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

тАЬHow large is the site?тАЭ asks Yuri.
тАЬDonтАЩt know, sir.тАЭ Major Suvurov grumps audibly, as if the lack of concrete intelligence on the alien ruins is a
personal affront. тАЬWe havenтАЩt found the end of it yet. But it matches what we know already.тАЭ
тАЬThe aerial surveyтАУтАЭ Mikhail coughs, delicately. тАЬIf youтАЩd let me have another flight I could tell you more,
General. I believe it may be possible to define the city limits narrowly, but the trees make it hard to tell.тАЭ
тАЬIтАЩd give you the flight if only I had the aviation fuel,тАЭ Gagarin explains patiently. тАЬA chopper can burn its own
weight in fuel in a day of surveying, and we have to haul everything out here from Archangel. In fact, when we
go home weтАЩre leaving most of our flight-ready aircraft behind, just so that on the next trip out we can carry
more fuel.тАЭ
тАЬI understand.тАЭ Mikhail doesnтАЩt look happy. тАЬAs Oleg Ivanovitch says, we donтАЩt know how far it reaches. But I
think when you see the ruins youтАЩll understand why we need to come back here. NobodyтАЩs found anything
like this before.тАЭ
тАЬOld Capitalist Man.тАЭ Misha smiles thinly. тАЬI suppose.тАЭ
тАЬPresumably.тАЭ Borisovitch shrugs. тАЬWhatever, we need to bring archaeologists. And a mass spectroscope for
carbon dating. And other stuff.тАЭ His face wrinkles unhappily. тАЬThey were here back when we would still have
been living in caves!тАЭ
тАЬExcept we werenтАЩt,тАЭ Gagarin says under his breath. Misha pretends not to notice.
By the time they leave the tent, the marines have got the KorolevтАЩs two BRDMs ashore. The big balloon-tired
armored cars sit on the beach like monstrous amphibians freshly emerged from some primeval sea. Gagarin
and Gorodin sit in the back of the second vehicle with the academician and the film crew: the lead BRDM
carries their spetsnaz escort team. They maintain a dignified silence as the convoy rumbles and squeaks
across the beach, up the gently sloping hillside, and then down towards the valley with the ruins.
The armored cars stop and doors open. Everyone is relieved by the faint breeze that cracks the oven-heat of
the interior. Gagarin walks over to the nearest ruinтАУremnants of a wall, waist-highтАУand stands, hands on hips,
looking across the wasteland.
тАЬConcrete,тАЭ says Borisovitch, holding up a lump of crumbled not-stone from the foot of the wall for Yuri to see.


тАЬIndeed.тАЭ Gagarin nods. тАЬAny idea what this was?тАЭ
тАЬNot yet.тАЭ The camera crew is already filming, heading down a broad boulevard between rows of crumbling
foundations. тАЬOnly the concrete has survived, and itтАЩs mostly turned to limestone. This is old.тАЭ
тАЬHmm.тАЭ The First Cosmonaut walks round the stump of wall and steps down to the foundation layer behind it,
looking around with interest. тАЬInterior column here, four wallsтАУtheyтАЩre worn down, arenтАЩt they? This stuff that
looks like a red stain. Rebar? Found any intact ones?тАЭ
тАЬAgain, not yet sir,тАЭ says Borisovitch. тАЬWe havenтАЩt looked everywhere yet, but тАжтАЭ
тАЬIndeed.тАЭ Gagarin scratches his chin idly. тАЬAm I imagining it or are the walls all lower on that side?тАЭ He points
north, deeper into the sprawling maze of overgrown rubble.
тАЬYouтАЩre right sir. No theory for it, though.тАЭ
тАЬYou donтАЩt say.тАЭ Gagarin walks north from the five-sided buildingтАЩs ruin, looks around. тАЬThis was a road?тАЭ
тАЬOnce, sir. It was nine meters wideтАУthere seems to have been derelict ground between the houses, if thatтАЩs
what they were, and the road itself. тАЬ
тАЬNine meters, you say.тАЭ Gorodin and the academician hurry to follow him as he strikes off, up the road.
тАЬInteresting stonework here, donтАЩt you think, Misha?тАЭ
тАЬYessir. Interesting stonework.тАЭ
Gagarin stops abruptly and kneels. тАЬWhy is it cracked like this? Hey, thereтАЩs sand down there. And, um.
Glass? Looks like itтАЩs melted. Ah, trinitite.тАЭ
тАЬSir?тАЭ
Borisovitch leans forward. тАЬThatтАЩs odd.тАЭ
тАЬWhat is?тАЭ asks Misha, but before he gets a reply both Gagarin and the researcher are up again and off
towards another building.