Target Down! by Julian Jay Savarin

Author:Julian Jay Savarin [Savarin, Julian Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-06-204699-4
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 1991-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

He discovered that Vannis was still operational and currently based in Leningrad. Within a day, Vannis was standing before him, looking bemused, and not a little apprehensive. A small, dark-haired man of about thirty who wore glasses, Vannis, it was clear, thought he had been brought to Moscow to be questioned about his loyalties.

“Do you remember me, Ivan?” Stolybin commenced by way of a greeting.

Vannis swallowed. “Yes. Yes, Comrade Colonel.”

“Relax, man. You are not here to be grilled about your loyalty to the Union. I need your help. I want to put that brain of yours to use.”

Vannis brightened. “I am at your service, Comrade.”

“I never doubted it.” Stolybin pushed a modified version of the report he had received toward Vannis. “Read that carefully, then tell me how we’re going to get into it. Take a seat. Make yourself comfortable.”

Vannis took the papers and gingerly sat down on one of the hard chairs in the office. Stolybin watched him speculatively, permitting himself a wry smile as Vannis seemed to forget his uncertainties as the problem began to hook him. He read the papers through twice.

At last, he looked up. “We can do something.”

“Good. Good. How?”

“I’ll have to work it through, of course … but there is a way to get in. Although we do not have any of the codes, that is almost not important. In any case, everyone changes codes at random. The trick is to get the code of the day while the missile is in flight.”

“That does not give us much time. That thing’s very, very fast.”

“Ah yes. But you see, Comrade Colonel, to computers, what we may think of as fast is incredibly slow. A second, for example, could be a whole epoch, or more. Nanoseconds can be stretched into days, years, centuries. It depends on the speed of your computer. So while we don’t need the code, we do need the method of its implementation. According to this report, we have it.”

Stolybin looked pleased. “You’re telling me we can burn through to the missile’s secondary code while it is in flight.”

“Yes, Comrade. We can burn through, find the code, get at the primary, and fool it … in theory.”

“In theory. I don’t like the sound of that.”

“We would need the right equipment and a very powerful computer. We would need a terminal with access to the most powerful machine in the Union.”

“I’m certain that could be arranged,” Stolybin said, knowing the general was listening. “Leave that to me. All you have to do is prove to me you can make your system work. You’ll be given the facilities when you’ve done that.”

Vannis looked anxious once more. He clearly realized that once he’d committed himself, there was no turning back. It would have to be success or failure. Failure would most likely be a terminal one.

Stolybin’s years of interrogating people told him fairly accurately what was going on in Vannis’s mind. Good, he thought. Let him worry. Nothing like anxiety for one’s safety to concentrate the mind.

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