Binary code: Mystery number one

Chapter 7.

The Doomsday Problem

Rutra became increasingly aware that the true purpose of their organization was, to put it mildly, a little different. After the assertion of the U.S. State Department vetting, this became clear. "So who will be vetting him? In what role?" – Rutra asked himself.

Vasilievich noticed this and gestured him to the corridor. They silently went there, then went into the elevator and, having gone down, came out at a small dark station. It wasn't a station as such; there were no tracks, tunnels, or locomotive cars. It was a large room with dim lighting; there was a single sliding iron door on the opposite wall from the elevator. Beside this door was a small bench on which they sat down.

Vasilievich smoked occasionally, very high quality rare cigarettes. Now he took out a cigarette. Rutra did not smoke, but he could afford to smoke "very high quality, rare cigarettes," as he put it, "once every five years," so he did not refuse the chief's offer. After the second puff, Vasilievich began the conversation in the tone of a veteran who had lived a long life:

– Did you really think that all this fuss is just to control the powerful, the smart guys who want to invent something, and their customers who want to control society with it. Analyze charts on monitors, spy on transactions, accounts, uncover hidden channels of funding and control of citizens' activities. Yes, it's very important. But there is something without which all of this loses its meaning. This is an even more important problem. The fate of the world depends on whether we can solve it or not!

– Peace?

– Yeah, you heard right. It may not surprise you anymore, but it's true. It's a doomsday issue. The whole world could die. One of the most monstrous inventions of the Cold War could completely destroy life on Earth.

Ruthra was genuinely surprised that Vasilyevich had called him here to tell him such a story. He was astonished. He decided to resort to his favorite tactic of keeping silent and letting his interlocutor open his mind. So he did – he made a surprised face and at the same time an expression of interest. Vasilievich continued:

– The authors of this name were science fiction writers. The idea itself goes back centuries, when the losers of battles preferred surrender to collective suicide. Preferably together with their enemies.

As long as the number of warheads was in the hundreds and the means of their delivery were pre-flood, both the US and the USSR believed that it was possible to win a nuclear war. You just had to strike first in time. Or you could repel the enemy's strike by shooting down airplanes and missiles and strike back. But at the same time, the risk of being a victim of the first strike and losing with a bang was so great that the idea of a terrible retaliation was born.

– Wouldn't the missiles fired in response be such retaliation?

– No, it wouldn't. First, a surprise enemy strike would disable half of the nuclear arsenal. Second, it would partially repel a retaliatory strike.

The Soviet Union was the first to do so, testing a hydrogen bomb of monstrous power, over 50 megatons, known in the West as the "Kuzkin Mother". It was pointless as a weapon of war – too powerful, too heavy to be delivered by airplane to American territory. But it was perfect as the very powder cellar that would be blown up by the last surviving defenders of the Land of the Soviets. In fiction novels there are other options, for example, super-powered hydrogen bombs were located on special space platforms. They were supposed to automatically, a few months after the defeat of the United States, drop their cargo at the poles. The monstrous explosions would not only melt the ice caps, causing a new global flood, but would also shift the Earth's axis. Predictions of sci-fi writers, as we know, sometimes come true. And sometimes interesting ideas are borrowed from them. By the way, our F department is doing the same thing. Who could have believed 50 or 60 years ago that Russia would be at war with Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and that a black man would become president of America?

By the early 1980s, the size of nuclear arsenals had reached such a scale that their use, even with the deduction of those destroyed, would lead to global radioactive contamination of the planet. In the mid-1980s, the Soviet Perimeter nuclear strike control system emerged, which was something like Skynet from Cameron's famous movie. The main part of the defensive system was the command center. It is known to the public as Kosvinsky Kamen. Deep in the Ural Mountains hides a huge bunker with a special nuclear button. In fact, it is one of the clusters of the system, and it, like all other clusters of the system, can function autonomously. The button can be pressed by only one person, a certain officer, if he receives confirmation from the "Perimeter" system that the nuclear war has begun, Moscow has been destroyed, and the government bunkers have been destroyed. And then the question of retaliation would be entirely in his hands.

