[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
was thinking.
'I'm not a murderer, Ben!' he burst out. 'But no less than your vampires, these
people are! Should I tell you what they're capable of? Plans so monstrous that if the
West had known about them when first they were broached it could easily have started
World War Three? Hah! You don't know the half of it! You think the CIA have hatched
some feverish plots in their time, this or that assassination that didn't quite work out?
But these people I'm talking about are capable of genocide. They'd think nothing of
destroying entire countries!' And as he paused for breath:
'Go on,' said Trask. 'I'm listening.'
Now Turchin was sweating freely. He mopped his forehead and said, 'And so I
have arrived at the point of no return. Defection is one thing, but these are my country's
best kept secrets. And I am trusting them to you. They must go no further. If ever they
got out no one would ever trust Russia, or Gustav Turchin, again. I would remain your
guest for the rest of my life, which probably wouldn't be a long one...'
'I'm still listening,' said Trask.
'One of these three men,' said Turchin, ' should we call him Admiral "X"? You
can work it out for yourself is responsible for dumping our fleet of decrepit nuclear
submarines and other radioactive waste in international waters. This same man, in the
late 1960s through the 1970s, when he was a lowly apparatchik in the USSR's Defence
Department, proposed to change the world's weather patterns by detonating enormous
atomic devices deep under the Arctic ice. The melting ice fresh water, you
understand, as it flowed into the Atlantic Ocean would permanently reverse the
Atlantic Conveyor, bringing Siberian temperatures to western Europe and a
Mediterranean climate to the Russian heartland. Madman that he is, I know he still
harbours such schemes, and that he has the fanatical will to bring them into being. All
he lacks is the finances, the means. Perchorsk and the Vampire World would furnish
such a means, though first he would have to cleanse that world of men and monsters
alike. Ah, but with his perverse penchant for nuclear devices, I cannot see the mere
destruction of an alien world as too great a problem! Well, except for our friends the
Szgany, that is...'
And Trask nodded. 'I think I can see why you'd want rid of that one. And I can
also see where you're making a big mistake. But go on, tell me all.'
'Air defences,' said Turchin. 'The original plans for our answer to Ronald
Reagan's SDI, his marvellous, mythical Strategic Defence Initiative, are extant still.
Moreover, a certain scientist and senior officer in the Russian air force believes that if
he were able to generate and contain sufficient energy he could make the failed
Perchorsk Experiment work. All that he needs to go ahead is the funding: gold, Ben!
Just think of it: an invisible umbrella, shielding an entire country, neutralising all
incoming weapons of mass destruction. After that, what could the West refuse us, eh?
In any war, an impregnable force must conquer. But even if there was no war, the West
would go broke trying to duplicate the umbrella. Total chaos whichever way you look at
it.
'Finally, the Army. My third and last great enemy is an ex-general, now an
industrialist. A former close ally of Suvorov, he has been, is, and always will be a hawk
to the bitter end. If you think that the American General Patton was a militarist, or your
own Bomber Harris, who reduced Dresden to a fiery hell, then you haven't reckoned
with this man. When President Reagan made his "joke" about nuking Moscow, this man
moved a regiment of tanks into the countryside, commandeered a missile site and sat
there waiting, with his finger on the button! He had to be taken out of there by force.
How fortunate that on both counts Gorbachev had a sense of humour. He ignored the
first maniac's gaffe, promoted the other and privately awarded him a medal of honour...!'
As Turchin fell silent, Trask said, 'Is that all of it? Are you done?'
'One last word,' said Turchin. 'These three men are intent upon discovering
Suvorov s secret mother lode, his fabulous El Dorado, and I have set them a trail to
follow. Nothing can satisfy them now except that they follow it to its end. And its end
or more properly its beginning is in Perchorsk. And already in Perchorsk, there's a
small army of thugs just waiting to be led into the Vampire World. So then, the stage is
set, and now we have to take action.'
Trask thought about it for a moment, and answered, 'In Australia when we talked
these things over, you led me to believe that your principal interests were the same as
mine to stop any more vampires coming through into our world, to help me to get rid
of those that are already here, to block the Perchorsk Gate permanently, and in so
doing to secure the parallel world for Nathan and his people.'
'That was what I wanted then,' Turchin answered, 'and it's what I want now. But it
doesn't make these enemies of mine any less real. They aren't going to go away, and if
I can kill two birds with one stone or three, as it happens well, so much the better.'
'As to your enemies,' said Trask, 'you're trying very hard to paint them as the
world's enemies, too. All these dreadful-sounding threats the atrocities they'd enact if
they had the financial means in the form of gold from Sunside/Starside. But the fact is [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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was thinking.
