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

Communism, comrade premier! Look what they did for us! (That was Shchlovskii, by the way.) And yes, I
look and I see six cities that nobody can live in, spaceships that refuse to stick to the sky, and a landscape
that Sakharov and that bunch of double-domes are at a loss to explain. There are fucking miracles and
wonders and portents in the sky, like a galaxy we were supposed to be part of that is now a million years too
old and shows extensive signs of construction. ThereтАЩs no room for miracles and wonders in our rational
world, and itтАЩs giving the comrade general secretary, Yuri, the comrade general secretary, stomach ulcers;
did you know that?тАЭ
The colonel sits up straight, anticipating the punch line: itтАЩs a well-known fact throughout the USSR that when
Brezhnev says тАШfrog,тАЩ the premier croaks. And here he is in the premierтАЩs office, watching that very man,
Aleksey Kosygin, chairman of the Council of Ministers, third most powerful man in the Soviet Union, taking a
deep breath.
тАЬYuri Alexeyevich, I have brought you here today because I want you to help set Leonid IllichтАЩs stomach at
rest. YouтАЩre an aviator and a hero of the Soviet Union, and more importantly youтАЩre smart enough to do the job
and young enough to see it through, not like the old farts cluttering up Stavka. (ItтАЩs going to take most of a
lifetime to sort out, you mark my words.) YouтАЩre also, you will pardon the bluntness, about as much use as a
fifth wheel in your current posting right now: we have to face facts, and the sad reality is that none of
KorolevтАЩs birds will ever fly again, not even with the atomic bomb pusher-thing theyтАЩve been working on.тАЭ
Kosygin sighs and shuffles upright in his chair. тАЬThere is simply no point in maintaining the Cosmonaut
Training Centre. A decree has been drafted and will be approved next week: the manned rocket program is
going to be wound up and the cosmonaut corps reassigned to other duties.тАЭ
The colonel flinches. тАЬIs that absolutely necessary, comrade chairman?тАЭ
Kosygin drains his wine glass, decides to ignore the implied criticism. тАЬWe donтАЩt have the resources to
waste. But, Yuri Alexeyevich, all that training is not lost.тАЭ He grins wolfishly. тАЬI have new worlds for you to
explore, and a new ship for you to do it in.тАЭ
тАЬA new ship.тАЭ The colonel nods then does a double take, punch-drunk. тАЬA ship?тАЭ
тАЬWell, it isnтАЩt a fucking horse,тАЭ says Kosygin. He slides a big glossy photograph across his blotter towards
the colonel. тАЬTimes have moved on.тАЭ The colonel blinks in confusion as he tries to make sense of the thing at
the centre of the photograph. The premier watches his face, secretly amused: confusion is everybodyтАЩs first
reaction to the thing in the photograph.
тАЬIтАЩm not sure I understand, sirтАУтАЭ
тАЬItтАЩs quite simple: you trained to explore new worlds. You canтАЩt, not using the rockets. The rockets wonтАЩt ever
make orbit. IтАЩve had astronomers having nervous breakdowns trying to explain why, but the all agree on the
key point: rockets wonтАЩt do it for us here. Something wrong with the gravity, they say it even crushes falling
starlight.тАЭ The chairman taps a fat finger on the photograph. тАЬBut you can do it using this. We invented it and
the bloody Americans didnтАЩt. ItтАЩs called an ekranoplan, and you rocket boys are going to stop being grounded
cosmonauts and learn how to fly it. What do you think, colonel Gagarin?тАЭ
The colonel whistles tunelessly through his teeth: heтАЩs finally worked out the scale. It looks like a flying boat
with clipped wings, jet engines clustered by the sides of its cockpitтАУbut no flying boat ever carried a runway
with a brace of MiG-21s on its back. тАЬItтАЩs bigger than a cruiser! Is it nuclear powered?тАЭ
тАЬOf course.тАЭ The chairmanтАЩs grin slips. тАЬIt cost as much as those moon rockets of SergeiтАЩs, colonel-general.
Try not to drop it.тАЭ
Gagarin glances up, surprise and awe visible on his face. тАЬSir, IтАЩm honored, butтАУтАЭ
тАЬDonтАЩt be.тАЭ The chairman cuts him off. тАЬThe promotion was coming your way anyway. The posting that comes
with it will earn you as much honor as that first orbit. A second chance at space, if you like. But you canтАЩt
fail: the cost is unthinkable. ItтАЩs not your skin that will pay the toll, itтАЩs our entire rationalist civilization.тАЭ
Kosygin leans forward intently.
тАЬSomewhere out there are beings so advanced that they skinned the earth like a grape and plated it onto this
diskтАУor worse, copied us all right down to the atomic level and duplicated us like one of those American
Xerox machines. ItтАЩs not just us, though. You are aware of the other continents in the oceans. We think some
of them may be inhabited, tooтАУnothing else makes sense. Your task is to take the Sergei Korolev, the first