"Charles Stross - Missile Gap" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stross Charles)

lawn and introduce themselves. IтАЩd better tell you right now, thereтАЩs enough work here to occupy an army of
zoologists and botanists for a century; you can get started on a PhD right here and now if you want. IтАЩm only
here for five years, but my successor should be okay about taking on an experienced RA тАж the hard bit is
going to be maintaining focus. Uh, I can sort you out a subsistence grant from the governor-generalтАЩs
discretionary fund and get NSF to reimburse him, but it wonтАЩt be huge. Would twenty Truman dollars a week
be enough?тАЭ
Maddy thinks for a moment. Truman dollarsтАУthe local scripтАУarenтАЩt worth a whole lot, but thereтАЩs not much to
spend them on. And RobтАЩs earning for both of them anyway. And a PhD тАжthat could be my ticket back to
civilization, couldnтАЩt it? тАЬI guess so,тАЭ she says, feeling a sense of vast relief: so thereтАЩs something sheтАЩs
useful for besides raising the next generation, after all. She tries to set aside the visions of herself,
distinguished and not too much older, gratefully accepting a professorтАЩs chair at an ivy league university.
тАЬWhen do I start?тАЭ




Chapter Nine: On the Beach
MishaтАЩs first impressions of the disturbingly familiar alien continent are of an oppressively humid heat, and the
stench of decaying jellyfish.
The Sergei Korolev floats at anchor in the river estuary, a huge streamlined visitor from another world. Stubby
fins stick out near the waterline, like a seaplane with clipped wings: gigantic Kuznetsov atomic turbines in
pods ride on booms to either side of its high-ridged back, either side of the launch/recovery catapults for its
parasite MiG fighter-bombers, aft of the broad curve of the ekranoplanтАЩs bridge. Near the waterline, a boat bay
is open: a naval spetsnaz team is busy loading their kit into the landing craft that will ferry them to the small
camp on the beach. Misha, who stands just above the waterline, turns away from the giant ground effect ship
and watches his commander, who is staring inland with a faint expression of worry. тАЬThose treesтАУawfully
close, arenтАЩt they?тАЭ Gagarin says, with the carefully studied stupidity that saw him through the first
dangerous years after his patron KhrushchevтАЩs fall.
тАЬThat is indeed what captain Kirov is taking care of,тАЭ replies Gorodin, playing his role of foil to the
colonel-generalтАЩs sardonic humor. And indeed shadowy figures in olive-green battle dress are stalking in and
out of the trees, carefully laying tripwires and screamers in an arc around the beachhead. He glances to the
left, where a couple of sailors with assault rifles stand guard, eyes scanning the jungle. тАЬI wouldnтАЩt worry
unduly sir.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩll still be happier when the outer perimeter is secure. And when IтАЩve got a sane explanation of this for the
comrade General Secretary.тАЭ GagarinтАЩs humor evaporates: he turns and walks along the beach, towards the
large tent thatтАЩs already gone up to provide shelter from the heat of noon. The bar of solid sunlightтАУwhat
passes for sunlight hereтАУis already at maximum length, glaring like a rod of white-hot steel that impales the
disk. (Some of the more superstitious call it the axle of heaven. Part of GorodinтАЩs job is to discourage such
non-materialist backsliding.)
The tent awning is pegged back: inside it, Gagarin and Misha find Major Suvurov and Academician
Borisovitch leaning over a map. Already the scientific film crewтАУa bunch of dubious civilians from the TASS
agencyтАУare busy in a corner, preparing cans for shooting. тАЬAh, Oleg, Mikhail.тАЭ Gagarin summons up a
professionally photogenic smile. тАЬGetting anywhere?тАЭ
Borisovitch, a slight, stoop-shouldered type who looks more like a janitor than a world-famous scientist,
shrugs. тАЬWe were just talking about going along to the archaeological site, General. Perhaps youтАЩd like to
come, too?тАЭ
Misha looks over his shoulder at the map: itтАЩs drawn in pencil, and thereтАЩs an awful lot of white space on it,
but what theyтАЩve surveyed so far is disturbingly familiar in outlineтАУfamiliar enough to have given them all a
number of sleepless nights even before they came ashore. Someone has scribbled a dragon coiling in a
particularly empty corner of the void.