Skyprobe (18 page)

Shaw said, “Yes, I get the picture. And you yourself, Doctor? I suppose you intend to go over to Peking once you’ve got the capsule into China?”

“Yes, that is so,” Kalitzkin answered. “I and all my staff here at this base. Indeed I have lived in China and have worked for the People’s Republic ever since four years ago . . . when I had certain ideological differences with my superiors in the Kremlin and escaped across the frontier— a little ahead of the KGB.”

“I see,” Shaw said. “Now, I’d be glad to know just how you think you’re going to get the capsule down anyway?”

“We do not
think
,” the scientist said. “We know we cannot possibly fail.” His eyes were glowing, alive and burning in the pale, ascetic face. There was no coldness there now; this man kept his coldness for his human contacts. “Our method is one hundred percent proof against failure. You have yourself been a victim of my interference system—you and your friends, when you were brought down in the helicopter. You have seen the metal plate, and its surround of jet blowers?”

“Jet blowers?” Shaw stared. “That circle of metal-lined holes . . . they were blowers?”

Kalitzkin nodded. “I will explain. When the plate was switched on, which was not until your machine was within its attraction area, a beam was projected upwards and homed on to the helicopter automatically. I have named it the Masurov Beam, after the professor who first interested me in such studies. It is an attractor beam ... a beam, my dear Commander, that inhibits and cuts out the entire control system, and also any radio equipment, of whatever comes within its field. Shortly after this is done, the beam automatically re-sets the controls in such a way that the object of its attention as it were
steers
towards it and brings itself down upon it—down upon the jet blowers. In effect, the beam acts so that it homes the objective on to this island and my ring of jets. That is what happened to you. Your landing was softened by the jets, which put a cushion of air between the helicopter and the ground. You could have been held there indefinitely. The jar came when the system was switched off. So, you see, you yourself have been the guinea-pig—though by no means the first, I must add. We have undertaken many such tests with our own machines. Precisely the same thing, in basis, will happen to the capsule when the moment comes, only then of course the strength of the beam’s signal, and of the jet blowers, will be very greatly increased. Today, they were switched on at their lowest degree.” He was staring unblinkingly at Shaw. “You must allow me to assure you, quite positively, that we cannot fail. I have myself been working on this project in laboratories placed at my disposal in the Ordos Plateau, in China. I began the drawing stage, secretly of course, even in Russia . . . many years ago now. It has taken much time to perfect. Again I say—we cannot fail.” He paused. “The procedure will be this: at the time of the ditching of the capsule, the plate will be raised on its column from the silo and trained as nearly as possible on the point where the capsule will re-enter the earth’s atmosphere. The plate is wholly directional—that is to say, it will not affect anything outside the track of its beam. Our radar will tell us the instant and the exact position of reentry, and from that moment of re-entry the plate will take over and home itself automatically on to the capsule, and the beam—which, by the way, positively cannot be jammed by radio interference—will be switched on. Now, I must remind you of the special nature of Skyprobe IV, in that she is of the new type that does not shed her stem section before re-entry—she re-enters the atmosphere as a whole entity, a complete spacecraft, thus she will still have her full control system in being, including the rendezvous radar, auxiliary electronics systems, radio and fuel cells. For our purposes she will be entirely manoeuvrable and controllable, and we shall in effect fly her to this island. Almost immediately upon re-entry—my attractor beam, you understand, will not operate
outside
the atmosphere— the capsule will begin to respond. She will change her course, and instead of continuing normal splashdown procedure, will move this way. She will be guided throughout by the attractor beam, and nobody inside the capsule can counteract its effect. Skyprobe will go through all the correct motions—that is to say, the drogue parachute and so on will operate quite conventionally—-and she will be brought onto my jet blowers and landed as easily as if she had made an orthodox splashdown in the sea. After this, the capsule and its occupants will be removed to the mainland of China, and thence to Peking, and Peking will then arrange matters as between themselves and Moscow. And,” Kalitzkin added, “do not be misled by any reports you may have heard about another spacecraft being made ready for launching at Cape Kennedy. It is true that without the help of your Danvers-Marshall we might not have a successful interception of this second capsule if ever the Americans get it up at all, which is very highly unlikely in the time—but, you see, by this time Danvers-Marshall will be in complete control inside Skyprobe IV. If Skyprobe V is launched successfully, and docks, then Danvers-Marshall will certainly ensure that no transfers are made!”

