-powered Moscova
limousine slowed to enter Red Square, the stolid-faced, solidly built woman who sat facing them on a
jump seat made an attempt at a smile, an attempt that failed coldly. Hamilton raised one eyebrow at his
secretary of State, George Maxwell. George was miffed at the treatment they had received since arriving
in Moscow, but unless you knew him well, youтАЩd never know it.Good old George, Hamilton thought.
Always so careful of ruffled feathers, always steeped in holy protocol. Hamilton personally didnтАЩt give a
tinkerтАЩs damn about this broad, stolid officer who had met them at Gagarin and whisked them aboard a
sleek, newly painted military helicopter disguised as a civilian vehicle, but she was the cause of George
MaxwellтАЩs chagrin: She had been the sole Soviet official to greet Air Force One after it glided down from
orbital altitude to Gagarin Airport. To George, it was an insult to his President. To Hamilton, it had been
expected. After all, he was the first American President to set foot on Russian soil in almost fifty years.
Hamilton had always wanted to see Red Square other than on a viewscreen, and there it was, and the
scene was orchestrated with an obviously placed, long, gleaming line of death, the Soviet arsenal of
missiles: hunter-killers, surface to air, air to surface, and a few he didnтАЩt recognize. He guessed that the
military fellows in his own party, relegated to the rear of the motorcade, would be eyeballing the display
but without seeing anything new and exciting. Yuri Kolchak wouldnтАЩt be foolish enough to show any
weapon that wasnтАЩt already known thoroughly by the West.

тАЬMost of these people have never seen an American President,тАЭ Theresita Pulaski said, indicating the
silent, solemn citizens lining the square.

тАЬAnd IтАЩve never seen them, тАЬ Hamilton said, leaning forward to wave his hand at them.
тАЬThere are those in the Soviet Union who want peace,тАЭ the general said. тАЬMany of them.тАЭ

тАЬBless them, тАЬ Hamilton said. тАЬLet their voices be heard.тАЭ

The woman looked over her shoulder, out the window. The limousine speeded up, exiting the square.
тАЬSometimes it is difficult,тАЭ she said.