Sky Masters полностью

He pulled out his water bottle from his left leg pocket. “You see this? Emergency water supply in case I lose my survival kit after ejection — this could be the only fresh water for a thousand miles if I have to punch out over the Philippine Sea.” He ripped off* his unit patches and name tag from their Velcro strips on his flight suit. “Patches Velcroed on and removed before we take off in case we get shot down and captured — so the enemy won’t know what unit we’re from. Some chaplain will come around and collect them before we go out to our planes. They’ll check if we made out a will, check to see if they know who our next of kin are.

“Take a look at that data you’re generating sometime, Masters. Those ships your satellites are locating represent hundreds of sailors whose job it is to find and destroy me. There are thousands of sailors out there waiting for us—”

“But we know where they are… we know who they are…”

“We know where they are because men risked their lives to get that data,” McLanahan said. “A man died getting us those pictures…”

“Well, once the NIRTSat comes back on-line, that won’t happen again…”

“It doesn’t matter, my friend. Combat isn’t a series of pre-programmed parameters on a computer monitor — it’s men and women who are scared, and brave, and angry, and who feel hopeless. It’s not a clear-cut engagement. Anything can happen. You gotta realize that the people around you don’t think in absolutes, because they Icnow that anything can happen…

“Maybe in wars past that was true,” Masters offered. “When the enemy was a mystery, when you couldn’t see over the horizon or through the fog or under the ocean, maybe it wasn’t so clear-cut. But things are different now. Hell, you know more than anyone else how different it is — you fly the most advanced warplane in the friggin’ universe! We know exactly where the bad guys are. Once the NIRTSats are working again, I can steer your weapons, I can warn you of danger, I can tell you exactly how many weapons you need to win, and I can tell you how long it will take you to achieve any objective…”

“Then tell me this, Doctor Masters,” McLanahan said, affixing his steel-blue eyes on the scientist and letting his glare bore into him: “Tell me who’s going to die out there.”

Masters opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it suddenly, thought a moment, then replied, “I estimate your losses at less than five percent for the duration of this conflict…”

“No, I didn’t ask you how many. I asked who. ”

“Well, how the fuck am I supposed to know who? If you follow the plan and put your weapons on target, no one should die…”

“You said should die, Doctor. That means that even if everything turns out perfectly, someone may still die. Right?”

Masters shrugged. “Well, it’s very unlikely, but — anything can happen.”

“You’re damned right it can. Now tell me how to deal with that. Tell me how a highly trained professional pilot or navigator can climb into a bomber or fighter and fly into the teeth of the enemy and know that even if everything goes perfectly, he may still end up at the bottom of the sea, and I’ll let you act like a cocky little punk peacock all you want in my command post. Until then you will give this campaign and the people who fight it — all the people who fight it, the combatants on both sides — the proper respect.”

Masters was finally silent. McLanahan backed away from Masters, allowing him to get up, but Masters stayed where he was.

“So what you’re saying is — you’re scared,” Masters said after a few long moments. He looked at McLanahan, and when the officer didn’t reply for several seconds, Masters’ eyes opened wide in surprise. “You’re scared? You? But you’re the—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Patrick said. “I’m supposed to be the best. But it’s bullshit. I know my shit, and I’m lucky. That doesn’t make me invincible, and it doesn’t give you or anyone the right to think this is going to be easy — for any of us. Nothing is cut and dried. Nothing is certain. We know our equipment, know our procedures, but when you go into combat we learn not to trust it. We trust ourselves. We look to ourselves to find the strength to get through the mission.” Masters rose and stood before McLanahan, afraid to look into the Air Force officer’s face but respectful enough to want to be able to do it. “I never realized that, Patrick. Really. I always thought, ‘Well, the gear’s in place, everything’s running, so everything’s going to be okay.’ I guess… well, I don’t work with people that much. I’m really so used to dealing with computers and machines…” McLanahan shrugged. “Hell, listen to me. A few years ago I never gave a shit much about people either. I wasn’t exactly what you’d call a team player. I did my job and went home. I hate to say it, but we were a lot alike back then.” Masters smiled at that. “Oh yeah? Dirty Harry was laid-back and mellow? You drank beer and chased girls and got stupid?”