'I'm not a murderer, Ben!' he burst out. 'But no less than your vampires, these
people are! Should I tell you what they're capable of? Plans so monstrous that if the
West had known about them when first they were broached it could easily have started
World War Three? Hah! You don't know the half of it! You think the CIA have hatched
some feverish plots in their time, this or that assassination that didn't quite work out?
But these people I'm talking about are capable of genocide. They'd think nothing of
destroying entire countries!' And as he paused for breath:
'Go on,' said Trask. 'I'm listening.'
Now Turchin was sweating freely. He mopped his forehead and said, 'And so I
have arrived at the point of no return. Defection is one thing, but these are my country's
best kept secrets. And I am trusting them to you. They must go no further. If ever they
got out no one would ever trust Russia, or Gustav Turchin, again. I would remain your
guest for the rest of my life, which probably wouldn't be a long one...'
'I'm still listening,' said Trask.
'One of these three men,' said Turchin, ' should we call him Admiral "X"? You
can work it out for yourself is responsible for dumping our fleet of decrepit nuclear
submarines and other radioactive waste in international waters. This same man, in the
late 1960s through the 1970s, when he was a lowly apparatchik in the USSR's Defence
Department, proposed to change the world's weather patterns by detonating enormous
atomic devices deep under the Arctic ice. The melting ice fresh water, you
understand, as it flowed into the Atlantic Ocean would permanently reverse the
Atlantic Conveyor, bringing Siberian temperatures to western Europe and a
Mediterranean climate to the Russian heartland. Madman that he is, I know he still
harbours such schemes, and that he has the fanatical will to bring them into being. All
he lacks is the finances, the means. Perchorsk and the Vampire World would furnish
such a means, though first he would have to cleanse that world of men and monsters
alike. Ah, but with his perverse penchant for nuclear devices, I cannot see the mere
destruction of an alien world as too great a problem! Well, except for our friends the
Szgany, that is...'
And Trask nodded. 'I think I can see why you'd want rid of that one. And I can
also see where you're making a big mistake. But go on, tell me all.'
'Air defences,' said Turchin. 'The original plans for our answer to Ronald
Reagan's SDI, his marvellous, mythical Strategic Defence Initiative, are extant still.
Moreover, a certain scientist and senior officer in the Russian air force believes that if
he were able to generate and contain sufficient energy he could make the failed
Perchorsk Experiment work. All that he needs to go ahead is the funding: gold, Ben!
Just think of it: an invisible umbrella, shielding an entire country, neutralising all
incoming weapons of mass destruction. After that, what could the West refuse us, eh?
In any war, an impregnable force must conquer. But even if there was no war, the West
would go broke trying to duplicate the umbrella. Total chaos whichever way you look at
it.
'Finally, the Army. My third and last great enemy is an ex-general, now an
industrialist. A former close ally of Suvorov, he has been, is, and always will be a hawk
to the bitter end. If you think that the American General Patton was a militarist, or your
own Bomber Harris, who reduced Dresden to a fiery hell, then you haven't reckoned
with this man. When President Reagan made his "joke" about nuking Moscow, this man
moved a regiment of tanks into the countryside, commandeered a missile site and sat
there waiting, with his finger on the button! He had to be taken out of there by force.
How fortunate that on both counts Gorbachev had a sense of humour. He ignored the
first maniac's gaffe, promoted the other and privately awarded him a medal of honour...!'
As Turchin fell silent, Trask said, 'Is that all of it? Are you done?'
'One last word,' said Turchin. 'These three men are intent upon discovering
Suvorov s secret mother lode, his fabulous El Dorado, and I have set them a trail to
follow. Nothing can satisfy them now except that they follow it to its end. And its end
or more properly its beginning is in Perchorsk. And already in Perchorsk, there's a
small army of thugs just waiting to be led into the Vampire World. So then, the stage is
set, and now we have to take action.'
Trask thought about it for a moment, and answered, 'In Australia when we talked
these things over, you led me to believe that your principal interests were the same as
mine to stop any more vampires coming through into our world, to help me to get rid
of those that are already here, to block the Perchorsk Gate permanently, and in so
doing to secure the parallel world for Nathan and his people.'
'That was what I wanted then,' Turchin answered, 'and it's what I want now. But it
doesn't make these enemies of mine any less real. They aren't going to go away, and if
I can kill two birds with one stone or three, as it happens well, so much the better.'
'As to your enemies,' said Trask, 'you're trying very hard to paint them as the
world's enemies, too. All these dreadful-sounding threats the atrocities they'd enact if
they had the financial means in the form of gold from Sunside/Starside. But the fact is [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]