John Schettler - Armageddon

Again the murmurs in the background. Then Suchkov returned to the line. “Very well, Mister Deputy Secretary.”

“Deputy Secretary? I have not heard that old handle for a good many years, Suchkov.”

“Yet that is how we remember you, Pavel. There are a good many old grey heads in this room. Very well. We will do as you ask, but please keep us informed.”

“You have my word on it,” Kamenski smiled at Volsky now as they concluded the call. “It seems I still have a little bit of pull in Moscow,” he said softly. “Now…Let’s get on with it. We have no time to waste. What about this submarine?”

Volsky pursed his lips. “There are three diesel electric boats at Pavlovsk Bay. Everything else is at sea.”

“That’s all?” Fedorov seemed concerned. “We certainly can’t use a diesel boat. We’ll need something with nuclear propulsion.”

“We lost Omsk and Viluchinsk after that missile attack against the American 7th Fleet, though we made them pay for those kills. We think we may have a confirmed kill on Key West.”

“Key West?” Fedorov was very surprised. “But that was the submarine Karpov spared-the key trigger point for this war we’re facing.”

“Yes it was, but events have been shuffled like a bad poker hand, Mister Fedorov. Key West was snooping for signs of our missing ships and engaged by Gepard. That said, we have very little left, a couple Akula class boats and the diesel subs. Kazan is the only other missile attack boat remaining, and I pulled it off the line for replenishment two days ago. It’s in the Sea of Okhotsk with the Admiral Kuznetsov. That’s the last real fighting ship we have-that, three Uladoly class destroyers and a couple old NKVD frigates that should have been retired decades ago. I’m not even sure how they got them running again. I’ve reformed a battlegroup with those ships, but they will be little more than nice targets for the Americans if we sortie again.”

“ Kazan…That’s the new Yasen class boat,” said Fedorov. “That will do, Admiral. It has a KPM type pressurized water reactor and can make over 35 knots submerged. It’s just what we need, fast, quiet, and very deadly.”

“This young man knows more about my ships than I do, Kamenski.” The two older men smiled. “Very well, I will see what I can do about Kazan. Yes, I think this will work out well. We can put the control rods on three helicopters and fly them out to the Admiral Kuznetsov.”

“Three helicopters? Why so many?”

“So that we can be sure at least one of them gets there! The Japanese are on full alert now, though that damn volcano still has the skies over Hokkaido covered with ashfall. That said, we should not risk losing all three control rods in a single helicopter.”

“I agree,” said Kamenski. “Yes, this would be very wise.”

“Then after we reach the carrier we can transfer to a smaller boat for the rendezvous with Kazan. We must do this at night. The Americans have undoubtedly been looking for this submarine as well, and we must not allow them to find it. I would not be surprised if they already have a submarine in the Sea of Okhotsk by now. This war has not gone well for us. If not for the fact that the Chinese are making such a fuss over Taiwan, and drawing off the American carrier battlegroups, we would be out of business as a naval force in the Pacific by now.”

“Ironic,” said Fedorov. “That is the very thing Karpov thinks he is going to change in 1908.”

“Why is it we cannot simply know what has happened by now?” Volsky looked from Kamenski to Fedorov, his two resident guides where the confounding prospect of time travel was concerned.

“I understand what you mean,” said Kamenski, “but remember what I explained about that still point in time? We are all there, the four of us, but I think Karpov is there too, and with all the men aboard Kirov. He and that ship of his are not where they belong. Their very presence in 1908 is offensive to the flow of fate and time. Yes, they can act and work enormous changes in the past, as we have seen, but I think they exist and sail in the eye of the maelstrom. They are in the sea of time, yet in a protected spot, and things cannot resolve until this whole situation works itself out.”

“But everything Karpov does should be concluded by now. He should have been in his grave long ago.”

“It would seem that way from our perspective, but I do not think time works that way. She must consider every point of view. Time is not the nice straight line from point A to point B that you think it is. It is all twisted and folded about itself and, in fact, any two points on that squiggly line could meet and be joined. This is why I say we are all together now, in one place, a nexus point where the lines of fate meet and run through one another like a Gordian knot, and we sit here trying to figure out how to untangle it. Karpov is there with us, and we have set events in motion here that have a strong possibility of impacting what he does-deciding whether he does anything at all! Therefore I don’t think things have changed yet. The transformation has not yet occurred, though it might happen at any second. Can you not feel the tension in the air now?”

He looked around him as if he could see what he was describing. “It is not merely because of the looming war. I think time itself is waiting to pass judgment and read our sentence for the crimes we have committed against her. But until we resolve this business with Karpov, everything is still in play. All we can do now is work out our plan, and yet I believe our very intention to do so seems to hold time in abeyance. It must wait for us, and see what we might do.”

“I see…You mean the possibility that we might succeed in stopping Karpov exists now, and so time must wait for us?”

“You have it exactly, Admiral. Wouldn’t you agree, Mister Fedorov?”

“That theory coincides with work I have read on the subject by an American physicist, a mister Paul Dorland. He even uses that same terminology-nexus point. He would call this situation a deep nexus, and he believes it has a universal effect on all time meridians passing through this point.”

“Then my thinking has good company. In any case, I believe we need only concern ourselves with the outcome of our plan. Let us begin with the submarine. Kazan is a very good choice. Then we must decide what to do with it!”

Admiral Volsky looked at Fedorov now. “It is clear that we must try to get the submarine back to 1908. We can do nothing with it here to influence Karpov. Are you certain you can get us there, Chief Dobrynin? This situation is somewhat different, is it not?”

“Kirov used KN-3B reactors, and they are pressurized water reactors using enriched uranium-235 fuel. Rod-25 also worked successfully on the Anatoly Alexandrov, and it uses a KLT-40S reactor. Kazan uses the same basic type. Rod-25 is compatible, and the other two control rods as well.”

“Alright. Let us rely on Rod-25,” said Volsky. “If it fails us, then we can try the others. And you say you can hear the shift and control it now, Dobrynin?”

“I got us home safely, Admiral. I cannot promise you anything, but I will do my best.”

“That is all we have to go on for the moment,” said Kamenski. “Alright, gentlemen. Suppose we do get there safely. Then what?” He looked at Fedorov now, wanting to know what the young Captain had in mind.

“As I see things we have two choices,” said Fedorov. “The first is to contact Karpov and see if we can all persuade him to relent and rejoin us. This I would prefer, but the Captain may not want to cooperate.”

“In that instance, contacting him will give away the enormous advantage of surprise.”

“Correct,” said Fedorov, though his eyes seemed troubled now. “What you should know, Director, is that Captain Karpov has a kind of phobia where submarines are concerned. Approaching him in any wise with an undersea boat will be dangerous.”