Vasilievich looked carefully at Rutra.

– You have to admit, it is not an easy task to be alone when your whole country has been destroyed and in one move send the rest of the world into tatters. I am deeply convinced that the concept of the doomsday machine has done a lot of good. The threat of mutual annihilation has cooled down the hotheads a bit. It's largely responsible for World War III never starting. For now.

Ruthra nodded. He wanted to ask what Yuri Vasilyevich wanted to tell him about what he had brought him here. What the subject was, he realized, but what the story was about, he couldn't decide yet. In any case, he decided not to ask any counter-questions, so as not to prolong the story.

Vasilievich took out more cigarettes, offered them to Rutra, and continued:

– What is it? – Ruthra dared to ask.

– It's a general concept of the problem of humanity," Zhidkov replied calmly, looking at the opposite wall. – It's not just a fantasy. A thermonuclear dirty bomb could fill the atmosphere with radioactive substances, destroying all life on the planet. Sometimes a doomsday machine is also referred to as a system that is supposed to launch an automatic nuclear salvo if a nuclear attack is detected, like the Perimeter system.

– I understand. But, uh.

– So listen up. A key feature of the doomsday machine is its publicity, designed to prevent a preemptive strike that would result in the automatic destruction of all warring parties. In the movie Dr. Strangelove, the Soviets fail to announce the machine's existence in time, thus destroying all of its positive effects. Have you seen it?

– Watched it," Rutra replied a bit stretched out. – There, American General Jack Ripper, obsessed with anti-communist paranoia, initiates a nuclear attack on the USSR, which is carried out by means of strategic bombers. It is only then that Soviet ambassador Alexei Sadetsky reports the existence of a doomsday machine. Despite the joint efforts of the U.S. and USSR, and thanks to the courage and determination of the bomber crew, one plane, whose radio communications have been damaged by the Soviet air defense system, drops a bomb on the Soviet military base in Kotlas.

Vasilievich nodded in understanding and added:

– The doomsday machine works. But the movie "The One" shows a different scenario.

Ruthra looked at his superior, smiled slightly, and began to quote:

– If we have ten million megatons for each other, what difference does it make where they come from? Everyone will die! Why spend billions on missiles and control computers? As soon as we detect the first Soviet missile fired at us, we'll blow up New York, Texas and Florida. You're doomed!

Vasilievich liked the fact that Rutra was entering into a dialog. He began to talk more animatedly:

– In Chapter 11, Richard discovers the "major American secret": it turns out that American missiles have no control systems, not even engines. Only the warheads on these missiles are real, and the rest is "cardboard and paint". Their simultaneous detonation will cause a doomsday machine effect, no matter whether they explode on their own territory or on someone else's.

In the movie War Games, the term "doomsday machine" is not directly used, but a fully automatic nuclear strike response system is described. An experiment conducted showed that many missileers were not prepared to launch missiles in response to a nuclear strike. Believing that they have selected "quite reliable people" and that "the problem is not in them, but in what we require of them," the U.S. Army leadership decides to replace the people on the launchers with automatic devices. The attack is to be ordered by the president. Did you watch it?

– No," Ruthra answered honestly.

He had already realized that the chief would cite all cases that described variants of the apocalypse, and pre-programmed ones at that.

– In the movie, high school hacker David Lightman, trying to infiltrate the network of a computer game company, makes successive phone calls looking for modems with the terminal input of Joshua, an artificial personality inserted into the Crystal Palace's mainframe. Coincidentally, "Joshua" is the call sign and slang designation of the North American Joint Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD. Thinking that he has safely penetrated the company's computers, David launches the program "World Thermonuclear War", which is actually a simulated training and debugging program that creates a complete illusion of a Soviet nuclear attack on the terminals in the Crystal Palace. The military decides to hold off on launching a retaliatory strike until there is direct confirmation of the attack, i.e. the destruction of the first military base, which of course does not happen. However, Joshua is seriously carried away by the process of the "game" and intends to go through it to the end, launching real American missiles at the USSR. He manages to stop him thanks to the fact that he is a joint program, able to extend his experience gained in one area of activity to other areas. David forces Joshua to play countless games of tic-tac-toe with himself, thus leading the computer to the conclusion that some games are fundamentally impossible to win. Generalizing his newfound experience, Joshua tries it on the game "World Thermonuclear War" and, analyzing countless variations of strikes and counterstrikes, becomes convinced that in this game both sides are always destroyed. With the words "Strange game! The only winning strategy is not to play at all," Joshua abandons his original intention.

