"Peter W. Prellwitz - Book 02 - Shards" - читать интересную книгу автора (Prellwitz Peter W)

"Uh-huh. Are the weather patterns over the northern Rockies still following?"

"Course they are! It's what you asked for, isn't it?"

"Don't get uppity, with me, Mike! I think Dusty's still looking for a new puter for his armory. You want
to finish out existence as Agnes?"

"Perish the thought! One screwed up girl around here is enough!тАЭ For some reason, Mike was fascinated
by my circumstances, and when he wasn't asking me questions about the experience, he was making
comments about it. Before I could say anything, he chuckled. тАЬJust kidding! This is what we've got so
far: I downed the Anchorage and Idatana nets six hours and forty-one minutes ago. They thought they
repaired the damage and brought them up three hours and six minutes ago. That was the signal to bring
them back down again, taking the Seattle net with them. Now they don't know what to do. We're on
perfect schedule, with some wicked storms spread out across the northwestern section of North
America . The pot's on to boil, Abby! Shall I take out the Denver weather net?"

"Yes, please. How long until we can generate lightning over the target, and what are the three most
likely scenarios?"

"The lightning is easy: three minutes for the weather net breakdown, five minutes until storm conditions,
then five more until lightning can be triggered, using the suddenly malfunctioning shield regenerator as
a lightning rod. So, thirteen minutes. Shall I bring the regenerator down, now?"

"Um ... no. Let's give them time to evacuate, but not enough time to effect a repair crew. I don't want to
fry anyone. Bring it down in fifteen minutes."

"You got it. Now as for the three most possible scenarios, the first two are pretty much unchanged. One
has us succeeding with target elimination and rescuing a few Ripes. The other has mission success but
no rescue. Between the two, they have ninety-five percent probability of being most likely. The third one
is the tough one, Abby. I've looked it over, and I think the major battle scenario is not possible. The
more likely scenario, with a three point six percent probability is a major intervention, with mission

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success but possible loss of life."

"What casualties?"

"I'd guess three to four on our side. Their side? Unknown but substantially higher, with seventy-eight
percent being military personnel, twenty percent ripe, and less than two percent innocent."

"Very well. Notify Sergeant Thawell of our latest projections.тАЭ He wandered off to let Thawell know.
The sergeant could call off the mission for any reason, but probably wouldn't for this. From a cold,
military point of view, this was very acceptable risk. If I told myself that enough, I might even believe it.

"He said it's a go, Abby!тАЭ Mike reported cheerfully. He still hadn't quite gotten over the excitement of
missions. Which made sense, because I hadn't either, despite my concerns about loss of life.