"S. M. Stirling - Sea of Time 01 - Island in the Sea of Time 484" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

***

"Ma'am, still nothing," the radio operator said.

Captain Alston had been staring up at the infinitely welcome
stars. A new unease was eating at the first relief as she checked
and rechecked. Either her memory had deserted her, orтАж

She shook her head and stepped into the small rectangular
deckhouse behind the wheels, rather grandly called the Combat
Information Center. She preferred to think of it as the radio
shack. "Still gettin' static?" she asked.

"No, ma'am. It's clear since those lights went away. There just
isn't anything to receive, not on any of the frequencies."

She bit back that's impossible. Obviously everything that had
happened since sundown was impossible; nevertheless, it was
happening. A thought occurred to her.

"Try a GPS reading," she said.

That should read the ship's location off to within a few feet.
"Nothing, ma'am. Nothing. Maybe the storm scrambled all our
electronics."

Not unless it was EMP like a fusion bomb's, Alston thought.
Or maybe the elves had carried them off to fairyland and Br'er
Fox would be by any minute, riding on Willy the Orca; right now
one hypothesis looked about as good as another. The crewman's
voice was taking on a shrill note.

"Steady, sailor." She paused. "Lieutenant, you have a pocket
receiver, don't you?"

The young man nodded. It was a camper's model, accurate to
within a few hundred yards, looking much like a hand calculator.
William Walker pulled it out and punched at the keys.

"No reading, ma'am." His Montana twang was as
expressionless as if this was a training exercise. "As far as this
unit's concerned, the satellites just aren't there t'all."

"Ma'am! I've got someone on the radiophone."

Alston carefully did not lunge for the receiver. "Who?"

"Nantucket, ma'am." That made sense; they were only a few
miles away. As much as anything made sense this night. "It's the