There was a silence in the room, a silence broken only by the loud ticking of a clock on the wall opposite Kalitzkin’s desk. Shaw asked, “Do you still think you can get away with this . . . now the story’s broken in the Press all over the world?”

Kalitzkin said equably, “Yes, I believe this. I have no doubts at all. Originally, I confess, we had hoped and expected that the disappearance of the capsule would be ascribed by the West to some inexplicable fault. Neither Moscow nor Peking would ever have released the true story, naturally! But we are fully prepared to proceed just as planned, even though, as you say, there is much conjecture in the newspapers.” Kalitzkin stared over Shaw’s head for a moment then went on abruptly, “I have said that we have made certain arrangements with Danvers-Marshall, who as you will have gathered is in fact to assist in the diversion itself—indeed he has already been of assistance to us in our project. It was he who inhibited the mechanism for firing the retro-rockets—”

Shaw broke in, “I’d suspected something of the sort— but why? My information was that you would be able to interfere with the capsule whenever and wherever it was ordered to ditch. Isn’t that correct?”

Kalitzkin smiled. “Let us take the
whenever
first, shall we, Commander? This is perfectly correct—now! Perhaps your information failed to include the fact that we were not entirely ready until yesterday. Danvers-Marshall had prior orders that in the event of any leak leading to an attempt at an earlier splashdown, he was to make sure the capsule did not in fact ditch until the last possible moment—in order, you see, to give us the maximum time in which to be ready. We did not know the date of blast-off until very near the time, and we had to work fast to be prepared for the splashdown date—and also we had certain unexpected, but now corrected, technical difficulties. Even in the East we are not free from such things, Commander.”

So—Thixey hadn’t been in possession of all the facts after all . . . Shaw asked. “What does Danvers-Marshall have to do when the capsule does finally ditch?”

“That question,” Kalitzkin said smoothly, glancing up at the clock, “leads us to the
wherever
. I would not place too much reliance on my Masurov Beam at the very extreme range offered by the scheduled Caribbean splashdown, thus Danvers-Marshall has orders to see that the retro-rockets are fired so as to bring Skyprobe IV down over the Pacific instead.” He shrugged. “It is perfectly true, of course, to say that we can intercept the capsule wherever it is
ordered
to ditch, for the presence of Danvers-Marshall will ensure that it ditches in fact precisely where we want it—apart, of course, from a location which would be possible only on some different orbit. In fact the nearest possible point is over the Phoenix Islands in the Pacific, but this is quite acceptable. All this apart, Danvers-Marshall is our man on the spot to take charge of the two American astronauts, and also he has to inhibit certain other controls aboard the spacecraft during the final stages just before re-entry—that is, before the Masurov Beam can take effect.” He broke off. Briskly now, he said, “Commander, we have talked for long enough, I think, and I have much work to do. We must come now to the final point—this is, the way in which you will be required to help us. It is this. You will be in the control room during the diversion . . . and you yourself will speak to Washington and the NASA base at Cape Kennedy on our broadcast equipment—”

“I'll do
what?
”

Kalitzkin repeated what he had said. Shaw stared, wondering if he could have misunderstood. “You don’t find that a trifle risky from your point of view, Doctor?” he asked sardonically.

“No, no—not at all! Please let me go on. You will speak also to London, to your own chief, who will lose no time in confirming to Washington that the voice is yours. In the time that is now left—and that, as you know, is short—you will be well rehearsed in what you must say, but to summarize this briefly, you will tell your Western authorities that all is well, that you have managed to locate the source of the threat. You will tell the West to withdraw the fleets and the aircraft at once from all the areas of search or there will be war. You will urge your people to leave everything to you . . . you will say you have been a little too late to stop the actual diversion and to interrupt the process now might be to drop the capsule on to the land—but you have taken control of the base and the capsule will come down quite safely in the North Pacific if it is not interfered with . . . and you will stress most urgently that it is vital and imperative that Russian sovereignty is not
in any way whatsoever
breached by Western aircraft or warships. You are the man on the spot, Commander—they will have no alternative but to do as you say. I am sure you must agree with this. They may suspect coercion, but you are going to be very convincing, and they win have no proof—and they will not take the risk.” He paused. “Now, as you will have gathered, I shall want this broadcast to be made
after
the diversion has started—not before. No doubt you appreciate why, Commander?”

