The Hands that Threaten Doom.
---------
A radio station in Berlin spun up a record for the 80's Power Hour.
Nena 99 Red Balloons.
------
Aboard the Cruiser Lun, 50 Miles north of Rockall.
"Number 6 Booster burnout. Bus seperation. Entry Vehicles deployed. All Green. "
Scott Cambell stared at the control panel, doing his best to drown out the cheer's of the ship's crew as he focused on the data starting to stream through into the ship's computers. Ten years of research, coming to a head in the next thirty seconds. Dozens of independent sensor vehicles, launched by rocket high into the Aurora Borealis, each one giving a real time map of the aurora's structure. Particals. Magnetic flux density. Windspeeds.... all of it flooding back to his control panel.
He sat there, giddy thrills running through his spine as the gigabytes streamed in.
----
Beneth Yamantau mountain, one lowly Russian Lieutenant glared at his panel, skin slowly turning white.
One would be an error. Two, probably. Now Three. Four, Five......
Six.
He reached for the red phone as the Dead Hand came to life.
One ring. Two ring. Three rings.... he lit the cigarette between his lips, body shaking. This couldn't be real, could it? Somebody in Moscow must've received notification of a civil launch.... Minutes could make the difference.
Someone picked up.
"This is..." He barked.
Someone hung up. Damn you.
He watched six tracks arc across the sky, mouth turning dry as they began to split. He picked up the phone again.
-----
In Moscow, a Briefcase was opened for the first time in 20 years. Keys were shared. Cards disseminated. Men boarded a secret train at a secret station, to be sped to a secret location.
----
In Virginia, a tech in a white shirt sprung back from a computer console.
"Hey, something weird's happening in Russia," she said.
"What?" asked her colleague.
"Their whole strategic rocket force just went on alert"
"WHAT?"
-----
In Washington, A press conference was interrupted. Men in suits hurried President through the back curtain. Briefings whispered in ears.
"I haven't scheduled any drills," said the President.
-----
In an Office In Moscow, a lowly bureaucrat had his game of War Thunder interrupted by the Fourth Phonecall in as many minutes....
Finally, he answered it.
And pissed himself.
Behind him, the doors burst open
-----
In Beijing, two generals shared a glance.
"Alert our strategic forces"
-----
Under a Mountain in Colorado.
"Confirm. Tracking six ballistic missiles. Origin, North Sea. Estimated impact points, multiple in Russia. Confidence is High"
"Who fired?"
"Maybe one of the Limey boats went rogue?"
------
"It's not us." said the President. "We haven't fired"
-----
"Of course they wouldn't tell us if it was them."
The Russian President stared at the screen, nodding in agreement.
At his call, the Power to end the world.
----
In Chicago, some Atomic Scientists discussed how many minutes they would move the Doomsday clock back. The debate had already lasted most of the day.
-----
In an office in Moscow, a computer crashed.
3 men and two women agonised while it ground through a reboot.
"Idiot," one of them cursed.
-----
Deep beneath the North Atlantic, 55 miles North of Rockall, a submarine captain was roused by his Lieutenant.
"Well. They want to know why we've fired our missiles, sir."
"Oh. Bollox."
-----
At airbases across the United States, aircrews raced to their bombers
-----
At Airbases across Russia, aircrews raced to their bombers.
-----
At Airbases across China, aircrews raced to their bombers.
-----
At airbases across the UK, fighters roared into the air.
-----
Throughout Germany, pagers woke thousands of reservists in the middle of the night. Fighters shrieked through the evening sky.
The radio station in Berlin chose a new song.
Frankie goes to Hollywood. Two Tribes.
-----
"We have an acoustic signal captain, approximately 5 miles to the South. It's that fencraft..."
"Well what the bloody hell were they doing firing at Russia?"
-----
On Stellvia Station, Takami Sakuragi raced through the corridors to the President's office...
Noah Scott looked up from his dinner,
"The whole world just went berserk," she panted. "Someone launched missiles at Russia!"
----
"Um... guys. The whole world just went berserk."
"What?"
"Like, massive spikes in radio output. Russia, America, UK.... All military. It's like someone lit a fire under them."
"Pizdets...."
"Don't tell me you forgot to file the notifications?"
"Of COURSE NOT!"
------
In a Moscow Office.
Five bureacrats cheered.
Notification of Intended Civil Launch. Flightplan.
Notification of Intended Civil Launch. Flightplan.
Notification of Intended Civil Launch. Flightplan.
Date. Today.
Time. Five Minutes ago.
Print. Fax.
They had seconds before the button was pushed.
----
At Greenbriars, a few guests wondered at the unusual activity.
Why so many people going down the basement?
Helicopters thumped through the sky above.
