As the upshot of that flash of insight on that research scientist’s part, the brains in the Army think tanks suddenly realized the obvious possibilities for further temporal-military applications of those same principles. Even while the warp grenades were being perfected, the Temporal Army research scientists at Heinlein University on Dyson were already constructing the prototype temporal transponders to replace the chronoplates. Utilizing the same Einstein-Rosen Generators that provided power for utilities, they made some inspired modifications (the plans for which were immediately classified Top Secret) to enable the power drawn through time and space to provide the energy for travel through time and space via temporal transponders designed on the micro-molecular or particle level. Each soldier of the First Division, chosen as the first to be issued what the commandos quickly nicknamed “warp discs,” now wore a temporal transponder on his wrist. If necessary, the warp disc could be taken off its bracelet and worn on a neck chain, camouflaged as some other piece of jewelry or hidden somewhere on one’s person. Now, instead of a bulky chronoplate and flexible, bimetallic border circuits, all it took to transport a man of approximately six feet and two hundred pounds through time was a wafer-thin transponder disc no larger than an ancient twenty-five-cent piece. The transponders were made correspondingly larger according to their purpose, hence their classification designations. Lucas wore a P-1 disc. An entire battalion of soldiers could be teleported via a field provided by a T-25, a disc no more than eight inches in diameter. The actual power dilator, or ERG, could be anywhere-at Pendleton Base or even in ancient Mesopotamia. Theoretically, since the power supply was limitless to all intents and purposes, the entire planet could be teleported elsewhere with a large enough temporal transponder, though that was a possibility no one seriously entertained. Soldiers joked about it, but the laughter always had a slightly strained note to it. On that scope, it was just a bit too weird to even think about.
Every soldier of the First Division had been issued an “Eyes Only” Top Secret manual to scan, or rather, they had been given access to the data under top security conditions. Lucas had studied his while actually under armed guard. It did not escape his notice, or anyone else’s for that matter, that the research scientist in Ordnance who had started the whole thing was never named. All attempts at discovering his or her identity were summarily discouraged in no uncertain terms. Finn had made a comment that the poor bastard was probably hiding under a rock somewhere, terrified out of his wits. The comment had been flippant, but it brought to mind immediately the fate of Albrecht Mensinger, who committed suicide when he realized the full implications of his work in refining the chronoplate.
Now, those same implications were forcibly driven home to each and every soldier in that room. The theft of five thousand temporal transponders was unsettling in the extreme. Lucas realized his mouth had gone completely dry and no one had paid any attention whatsoever to his shout of “As you were!” They were all talking at once, shouting and creating a din that drowned him out. How in hell had the theft been accomplished? Amalgamated Techtronics was a Top Security plant — the Top Security plant. Whoever accomplished the daring theft would still need an ERG, properly modified, for the transponders to be keyed to. But if they were able to hijack a shipment from Amalgamated Techtronics, right from under the very noses of crack troops, how difficult would it be for them to obtain the necessary plans to adapt an industrial ERG for temporal translocation? The very fact the warp discs had been stolen suggested that whoever had them also had the means or the means to get the means of using them. The transponders that were stolen varied in classification from P-1 to V-20. V-20! Lucas shuddered. Just one of those was big enough, at a diameter of about twelve inches, to transport something the size of, no, bigger than the Washington Monument!
“They must have stolen them for ransom,” Finn said, standing beside Lucas. “They couldn’t possibly use them.” He licked his lips and glanced at Lucas. “Could they?” Forrester waited patiently for them all to become quiet. It was hardly the sort of news he could expect them to take calmly. When the noise died down at last, he continued. “I don’t need to tell you people the potential for danger this situation represents,” he said gravely. “If any word of it should happen to leak out, the media is going to play it up for all it’s worth and we’ll have a disaster on our hands. And that’s not even counting the disaster we’re already faced with in terms of the potential for temporal contamination. The entire Observer Corps has been placed on the alert for temporal anomalies and the TIA has been working around the clock, correlating all the data from field stations reporting in.” He paused significantly.
“I realize it’s going to be difficult, people, but I’ll expect you to restrain yourselves when I report their conclusions. No computer data this time. Word of mouth only. We’ve got some very frightened people on this and the levels of paranoia have reached new heights. So listen carefully and I’ll open up the floor to questions when I’m through. I want no further outbursts. I trust I’ve made myself quite clear.”
Forrester waited a moment while they watched him with tense anticipation. He took a deep breath.
“On November 12, 1993, the Soviet Union reported the disappearance of their new Typhoon-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine, Vostochnaya Slava, off Jan Mayan Island in the Arctic Ocean-”
Lucas felt Finn Delaney’s hand grasping his forearm in a viselike grip. He glanced at Finn, seated beside him, and saw that all the color had suddenly drained from his face. They exchanged quick glances and Lucas saw the fear in Finn Delaney’s eyes. He tried to swallow and found himself unable to. His throat felt constricted. The realization struck them both at the same time.
Whoever had stolen the warp discs had used them to hijack a Soviet nuclear submarine, a mobile, submerged and therefore practically undetectable strategic missile base. And with a V-20 warp disc, the Russian sub could be equipped for time travel and teleportation.
1
“Apparently,” said Forrester, “no one knows exactly when the Soviet sub disappeared. Its disappearance was officially reported on November 12, but the Kremlin was aware of it as early as two weeks prior to that date. The head of the Observer Corps outpost in that time period and location is Lieutenant Colonel Powers, whose cover is that of an agent for United States Central Intelligence functioning as a mole within the KGB headquarters in Moscow. From him, we have the following:
“Jan Mayan Island is a small spit of rock of about 145 square miles located in the Arctic Ocean between the northern part of Norway and Greenland. The island is owned by Norway and its remote location, as well as the savage climate, in which temperatures fall between 40 and 50 degrees below zero with a windchill factor of over 100 below, make it an ideal place for submarines keeping an eye on the passage from beneath the Arctic icecap. There is no sloping continental shelf, just vertical cliffs rising up out of the sea and dropping off rapidly to great depths, making it ideal for a large submarine to lie close in, completely undetected. A perfect location for a hidden missile base. There was nothing on Jan Mayan at the time except for a small meteorological station. The last coded radio transmission from the Vostochnaya Slava was a routine message on October 28, and then the submarine disappeared without a trace. The United States denied any involvement in the disappearance of the sub. This information was backed up by CIA reports to which Powers, of course, had access.