Panic Switch полностью

Lieutenant Anthony Pacino nodded a solemn farewell at his father after begging off the old man’s offer of dinner. The elder Pacino would undoubtedly want to talk more about the accident and the inquest, but that was the last thing the younger man wanted. He walked slowly out to his old ‘69 Corvette, climbed in, tossed his officer’s cap onto the passenger seat and turned over the engine, the more modern LS-2 power plant he’d installed himself with the low profile supercharger. The engine throbbed with power, but Pacino’s mind was too far away to enjoy it.

The words of the inquest commander still rang in his mind.

We find Lieutenant Pacino blameless in the fire that broke out on the middle level of the USS Vermont’s forward compartment due to the extenuating circumstances arising from him and his crew being immersed in a completely realistic training drill scenario, so real, in fact, that none of the participants recognized the fire as being a separate event from the drill’s script, and as the fire progressed, with no rescue coming from the shipyard’s force, and with smoke blowing mind-altering chemicals into the control room, the drill participants all came to truly believe that the drill’s simulated reality was the actual reality, and they acted accordingly until such point as the shipyard rescue forces finally entered the hull. In fact, up to the point of his losing consciousness, this Board of Inquiry finds Lieutenant Pacino’s actions to be in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Submarine Force and the U.S. Navy. Accordingly, this Board of Inquiry is concluded with no punitive findings for Lieutenant Pacino or any member of ship’s force. Mr. Pacino, you’re free to go, with my best regards to you, sir, and please convey our very best wishes to Navigator Romanov and Senior Chief Nygard, with this board’s hopes that they both make a full recovery.

Of course, the question was, did the board’s findings arise from them being leaned on by Pacino’s father, or Vice Admiral Catardi, or even the president himself? And even if not, in his own mind, was he truly blameless for what had happened? When he had screened the conn open mike video, he’d searched for signs of incompetence or wrongful action, and although he still had no memory of anything that happened after the underhull of the cold water scoops, the actions taken by the figure of himself in the control room all seemed appropriate, although having unfortunate consequences for Rachel Romanov and Senior Chief Nygard. The answer to his father’s second question nagged at him, though—if it had been a real fire in that scenario, what would you have done? Surface the boat, admitting to the Russians you were illegally trespassing in their territorial waters and surrendering to capture, or scuttling the ship with the loss of all hands aboard? Including yourself?

He couldn’t answer the question without regaining his memory, but the fact that he’d demanded to know propulsion plant status from the reactor plant watchstanders made him think he had been getting ready to sail the boat down below crush depth. And that would make him a suicidal mass murderer, certainly one with exigent circumstances — to keep the top secret, front line attack submarine and crew out of Russian hands — but could he really have given orders that would kill the whole crew? And himself? To avoid capture by the Russians? Thinking about this was madness, he thought.