"John Ringo - Into the Looking Glas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ringo John)

meteors can do an airburst, that's probably what happened in Tunguska
. . ."
"They teach this in NBC school?" the operations officer asked.
"No, sir, but there have been recognized impacts in the last ten
years; this is real information," the chemical specialist said. "Do you
want it?"
"Go ahead, Specialist," the battalion commander said. "But your
point is that this doesn't appear to be a meteor."
"No, sir," the confirmed. "I've caught what I can from the news
while I've been running around. There's a big ball of dust over the
explosion site and news helicopters have been staying away from it for
safety reasons. But they've noted that the damage path is damned near
circular. Very unusual for a meteor."
"Why?" the XO asked.
The Specialist sighed. "Angles, sir."
"Sit, Crichton," the battalion commander said. "Then explain. This is
all new to me, too."
"Thanks, sir," he replied, grabbing a chair, then holding his hands up
like a ball. "This is the Earth, right? For the damage to be circular it
would have to have come in straight." He pointed towards where he'd
had his hand cupped, then pointed from the sides. "But a meteor can
come in from any direction. It's much more likely that it will come in at
an angle. And if it hits," he clapped his hands together and then fanned
them out, "it's like throwing a rock into a mud puddle. Most of the mud
splashes away from the rock. Some splashes straight up. Some, a little,
splashes back. They think the one that took out the dinosaurs hit down
in the Yucatan. 'Splashes' from it hit in Europe and up in the tundra.
The plasma wave crossed most of North America. Say one came in
from the west for this. First of all, we should have seen, have reported,
some sort of air-track. 'A shooting star in the day.' Then, we should
have had flaming bits of rock raining all the way from here to Cocoa."
"Which we didn't," the battalion commander said, nodding his head.
"The Orange County Sheriff's department wants to send a helicopter
into the area to assess the damage and find out what's going on. They
have their own chemical and biological response person, but they want
a military presence who knows something about nukes. All we've got
for that is you. Will you volunteer for the mission?"
"Yes, sir," Crichton said, his eyes lighting.
"It could be dangerous," the commander pointed out.
"So was driving Highway One, sir," the specialist replied. "But I'd
give my left arm to be on the first survey team. For us it's like being the
first one through the door is for infantry. This is the mother of all doors
for an NBC specialist."
"Okay," the battalion commander said, smiling. "I'll give them a call
and then call the Chief of Staff."
***
"Well, that was the Army Chief of Staff," the defense secretary
said. It was forty minutes from Washington to Camp David by UH-60
Blackhawk helicopter. Three had been dispatched and picked up the
national security advisor, the director of homeland security, the defense