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microwave technologies as a complement to balance the power potential of the
Russian Tolkien devices.'
'Do you mean to say,' asked UP! angrily, 'that the government puts any stock
in that Russian gull about long distance hypnotic telepathy?'
225
'I do not know to what degree the concerned branches of our government give
credibility to such technologies.' Allymany spoke as quickly as he could,
loading his answer with officialese in the hope that the numbing flood of
formal jargon would slow his questioners down while they digested it. 'But,
overall, the nuclear bomb strike potential is outdated, since fallout cannot
he contained and is likely to contaminate the entire planet in the event
several bombs were detonated simultaneously. Other types of weaponry obviously
would come into existence, types of weaponry whose effects could be
controlled.'
'But we are talking about weapons that are apparently meant to influence the
brains of humans everywhere!' shouted the woman from AP, who had evidently
followed him all too closely. 'Who could possibly justify such weapons! This
is worse than germ warfare ever was!'
'Madam,' Allymany responded weakly, 'I do not have at hand suitable responses
for your question. Please hear with the President. I'll let you know
immediately when he will talk with you.'
Hector Allymany left the briefing room without waiting for further comment. In
the antechamber he stopped short, closing his eyes. After a moment's pause, he
placed his forehead against the cool wall and allowed his body to shake. The
tremors passed quickly. He composed himself and went to join the sizeable
crowd in the reception area outside the President's office.
11.30 A.M.
'Mr. President,' shouted David P. Hornsborough III through the static-filled
transatlantic communication lines, 'I have learned that the Moscow-Washington
hook-up is being resumed from the Crimean area and will be operational in an
hour or so. Mr. Tosygen wonders if you would be available for a conversation
then?'
'Most definitely, David,' responded Thomas Cordero Heathstone.
'The Premier thinks there should be no use of scramblers
226
since the topic of the conversation is already public knowledge.'
'I will route the call through to the briefing room here,' agreed Heathstone,
'and we will have an open discussion Mr. Tosygen and I and our respective
staffs.'
'I am sure that will meet with the Premier's approval,' Hornsborough said.
Then, softly and somewhat confidentially, 'Thomas, what really is going on?
Moscow is under tight martial law. I am not sure whether I'm a diplomat being
guarded or a prisoner.'
'How is the situation there, David, exactly?' Heathstone asked.
'There has been gunfire the last few days. It stopped and everything's quiet
now. But no services at all are working.' He paused. 'Can whoever it is really
interfere with those devices, Thomas?'
'Seems totally implausible, doesn't it, David?'
'Yes, Mr. President, I just can't believe any of this.'
12.00 NOON
Abrams was dishevelled, a gloss of sleeplessness highlighting his features.
The immaculate appearance characteristic of him only a few days ago seemed to
be a thing of another age. The present era was characterised by sweat-stained
armpits and open collar with a fluttering, neglected tie and coffee stains
down the front of his shirt.
'Well,' he said, his usual brisk manner showing no trace of the hectic pace he
had kept up these last days, 'we know
where the Soviets have moved their superweapon development site to,
don't we?'
In appearance, General Harrah Judd surpassed Abrams' disorder. He sat behind
his desk poring over a pile of mysterious, sometimes pointless, reports, his
muscular torso covered only by an undershirt. Dr Elizabeth Coogan sat behind
her temporary desk aloof from the heaps of papers and books in front of her,
her thoughts wandering, following some sequence of her own, looking for a new
approach.
227
Abrams' cheerful comment was received in silence. He changed his tactic.
'Well, sir,' he said smartly, 'I think we're in real trouble this time.'
This ploy got his hearers' attention.
'Lay it out, Judd said, lazily leaning back in his chair.
'Well, it would take weeks to plot all the possibilities of where and how
this, er, psychic might be able to interfere with satellite performance.'
'Is it possible for you to be brief?' Judd asked.
'No, sir, not on this one.'
'O.K., continue.'
'Well, first of all, we could try to break apart interlinking computer
systems. This manoeuvre might localise the activity of the interloper, who
presumably is operating from some given place. In this way, we might even
locate the area where he is.'
'I don't think you should depend on that at all,' Coogan interrupted. 'We have
the psychokinetic reach to consider. That might work over great distances.'
'Well, I assumed that also, rna'am. But it was a good thought while it lasted,
wasn't it?'
'Yes, Abrams, positively idyllic,' Judd said.
'Well, then, there is a link between the U.S.S.R. and American satellite [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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