Vasilievich stopped talking, and looked at Rutra. Rutra understood what all this story was about, but he still didn't understand what it had to do with the past videoconference. The chief was silent, so he decided to ask about the essence of the story.

– Do you believe there is a realistic possibility of such a program?

– It's called Perimeter. Let's go, you must thoroughly understand the subject and know it thoroughly. It's gonna be a big job.

One could guess from the expression on Vasilievich's face that he was pleased that Rutra had asked the question.

They got up and went to the elevator, took it up and went out into the courtyard of the research institute. A service car came to pick them up. The license plates bore the code 39 – the vehicle code of the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Its functions include control over the maintenance, development, and operation of Russia's nuclear arsenal. Everyone in the car was silent, as if that was the way it was supposed to be.

At last we arrived at Bolshaya Znamensky Lane, house No. 19.

Two junior officers met them, calmly, dryly, and led them through the gate without checking their documents. The officer on duty looked carefully at the monitor, the system beeped, then he nodded to the escorts, and everyone went through.

The guests were led into a small office where a thin man with the rank of lieutenant general sat behind a long desk.

– Fyodor Ivanovich Sukhov," he introduced himself.

– Yury V. Zhemchuzhny, Senior Inspector at the UN of the Main Department of Control and Oversight Activities of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation.

Ruthra was a little taken aback that he had to come here so soon and unexpectedly, and in a role he did not know. He had already heard about Vasilievich's methods of work and yet he did not know which name to use. His boss saved him. At that, he looked sternly at Rutra.

– My deputy," he said, pointing to Rutra.

– Paskhovsky Artur Lvovich," Rutra introduced himself.

In the car, he was handed fictitious documents. Due to the rush, he was a bit disoriented, but deciphered the situation.

They said hello and settled into their chairs.

– Now my assistant will tell you a little about our department," the general said, pointing to his assistant.

The young captain, electronic pointer in hand, stood at the wall with the telepanel and began to narrate, while at the same time moving the pointer across the panel, on which various images appeared that related to his story.

– A little general information," he began. – The tasks of the 12th Main Directorate are to study the destructive factors of nuclear explosions and to develop means and methods of atomic defense for troops and the population. Nuclear munitions were assembled in the following military units. We have prepared a printout for you.

"Claimed the news," thought Ruthra.

– The number of central nuclear weapons bases doubled in the ten years following their transfer to the Department of Defense.

– Excuse me, excuse me," Zhidkov interrupted him. – All these objects need to be checked?

– According to the topic you are interested in and the way the question is posed, in any regime point, especially those related to nuclear weapons, a hidden, disguised signal source can be installed. I mean, there is a technical possibility, the facility complies with the access regime," the general explained.

Vasilievich nodded. Rutra already understood what he was talking about. The problem Vasilievich was talking about was very serious, not to mention someone who didn't trust someone. After all, clearly the problem had not arisen "today", apparently the military had made every effort to resolve it. It was clear from what was going on that they had failed, since the President's administration, as Rutra already knew, was interested in it. The assistant continued after a moment's hesitation.

– The Strategic Missile Forces established their own storage bases for interaction with the missile divisions of intercontinental missiles. The Nuclear Explosion Control Service was established as part of the 6th Directorate. In 1988, the Nuclear Safety Inspectorate was established on the basis of the NBP Operation Department in the 12th Directorate of the Defense Ministry. In addition, the Special Control Service is subordinate to us.

On the screen appeared the emblem of the Special Control Service – a circle, inside of which was a checkered globe and a lion with the head of an eagle, which with one paw covered a mushroom from a nuclear explosion.

"That's it! We didn't come down to this Metro 2 for nothing," thought Ruthra.