-----
In Colorado, armoured doors swung shut for the first time in anger. Cold War circuits went hot for the first time in decades.
------
In Langley, an analyst threw up, finding what the Russians had missed.
Desperately, he raced for a telephone.
Oh God for it to be an Accident.
------
On Ultima Station, Security Chief Ikari and station Commander Akisato received a coded message through Halcyon.
It arrived at every Halcyon node moments later.
"No..." said Shinji.
------
In London, Radio One finished out the hour with The Clash, London Calling.
Someone in Downing Street still listening inspite of the hustle laughed at the Brutal irony.
------
On a B52, circling over Nevada.
"Wing attack Plan B. What the hell? It's gotta be a test."
------
On a train deep beneath Moscow, the President of Russia stared at his briefcase, weighing the probabilities against the realities. Generals orbited, whispering advice. The future
Decision made. He sighed.
"Alright.... Dmitry. Your authenticator card. "
Ultimately. The end of the world.
"Mister President! From the Office of the FKA!"
-----
"On my order. Russian Strategic Forces are standing down."
Aboard Marine one, the President nearly fainted. His whole body shook.
"Propose a phased standdown. And find out who in the hell caused this!"
------
Cheers raced through an office in Langley.
One analyst fainted.
------
Deep beneath Mount Yamantau, a Lieutenant gave his thanks to God, before asking to be relieved from duty.
His mistake had almost destroyed the world.
-------
In an Office in Moscow, a bureaucrat lost his job. His game of War Thunder still continued, the other international players not noticing his absence.
His love of WWII Arcade games had almost destoyed civilisation.
-------
Two presidents spent the night soothing national nerves as the PR machines spun up to hide the crisis.
How could something like this happen in this day and age?
-------
The radio station in Germany selected a new track.
The Scorpions. Winds of Change.
-------
In the United States, Russia and China, Bombers turned for landing.
-------
Aboard Stellvia, Noah Scott slumped down into his chair.
"Thank Ghu..."
-------
Aboard the Cruiser Lun, two people giggled nervously.
"Did we nearly destroy the world?"
"Whatever dick lost our paperwork nearly destroyed the world."
"Will anyone see it that way?"
"Fuck."
"You notify thirty countries and all it takes is one moron...."
---------
Meanwhile, the rest of the world turned on, unaware of how close it had come to accidental armageddon.
Again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A good old-fashioned Cold War scare, because one man spent more time on WT, than doing his job. The idea amused me.....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
---------
A radio station in Berlin spun up a record for the 80's Power Hour.
Nena 99 Red Balloons.
------
Aboard the Cruiser Lun, 50 Miles north of Rockall.
"Number 6 Booster burnout. Bus seperation. Entry Vehicles deployed. All Green. "
Scott Cambell stared at the control panel, doing his best to drown out the cheer's of the ship's crew as he focused on the data starting to stream through into the ship's computers. Ten years of research, coming to a head in the next thirty seconds. Dozens of independent sensor vehicles, launched by rocket high into the Aurora Borealis, each one giving a real time map of the aurora's structure. Particals. Magnetic flux density. Windspeeds.... all of it flooding back to his control panel.
He sat there, giddy thrills running through his spine as the gigabytes streamed in.
----
Beneth Yamantau mountain, one lowly Russian Lieutenant glared at his panel, skin slowly turning white.
One would be an error. Two, probably. Now Three. Four, Five......
Six.
He reached for the red phone as the Dead Hand came to life.
One ring. Two ring. Three rings.... he lit the cigarette between his lips, body shaking. This couldn't be real, could it? Somebody in Moscow must've received notification of a civil launch.... Minutes could make the difference.
Someone picked up.
"This is..." He barked.
Someone hung up. Damn you.
He watched six tracks arc across the sky, mouth turning dry as they began to split. He picked up the phone again.
-----
In Moscow, a Briefcase was opened for the first time in 20 years. Keys were shared. Cards disseminated. Men boarded a secret train at a secret station, to be sped to a secret location.
----
In Virginia, a tech in a white shirt sprung back from a computer console.
"Hey, something weird's happening in Russia," she said.
"What?" asked her colleague.
"Their whole strategic rocket force just went on alert"
"WHAT?"
-----
In Washington, A press conference was interrupted. Men in suits hurried President through the back curtain. Briefings whispered in ears.
"I haven't scheduled any drills," said the President.
-----
In an Office In Moscow, a lowly bureaucrat had his game of War Thunder interrupted by the Fourth Phonecall in as many minutes....
Finally, he answered it.
And pissed himself.
Behind him, the doors burst open
-----
In Beijing, two generals shared a glance.
"Alert our strategic forces"
-----
Under a Mountain in Colorado.
"Confirm. Tracking six ballistic missiles. Origin, North Sea. Estimated impact points, multiple in Russia. Confidence is High"
"Who fired?"