Harshly Shaw said, “I think so. Once the retro-rockets fire early and Skyprobe is known to be coming down over the Pacific, the Americans will already be aware that something had started . . . and once you go into your diversion procedure after that, the radar is going to report that the capsule is in fact on a diversion course anyway, so—”

“Exactly, yes. So if the broadcast came
before
the diversion started, they would at once discount what you had said when they saw the capsule
starting to move away after re-entry
. You, if you had spoken the truth about having got control of the base, would have been able to stop the diversion at that stage. Now—the ships that are searching for us not so far outside the Sea of Okhotsk are going to pick up the capsule on their radar as it approaches in the Masurov Beam—but once you have explained that a move into the North Pacific is to be expected, they will not be too alarmed. They will not break orders—the searching forces will have been called off as you will have asked, in case some indiscretion resulting from their presence should touch off the shooting war. They will wait for more information and after this it will be too late. And—”

“Why do you want this, Kalitzkin? The truth is going to come out soon after, isn’t it? And suppose I hadn’t been brought in by Rencke—what would you have done then?”

Kalitzkin shrugged. “The point is, Commander, you are here—and the situation has altered a little in the last few days, the more so because, I have to confess, our monitoring service tells us that the searching forces are sweeping closer to the Kuriles. I am confident they cannot find our base from the sea or the air either, for we are entirely underground as you have seen, apart from the wire perimeter fence which will mean nothing to anybody even if seen from a reconnaissance aircraft. But originally, remember, we did not expect any search—not until Spalinski talked. In all these circumstances, I would feel much safer if I were to gain a little more time after the landing of the capsule, so as to make quite sure of getting it safely to the Chinese. This would be in jeopardy if the search were allowed to come too close. Your vocal interpolation at the right moment, Commander, will secure for me this extra time.” He was looking successful already. “Having you, my dear Commander, to speak for us—this will be the final thing needed to ensure the complete accomplishment of—”

“You’ll be lucky!” Shaw snapped.

“Yes, I believe we will,” Kalitzkin said evenly, the triumph in his eyes magnified by the spectacles into a leer of megalomania, “because there will be certain inducements to you to give your help unstintingly. You may be wondering what use we have for the girl. Bear in mind that she is of no particular value to us . . . except insofar as your help is concerned. I am sure you follow?”

Shaw glanced quickly at Ingrid. She could hardly have failed to guess Kalitzkin’s meaning. Again the Russian gave his cold, mirthless laugh. “I see you need no elaboration,” he remarked casually, “but if you should, then I suggest you consult Comrade Rencke, for he will be in charge of what I might best call the persuasion proceedings.”

Kalitzkin pressed a button set in a panel on his desk and at once two armed men—Chinese dressed in thin denims and caps with ear-flaps—came into the compartment. Kalitzkin glanced across at Rencke. “For now,” he said, “I have finished with them, Comrade Rencke. Later I shall need your assistance.”

“You shall have it,” Rencke promised.

Kalitzkin motioned to the guards, who, together with the two men who had been present throughout, closed in around Shaw and Ingrid. Kalitzkin said, “There is just one thing more, Commander. Tomorrow there will be a final test, when we shall switch on the Masurov Beam briefly. I think you will be impressed with the result. In the meantime you will both be kept locked up, and later tonight, and again tomorrow after the test, you will be rehearsed in what you will have to say during the diversion itself. May I recommend very strongly that you do exactly as you are told?” Once again he signed to the guards, who nudged with their automatics and Shaw and Ingrid were taken from the room, back into the gallery that ran around the main silo.