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

jerry can, drags it away from the mound, then strikes a match and throws it flickering at the disordered insect
kingdom. ThereтАЩs a soft whump as the igniting gas sets the mound aflame: small shapes writhe and crisp
beneath an empty blue sky pierced by the glaring pinprick of S Doradus. Maddy doesnтАЩt stay to watch. She
hauls the heavy sample case back to the Land Rover, loads it into the trunk alongside John, and scurries
back towards town as fast as she can.
SheтАЩs almost ten miles away before she remembers the camera, left staring in cyclopean isolation at the
scorched remains of the dead colony




Chapter Twelve: Homeward Bound
The big ground effect ship rumbles softly as it cruises across the endless expanse of the Dzerzhinsky Ocean
at nearly three hundred knots, homeward bound at last. Misha sits in his cubby-holeтАУas shipboard political
officer he rates an office of his ownтАУand sweats over his report with the aid of a glass of Polish pear
schnapps. Radio canтАЩt punch through more than a few thousand miles of air directly, however powerful the
transmitters; on earth they used to bounce signals off the ionosphere or the moon, but that doesnтАЩt work
hereтАУthe other disks are too far away to use as relays. ThereтАЩs a chain of transceiver buoys marching out
across the ocean at two thousand kilometer intervals, but the equipment is a pig to maintain, very expensive
to build, and nobody is even joking about stringing undersea cables across a million kilometers of sea floor.
MishaтАЩs problem is that the expedition, himself included, is effectively stranded back in the eighteenth
century, without even the telegraph to tie civilization togetherтАУwhich is a pretty pickle to find yourself in when
youтАЩre the bearer of news that will make the Politburo shit a brick. He desperately wants to be able to boost
this up the ladder a bit, but instead itтАЩs going to be his name and his alone on the masthead.
тАЬBastards. Why couldnтАЩt they give us a signal rocket or two?тАЭ He gulps back whatтАЩs left of the schnapps and
winds a fresh sandwich of paper and carbon into his top-secret-eyes-only typewriter.
тАЬBecause it would weigh too much, Misha,тАЭ the captain says right behind his left shoulder, causing him to
jump and bang his head on the overhead locker.
When Misha stops swearing and Gagarin stops chuckling, the Party man carefully turns his stack of
typescript face down on the desk then politely gestures the captain into his office. тАЬWhat can I do for you,
boss? And what do you mean, theyтАЩre too heavy?тАЭ
Gagarin shrugs. тАЬWe looked into it. Sure, we could put a tape recorder and a transmitter into an ICBM and
shoot it up to twenty thousand kilometers. Trouble is, itтАЩd fall down again in an hour or so. The fastest we
could squirt the message, it would cost about ten rubles a characterтАУmore to the point, even a lightweight
rocket would weigh as much as our entire payload. Maybe in ten years.тАЭ He sits down. тАЬHow are you doing
with that report?тАЭ
Misha sighs. тАЬHow am I going to explain to Brezhnev that the Americans arenтАЩt the only mad bastards with
hydrogen bombs out here? That weтАЩve found the new world and the new world is just like the old world, except
it glows in the dark? And the only communists weтАЩve found so far are termites with guns?тАЭ For a moment he
looks haggard. тАЬItтАЩs been nice knowing you, Yuri.тАЭ
тАЬCome on! It canтАЩt be that badтАУтАЭ GagarinтАЩs normally sunny disposition is clouded.
тАЬYou try and figure out how to break the news to them.тАЭ After identifying the first set of ruins, theyтАЩd sent one
of their MiGs out, loaded with camera pods and fuel: a thousand kilometers inland it had seen the same
ominous story of nuclear annihilation visited on an alien civilization: ruins of airports, railroads, cities,
factories. A familiar topography in unfamiliar form.
This was New YorkтАУonce, thousands of years before a giant stamped the bottom of Manhattan island into the
sea bedтАУand that was once Washington DC. Sure thereтАЩd been extra skyscrapers, but theyтАЩd hardly needed
the subsequent coastal cruise to be sure that what they were looking at was the same continent as the old
capitalist enemy, thousands of years and millions of kilometers beyond a nuclear war. тАЬWeтАЩre running away
like a dog thatтАЩs seen the devil ride out, hoping that he doesnтАЩt see us and follow us home for a new winter