"David Langford - Cube Root" - читать интересную книгу автора (Langford David)

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Cube Root
by David Langford
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Copyright (c)1985 David Langford
First published in Interzone Magazine, 1985

Fictionwise Contemporary
Science Fiction
Winner, 1986 British SF Association Award for best short fiction.

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They had been three days on the moor when the message came.
"Operation Cube Root...cancelled?" Finlay read from the flat screen. He
looked up, incredulous. "Why would they do that? Sir."
Captain Mackin shrugged slowly. Already his thin face was haunted with
possibilities, each more likely than the last to hinder his next promotion. He
was a man who thought too much for the Army.
"Some kind of emergency," he said at last.
Faulkner chose that moment to clear his throat and ask, "What kind of
emergency means you have to cancel a national exercise?"
For a second there was no sound but a hiss of wind through the sparse
undergrowth of Bodmin Moor. Finlay read a second message from the display.
"This link is closing down. Repeat. This link is closing down. You are
instructed to follow Cube Root procedures real-time. Repeat. Real-time. This
link is closing down. Message ends."
"God," said Faulkner before anyone else could. "It's going to happen."
With a practised eye he noted the reactions of the little knot of men: Mackin
white-faced and understanding all too much, of course; Finlay nibbling his lip
as he folded display and keyboard into one compact unit; Spratt fumbling for a
joke and Lewdown for a sneer; young Gray copying alarm from his hero Mackin;
most of the squad with regulation blank looks and Tregennis too stupid to wear
any blank look but his own.
"Our orders stand," said Mackin, raising his voice imperceptibly. "All
units in Cube Root will remain dispersed away from military and civilian
targets until 48 hours after second strike or until recall. On occupying
target or near-target zones we are to re-establish -- "
"We know all that," said Lewdown to the wind.
"And they could not but own that their Captain looked grand, As he
stood and delivered his speech," quoted Spratt to Lewdown.