Fail Safe by Eugene Burdick, Harvey Wheeler Read Free Book Online

about to crash, but it is conceivable that it is an enemy plane taking evasive action."
    General Bogan turned and looked at the two visitors. Both of them had a look which he had come to recognize. It was a look compounded of excitement, horror, and malice. It was not a pleasant look to see, but General Bogan had learned long ago that even for experienced airmen there was a morbid fascination with plane crashes.
    "Four and one-half minutes to Fail-Safe," the voice
    said.
    On the Big Board the six Vindicator blips were
    drawing close to the Fail-Safe crosses. It was an elegant maneuver, possessing all of the grace of ballet dancers positioning themselves on a stage. Each group was precisely the same distance from its Fail-Safe point and each was now moving at maximum speed.
    "Four minutes to Fail-Safe."
    One of the desk-consoles started to chatter. A major tore off the tape and handed it to General Bogan. He did not even have to think about the words.
    "Go to Condition Green," General Bogan barked. "And project the light bombers, the Skyscraper support, and the jet tankers on the Big Board."
    "What the hell-" Raskob started to say, but stopped in mid-sentence as General Bogan raised his hand.
    The light over the Big Board went green. There was a sharp, piercing klaxon sound that cut through the room. Doors began to open and in thirty seconds every desk-console in the room was manned.
    "Three and a half minutes to Fail-Safe," the voice went on relentlessly.
    Strange shapes were blossoming all over the Big Board. Behind each of the Vindicator groups appeared a large single blip. These were air-borne tankers. Two fragmented blips appeared on the port and starboard quarter of the Vindicators and began to angle toward them. These were the support fighters which are always activated in a Fail-Safe maneuver but which had not been projected on the Big Board until that moment.
    Colonel Cascio quickly explained the situation to the two visitors, but without taking his eye from the board.
    "Three minutes to Fail-Safe."
    "Can you tell us why you went to Condition Green?" Knapp asked, in a whisper.
    "No, sir, I cannot tell you, for the reason which I gave earlier," General Bogan said without looking at them. His voice was flat and imperative. "Colonel Cascio, will you come with me to the 413-L desk?"
    He looked at Raskob and Knapp as he turned, felt an impulse to explain, and then felt a sudden pressure
    of anxiety.-
    When they reached the desk General Bogan handed the slip of paper to Colonel Cascio. It said, "Extended DEW Line Station No. 4.6 on UFO. Some atmospheric interference, but UFO is not air-breathing vehicle."
    "Two and a half minutes to Fail-Safe," the mechanical voice said. Now the voice was not as loud, for the dozens of machines in the room gave off a low collective hum which toned down its harsh clarity.
    "Not an air-breather?" Colonel Cascio asked. There was awe in his voice. Colonel Cascio turned to the officer at the desk and said, "Try to get DEW Line No. 4.6 and see if they have any dope on the conformation of the UFO."
    The officer repeated the order but even as he spoke his fingers were adjusting dials and levers. A line of three green lights went on.
    "Two minutes to Fail-Safe."
    "If it is riot an air-breather," General Bogan said slowly, "it might be a commercial plane which has lost power on all four engines. It would not give off enough air turbulence for even the DEW system's new turbulence detectors to be able to pick up."
    "One and a half minutes to Fail-Safe."
    "If it is a commercial plane that has lost power, we'll know the answer right away," Colonel Cascio said. "A pilot can stretch a flight with dead engines only just so far and then he'll have to crash. If the blip disappears we can assume that it is a commercial plane that crashed with all engines dead."
    General Bogan stared at Colonel Cascio for a moment. "Not necessarily," he said evenly. "Get those two visitors out of here."
    Colonel Cascio moved