Binary code Mystery number two
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The officer accompanying him, who was reserved and frankly stated that he did not trust anyone from the USSR and its allies, answered questions in detail and provided access to departments of interest. While showing and telling, as a "true American military man," he constantly emphasized that U.S. weapons were superior to Russian weapons and the technology was the best in the world.
– I understand, but at the moment I'm interested in more scientific terms," Rutra tried to dissuade him. – I get money for this from your management. I assure you, Russia is not dormant, it has a lot of interesting things to offer.
The officer took this statement almost as a personal insult. He straightened up and replied with a haughty look:
– The U.S. military expects to maintain its technological advantage over Russia and China through developments in robotics and artificial intelligence systems. For example, your Armata tank is planned to become unmanned in the future.
Rutra did not want to enter into any more controversy because he knew where the "wind was blowing from," as the officer later confirmed.
– The First Deputy Defense Minister is in charge of promoting such projects in the Pentagon. He has repeatedly expressed concern about high-tech developments by Russia and China. In his opinion, the Russian army is "preparing to fight on a robotic battlefield." "We must improve our strategic decisions in an era of competition between major powers," he told us on a personal visit to the complex.
All this was proudly "reported" by a military man.
– We are ruling out the creation of "killer robots" for the time being. Autonomous weapons can be used only for defense purposes: for example, a missile battery can react to incoming missiles by itself. At the same time, we are focusing on creating systems that will allow the military to make faster and more accurate decisions. In particular, the Pentagon is planning to strengthen a supercomputer that could analyze gigabytes of data and record not only the movement of enemy forces, even a soldier or a ballistic missile, but also receive, process, modify and send back a remote control signal. We need that to reorient the missile's course. This is much simpler and more reliable than developing an echeloned missile defense system, with a lot of political scandals, with location on the territory of other countries and no guaranteed effectiveness.
– You know, I've always been surprised by the arrogant arrogance of your military and politicians, but now I am very grateful.
– Why?
– I will tell you this if you explain to me how you are going to decode the code of the missile's control cipher at a distance where you intend to place the receiving and transmitting device? Otherwise, with all due respect, I perceive your story as another praise of yourself, not personally, but in general, as the armed forces.
– I told you, we will upgrade the supercomputer and link it to the Livermore and Oak Ridge. They'll run simultaneously in parallel and serial mode. In any encryption code there is a limit to the sequence, if you make it extremely "heavy", then you yourself will not be able to operate the missile quickly. We are interested in the first few minutes, otherwise there is no point, because beyond that they will be out of your territory. Although, in principle, we are also considering the second phase of flight, in order to redirect them on a different course. The most important thing for us is that they do not fly towards the United States. It will not be a big deal if they explode in the air over deserted or sparsely populated areas of the globe.
– It's better to channel them into the ocean.
– No. In that case, the coasts of the U.S. and allies would be subject to a massive tsunami.
– Oh yes, how could I forget, you can fly over Africa, your ancestors wiped them out, 200 million of them. Of course, it's no big deal, and the Japanese are not used to it, it's not your fault, it's evil Russia that's so bad.
– I don't understand you – are you asserting or asking? We are proceeding from the concept of national security, and the ancestors were not ours, if I understand you correctly.
– Yeah, that's what I'm saying, strictly for national security purposes. So you want to catch the control signal at launch, decode it, send it back to the rocket with the altered course data?
– Yes. The receiving and transmitting device can be located anywhere, even in space. The main thing is reliable operational communication with the supercomputer.
– Is there something like this already?
– No, I said it's planned.
– Are you sure?
– Absolutely. The Livermore facility has just started developing this program, and the Pentagon has not yet been upgraded, the computers are not in circuit. And the transmitting facility itself is also being tested elsewhere.
– Where?
Next he said a word that Rutra's brain translated as "fairyland."
– Where is it? – He asked.
– Sorry, that's what we call it, it's the code name for Area-51.
– If that's the case, thank you very much, I have to get over there.
– We can provide you with a rest room.
– No, if I may, I'll eat in your dining room and shower wherever possible, and spend the night in Denver.
– All right, come with me.
An hour later Ruthra was in the capsule, and six hours later the capsule brought him to Denver. The speed made him dizzy and his body ached. Ruthra took a bath, had a light snack, and went to bed. He scanned Raven Rock completely, for the most part-it was a large hotel with headquarters. If there was an object of his search somewhere, it certainly wasn't there. With these thoughts, he fell asleep. He dreamed of the sea, with the town and villages in front of him, the kind of view he had grown accustomed to since childhood, wanting to admire again and again.
In the morning, he visited his escorts, who were enjoying themselves by combining a game of chess with exercise in the gym. To their distress, Ruthra had ordered the room and the entire compartment to be sealed off from the outside world and heavily guarded. They handed him a pass, which was a combination of two items – a paper-and-plastic one and a special display bracelet.
– This was passed on to you.
– What's that?
– Said the pass is for the next facility.
– Yeah? There was nothing on the previous ones.
– They explained this by the special status of the facility. At the bottom of the pass are marked the different sectors to which its holder can have access. In the lower left corner, it's marked S4. These three sectors are DS, ETL, WX.
Something interesting must be there. "Strange," Ruthra thought. – Hent said no passes were needed; the one who would be escorting has all the passes he can get.
– Don't worry, guys, one more object, and we'll splash in the water, maybe "splash" inside as well, loosen up our bones… or have them loosened by the local masseuses. I've known such specialists here in the old days, I think America is no worse now, just have the money.
– We have to have money too," said the younger colonel.
– All right, I'm on my way. Wait for me.
Two hours later he was at the famous Area-51. The capsule stopped at a station labeled S4. This was not Area-51, though it technically belonged to it. It was an even more classified location about fifteen miles south of Area-51; the place was called S4.
Area S4 is located near the dried-up Papoose Lake. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a landfill. No one had met Rutra. A voice came from the speakers. An automaton, a computer, was talking to Rutra. It invited him to the decontamination unit. "How familiar this is to me," thought Rutra. The procedure was the same – his clothes were taken away by the automaton and given a white colored jumpsuit with the S4-R breastplate. The computer asked him about his state of health and invited him to a special chair, in front of which a scoreboard displayed body condition readings – temperature, pressure, and some purely medical ones. At the end of the procedure, the robot gave the result. Everything was normal.