"Maybe one of the Limey boats went rogue?"
------
"It's not us." said the President. "We haven't fired"
-----
"Of course they wouldn't tell us if it was them."
The Russian President stared at the screen, nodding in agreement.
At his call, the Power to end the world.
----
In Chicago, some Atomic Scientists discussed how many minutes they would move the Doomsday clock back. The debate had already lasted most of the day.
-----
In an office in Moscow, a computer crashed.
3 men and two women agonised while it ground through a reboot.
"Idiot," one of them cursed.
-----
Deep beneath the North Atlantic, 55 miles North of Rockall, a submarine captain was roused by his Lieutenant.
"Well. They want to know why we've fired our missiles, sir."
"Oh. Bollox."
-----
At airbases across the United States, aircrews raced to their bombers
-----
At Airbases across Russia, aircrews raced to their bombers.
-----
At Airbases across China, aircrews raced to their bombers.
-----
At airbases across the UK, fighters roared into the air.
-----
Throughout Germany, pagers woke thousands of reservists in the middle of the night. Fighters shrieked through the evening sky.
The radio station in Berlin chose a new song.
Frankie goes to Hollywood. Two Tribes.
-----
"We have an acoustic signal captain, approximately 5 miles to the South. It's that fencraft..."
"Well what the bloody hell were they doing firing at Russia?"
-----
On Stellvia Station, Takami Sakuragi raced through the corridors to the President's office...
Noah Scott looked up from his dinner,
"The whole world just went berserk," she panted. "Someone launched missiles at Russia!"
----
"Um... guys. The whole world just went berserk."
"What?"
"Like, massive spikes in radio output. Russia, America, UK.... All military. It's like someone lit a fire under them."
"Pizdets...."
"Don't tell me you forgot to file the notifications?"
"Of COURSE NOT!"
------
In a Moscow Office.
Five bureacrats cheered.
Notification of Intended Civil Launch. Flightplan.
Notification of Intended Civil Launch. Flightplan.
Notification of Intended Civil Launch. Flightplan.
Date. Today.
Time. Five Minutes ago.
Print. Fax.
They had seconds before the button was pushed.
----
At Greenbriars, a few guests wondered at the unusual activity.
Why so many people going down the basement?
Helicopters thumped through the sky above.
-----
In Colorado, armoured doors swung shut for the first time in anger. Cold War circuits went hot for the first time in decades.
------
In Langley, an analyst threw up, finding what the Russians had missed.
Desperately, he raced for a telephone.
Oh God for it to be an Accident.
------
On Ultima Station, Security Chief Ikari and station Commander Akisato received a coded message through Halcyon.
It arrived at every Halcyon node moments later.
"No..." said Shinji.
------
In London, Radio One finished out the hour with The Clash, London Calling.
Someone in Downing Street still listening inspite of the hustle laughed at the Brutal irony.
------
On a B52, circling over Nevada.
"Wing attack Plan B. What the hell? It's gotta be a test."
------
On a train deep beneath Moscow, the President of Russia stared at his briefcase, weighing the probabilities against the realities. Generals orbited, whispering advice. The future
Decision made. He sighed.
"Alright.... Dmitry. Your authenticator card. "
Ultimately. The end of the world.
"Mister President! From the Office of the FKA!"
-----
"On my order. Russian Strategic Forces are standing down."
Aboard Marine one, the President nearly fainted. His whole body shook.
"Propose a phased standdown. And find out who in the hell caused this!"
------
Cheers raced through an office in Langley.
One analyst fainted.
------
Deep beneath Mount Yamantau, a Lieutenant gave his thanks to God, before asking to be relieved from duty.
His mistake had almost destroyed the world.
-------
In an Office in Moscow, a bureaucrat lost his job. His game of War Thunder still continued, the other international players not noticing his absence.
His love of WWII Arcade games had almost destoyed civilisation.
-------
Two presidents spent the night soothing national nerves as the PR machines spun up to hide the crisis.
How could something like this happen in this day and age?
-------
The radio station in Germany selected a new track.
The Scorpions. Winds of Change.
-------
In the United States, Russia and China, Bombers turned for landing.
-------
Aboard Stellvia, Noah Scott slumped down into his chair.
"Thank Ghu..."
-------
Aboard the Cruiser Lun, two people giggled nervously.
"Did we nearly destroy the world?"
"Whatever dick lost our paperwork nearly destroyed the world."
"Will anyone see it that way?"
"Fuck."
"You notify thirty countries and all it takes is one moron...."
---------
Meanwhile, the rest of the world turned on, unaware of how close it had come to accidental armageddon.
Again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
A good old-fashioned Cold War scare, because one man spent more time on WT, than doing his job. The idea amused me.....
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?