(eng) Michael Kurland by Psi Hunt

Author:Psi Hunt [Hunt, Psi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Twenty-two thousand three hundred miles up, in a canted synchronous orbit, a small, magnesium Christmas tree coursed around the Earth. It traveled at the same rate as the planet below: one cycle each twenty-four hours, no minutes, and no seconds; and intersected the Equator, so far below, at an angle of thirty degrees. The effect, as viewed from the Earth, was of an overhead pendulum, swinging along the meridian line, 122° East Longitude, from Ningpo on the East China Sea to Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Each day one tick, each night one tock.

It was one thirty-five in the morning when the small submarine surfaced in the Gulf of Tomini and sent a microwave query straight up into the night sky. A fifth of a second later the transponder aboard the Invincible Thoughts of Chairman Mao People’s Defense Surveillance Satellite # 7 acknowledged the signal and broadcast a tight-beam transmission, clearing its television tape loop of all pictures taken since it was last queried. The sub then sent another, special, coded signal, and the satellite commenced an internal systems check, reporting on the status of power, control, surveillance, and communications capabilities in its gut and bolted to its skin.

0000101100110100101001101010111101100000101100110100101001101101000010110011010010100110100110110101000001011001101001010011010000101100110100101001110000101100110100101001101

A computer technician 2nd class fed the binary punched tape into a black box comparator, and reported all systems functional in accord with the Precepts of Chairman Mao.

“Clear the bird and prepare it for a special assignment,” the submarine captain commanded, taking sealed orders from his safe and carefully slitting through the sealing wax.

The political officer gave the captain a hard look and tore open his own copy of the orders. “You should not refer to an Invincible Thoughts of Chairman Mao People’s Defense Surveillance Satellite as a bird, Captain. The improper naming of objects shows an insufficient understanding of their dialectical relationship to the needs of the proletariat, in keeping with the thoughts and doctrines of Chairman Mao. This will have to go in my report.”

“I conceal my surprise.” The captain finished reading his orders, then separated one page from the rest and handed it to the technician. “Type this command sequence on tape and send it out. Make sure you make no errors; have someone examine your work before you transmit it. We are sending this bird off on a solo flight!” He turned and walked rapidly through the control room and then scrambled up the ladder through the conning tower onto the bridge. They would submerge as soon as the contact was complete, and this was his only chance to get any fresh air.

The first officer had the con when the captain appeared. Aside from him and the two traditional lookouts, fore and aft, the deck was empty. “You’re relieved, Lo,” the captain said. “Go below and have a cup of soup. We’ll be diving in a minute, and you’ll have to finish the watch.”

“Thank you, Captain,” the first officer said, handing him the large binoculars and starting down the hatch. He had to get out of the way of

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