The General realized that the assistant's story had bored the guests a little, so he offered tea.

– If it's all right, I'd like a coffee," Vasilievich asked.

– Uh, sure. I suggest we take a smoke break.

– Fine," Vasilievich agreed.

– I invite you to my office," the general offered, pointing with his hand to the door to the next room.

Everyone went there, brought coffee, Sukhov offered his own smokes, Zhidkov politely declined, took out his own, Rutra took the general's, Vasilievich understood the move.

– Tell me quickly and simply," the general turned to his subordinate.

– You can't make it any simpler than that, Comrade General," the captain replied. – They are interested in every little thing, even closed, abandoned bases, and not only on the territory of the former USSR.

– Then give me everything you've got," the general cut him off.

Coffee was brought, everyone started to feel less tense, the atmosphere became more friendly.

The assistant continued:

– The special control service includes 11 separate laboratories, 3 radio seismic laboratories, 4 automated stations, 3 automated stations, 5 autonomous seismic stations and 10 remote groups. In total, there are 18 laboratories in the Russian Federation.

– Oh my God, so many things! – Zhidkov couldn't stand it.

– I told you to keep it short," the general rebuked his subordinate.

– A little more basic, the rest on demand," the captain replied calmly.

Vasilievich and the General smoked a second one.

It did not turn out to be brief. It was a rather long and detailed report. To everyone's delight, it came to an end.

– That's pretty much it. I'll submit the whole printout," the general's subordinate finished.

There was silence in the office. Everyone was silent. Vasilievich looked at Rutra with a concerned look. The general spoke first:

– Do you intend to inspect everything? I can provide you with the records of our inspections.

– We saw them," Zhidkov replied.

– Oh yes, how could it be otherwise! – exclaimed the general. – You can count on my comprehensive assistance.

– Thank you," Vasilyevich replied, sighed heavily and added: "I dare not interrupt you any longer. We'll go.

– Why, at any moment, Yuri Vasilyevich," Sukhov replied kindly.

Vasilievich stood up, the general behind him. Rutra followed suit. The captain handed Rutra a secret package with a crossed-out red stripe, asked him to sign it, which Rutra did, and then they said goodbye. The car took them to the "institute".

– Do you understand the program? – Vasilievich asked briefly.

– Understood," Ruthra replied just as briefly.

– Here's your assignment, research the topic, we'll discuss it tomorrow.

– The point is, we're looking for an unregistered transmitter? I take it the signal is illusory? The location of its output is constantly changing? And does it signal irregularly? – Ruthra asked.

– Good, right on target. The only thing I would add is that it interferes with the Perimeter system's data collection stations on a frequency appropriate to its purpose. It is suspected that it was camouflaged a long time ago, and it turns on on a timer or automatically. Could be cloaked anywhere. The most likely place is where something similar has been. I will also say that a conspiracy or collusion is not excluded, that is, I do not trust them either, – said Vasilievich, pointing his finger in the direction from which they came. – That's all for now.

– I understand," Ruthra replied, shook hands with his superior and went to his office.

Zhidkov left in the service car. Ruthra spent the rest of the day studying the Perimeter system and everything connected with it. His intuition told him to look where something like it had been. For some reason, its exploitation had been abandoned, though the urgency of the subject had not waned.

During the Cold War, the U.S. had its own "backup" codenamed "Mirror". Crews were constantly in the air for three decades with the mission to control the skies if control of the ground was lost due to a surprise attack. The main difference between the Mirror and the Perimeter system, which they called "dead hand", was that the Americans relied on humans to warn them of an attack.

After the Cold War, the U.S. abandoned the system, although it is still not clear who exactly controls the Soviet version. Rutra was never able to figure out who made the initial decision, as there were three other posts besides the official ones. One of them was within the structure of Center Zero, but the other two were designated by the secret code "Polygon" and the facility "Kremlin-2". No indication of the disposition of these posts he did not find. Vasilievich also strangely evaded answering, citing that he could not talk about it, even on a closed line, and added: "This is an empty designation. These posts do not exist. The secret of these posts is only this. To have spies looking for something that doesn't exist."