[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
one rut or another, they would unconsciously push harder and harder to thrust
the world into war again, thinking somewhere inside themselves that if they
could only return to world war then they would magically be again as they were
in the last one young, and free, and happy. And by that time they would hold
the positions of power, they would be capable of doing it.
So there would be more wars, January saw. He heard it in Matthews laughter,
saw it in their excited eyes. There s Iwo, and it s five thirty-one. Pay up!
I win! And in future wars they d have more bombs like the gimmick, hundreds
of them no doubt. He saw more planes, more young crews like this one, flying
to Moscow no doubt or to wherever, fireballs in every capital, why not? And to
what end? To what end? So that the old men could hope to become magically
young again. Nothing more sane than that.
They were over Iwo Jima. Three more hours to Japan. Voices from
The Great Artiste and
Number 91
crackled on the radio. Rendezvous accomplished, the three planes flew
northwest, toward Shikoku, the first Japanese island in their path. January
went aft to use the toilet. You okay, Frank?
Matthews asked. Sure. Terrible coffee, though. Ain t it always. January
tugged at his baseball cap and hurried away. Kochenski and the other gunners
Page 18
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
were playing poker. When he was done he returned forward. Matthews sat on the
stool before his maps, readying his equipment for the constant monitoring of
drift that would now be required. Haddock and Benton were also busy at their
stations. January maneuvered between the pilots down into the nose. Good
shooting,
Matthews called after him.
Forward it seemed quieter. January got settled, put his headphones on and
leaned forward to look out the ribbed Plexiglas.
Dawn had turned the whole vault of the sky pink. Slowly the radiant shade
shifted through lavender to blue, pulse by pulse a different color. The ocean
below was a glittering blue plane, marbled by a pattern of puffy pink cloud.
The sky above was a vast dome, darker above than on the horizon.
January had always thought that dawn was the time when you could see most
clearly how big the earth was, and how high above it they flew. It seemed they
flew at the very upper edge of the atmosphere, and January saw how thin it
was, how it was just a skin of air really, so that even if you flew up to its
top the earth still extended away infinitely in every direction. The coffee
had warmed
January, he was sweating. Sunlight blinked off the Plexiglas. His watch said
six. Plane and hemisphere of blue were split down the middle by the bombsight.
His earphones crackled and he listened in to the reports from the lead planes
flying over the target cities. Kokura, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, all of them had
six-tenths cloud cover. Maybe they would have to cancel the whole mission
because of weather. We ll look at Hiroshima first, Fitch said. January
peered down at the fields of miniature clouds with renewed interest. His
parachute slipped under him. Readjusting it he imagined putting it on,
sneaking back to the central escape hatch under the navigator s cabin, opening
the hatch . . . he could be out of the plane and gone before anyone noticed.
Leave it up to them. They could bomb or not but it wouldn t be January s
doing. He could float down onto the world like a puff of dandelion, feel cool
air rush around him, watch the silk canopy dome hang over him like a miniature
sky, a private world.
An eyeless black face. January shuddered; it was as though the nightmare could
return any time. If he jumped nothing would change, the bomb would still
fall would he feel any better, floating on his Inland Sea? Sure, one part of
him shouted; maybe, another conceded; the rest of him saw that face. . . .
Earphones crackled. Shepard said, Lieutenant Stone has now armed the bomb,
and I can tell you all what we are carrying. Aboard with us is the world s
first atomic bomb.
Not exactly, January thought. Whistles squeaked in his earphones. The first
one went off in New
Mexico. Splitting atoms: January had heard the term before. Tremendous energy
in every atom, Einstein had said. Break one, and he had seen the result on
film. Shepard was talking about radiation, which brought back more to January.
Energy released in the form of X rays. Killed by X
rays! It would be against the Geneva Convention if they had thought of it.
Fitch cut in. When the bomb is dropped Lieutenant Benton will record our
reaction to what we see. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl aikidobyd.xlx.pl
one rut or another, they would unconsciously push harder and harder to thrust
the world into war again, thinking somewhere inside themselves that if they
could only return to world war then they would magically be again as they were
in the last one young, and free, and happy. And by that time they would hold
the positions of power, they would be capable of doing it.
So there would be more wars, January saw. He heard it in Matthews laughter,
saw it in their excited eyes. There s Iwo, and it s five thirty-one. Pay up!
I win! And in future wars they d have more bombs like the gimmick, hundreds
of them no doubt. He saw more planes, more young crews like this one, flying
to Moscow no doubt or to wherever, fireballs in every capital, why not? And to
what end? To what end? So that the old men could hope to become magically
young again. Nothing more sane than that.
They were over Iwo Jima. Three more hours to Japan. Voices from
The Great Artiste and
Number 91
crackled on the radio. Rendezvous accomplished, the three planes flew
northwest, toward Shikoku, the first Japanese island in their path. January
went aft to use the toilet. You okay, Frank?
Matthews asked. Sure. Terrible coffee, though. Ain t it always. January
tugged at his baseball cap and hurried away. Kochenski and the other gunners
Page 18
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
were playing poker. When he was done he returned forward. Matthews sat on the
stool before his maps, readying his equipment for the constant monitoring of
drift that would now be required. Haddock and Benton were also busy at their
stations. January maneuvered between the pilots down into the nose. Good
shooting,
Matthews called after him.
Forward it seemed quieter. January got settled, put his headphones on and
leaned forward to look out the ribbed Plexiglas.
Dawn had turned the whole vault of the sky pink. Slowly the radiant shade
shifted through lavender to blue, pulse by pulse a different color. The ocean
below was a glittering blue plane, marbled by a pattern of puffy pink cloud.
The sky above was a vast dome, darker above than on the horizon.
January had always thought that dawn was the time when you could see most
clearly how big the earth was, and how high above it they flew. It seemed they
flew at the very upper edge of the atmosphere, and January saw how thin it
was, how it was just a skin of air really, so that even if you flew up to its
top the earth still extended away infinitely in every direction. The coffee
had warmed
January, he was sweating. Sunlight blinked off the Plexiglas. His watch said
six. Plane and hemisphere of blue were split down the middle by the bombsight.
His earphones crackled and he listened in to the reports from the lead planes
flying over the target cities. Kokura, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, all of them had
six-tenths cloud cover. Maybe they would have to cancel the whole mission
because of weather. We ll look at Hiroshima first, Fitch said. January
peered down at the fields of miniature clouds with renewed interest. His
parachute slipped under him. Readjusting it he imagined putting it on,
sneaking back to the central escape hatch under the navigator s cabin, opening
the hatch . . . he could be out of the plane and gone before anyone noticed.
Leave it up to them. They could bomb or not but it wouldn t be January s
doing. He could float down onto the world like a puff of dandelion, feel cool
air rush around him, watch the silk canopy dome hang over him like a miniature
sky, a private world.
An eyeless black face. January shuddered; it was as though the nightmare could
return any time. If he jumped nothing would change, the bomb would still
fall would he feel any better, floating on his Inland Sea? Sure, one part of
him shouted; maybe, another conceded; the rest of him saw that face. . . .
Earphones crackled. Shepard said, Lieutenant Stone has now armed the bomb,
and I can tell you all what we are carrying. Aboard with us is the world s
first atomic bomb.
Not exactly, January thought. Whistles squeaked in his earphones. The first
one went off in New
Mexico. Splitting atoms: January had heard the term before. Tremendous energy
in every atom, Einstein had said. Break one, and he had seen the result on
film. Shepard was talking about radiation, which brought back more to January.
Energy released in the form of X rays. Killed by X
rays! It would be against the Geneva Convention if they had thought of it.
Fitch cut in. When the bomb is dropped Lieutenant Benton will record our
reaction to what we see. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]