red moscow

Chapter 2601

After the captain brought food and tea to Sokov and Yakov, he left the room and considerately closed the door for them.

"Your weapon design drawings are complete. What are your plans next?"

"I don't know." Sokov, who was eating, said vaguely: "Although the drawings are completed, it will take two or three days to manufacture the prototype gun, and then a series of tests will be done. I estimate that I will have to wait a few more days before I can leave here and go home."

"Misha, when you went to Comrade Ustinov's office, did he ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement and then tell you that he wanted you to join a design team and participate in a major research and development project?"

Sokov was stunned after hearing this, and then asked, "Why, did Comrade Ustinov also ask you to sign a confidentiality agreement?"

"Yes, he once asked me to sign a confidentiality agreement." Yakov answered without hesitation, "But I refused. What about you? Did you sign it?"

"No, I didn't sign it." Sokov said, and before Yakov could ask, he took the initiative to explain the reason for his refusal: "A major project that requires the signing of a confidentiality agreement means that in the coming days, we will live in isolation and unable to meet our loved ones. This time may be three or four years, or it may be thirty or forty years. I don't want my child to not even be able to see his father after he is born."

"Misha, you're right." Yakov nodded and said, "With your current position, there is really no need for you to participate in any major research and development projects. In fact, it's not bad to stay in the General Armament Department. When you have design inspiration, you can develop a few new light weapons; if you don't know what weapons to design for the time being, you can also continue to write books. In fact, I envy you. You know so much and your life is very fulfilling."

"After designing the machine gun this time, I don't think I will design any new weapons. After all, I have run out of ideas." Sokov said, "I think if I have time, I can still sit down and write some novels. Nothing can bring me higher honors."

"In fact, there are thousands of writers and weapons experts, but only a handful of them can become famous. However, the weapons you designed are enough to make you an excellent military expert." After saying this, Yakov picked up the teacup and took a sip of hot tea, then thought of something: "By the way, what do you mean by 'exhaustion of talent'? Why have I never heard of it before?"

"This is an oriental idiom." Sokov heard Yakov say this and realized that he had just inadvertently used a Chinese idiom. He quickly explained to Yakov, "A few hundred years ago, there was a scholar named Jiang. When he got older, he had no creative inspiration and his articles were no longer attractive. People said that he had run out of ideas."

"Oh, so that's what happened." Yakov nodded slightly, and then said, "By the way, Misha, have you heard about the Chelyabinsk Institute?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and asked curiously, "What happened to the Chelyabinsk Institute?"

"I heard it, but I just heard it. I can't guarantee its authenticity." Yakov said, "I heard it from a military expert in the office. He was drunk at the time and kept mumbling. I was sitting next to him and happened to hear some of it."

"What is it? Tell me quickly."

"When we were returning from the Far East and passing through the Tunguska region, didn't we discuss the so-called alien civilization? Do you remember this?"

"I remember, of course I remember." Sokov urged him, "Yasha, tell me quickly, what is the connection between the Chelyabinsk Research Institute and the Tunguska explosion?"

"In the late 20s, my country sent a scientific expedition team to the center of the explosion. The expedition team found a huge meteorite. Although it was only one meter high, it weighed an astonishing 30 tons, which was heavier than the same volume of gold."

Sokov was considered a top student in his later life, so he knew that although gold was a precious metal, there were still metals heavier than it. For example, the density of gold is 19.2g per cubic centimeter, tungsten is 19.3g per cubic centimeter, tantalum is 16.6 cubic centimeters, platinum is 21.5 cubic centimeters, iridium is 22 cubic centimeters, and osmium is 22 cubic centimeters. So when he heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt and ask, "Since it is heavier than gold, what metal is it?"

"After testing, it was found to be a metal that did not belong to the earth." Yakov continued: "In order to transport this piece of magical metal, a railway was built, and then the metal block was pulled to Chelyabinsk by train, and then sent to a hidden factory, and a research institute was established."

"So what is the use of this piece of metal? Have you figured it out?"

"What I'm going to say next is the most incredible. Although I'm very familiar with that military expert and know his character and that he's not a liar, I still think what he said is a fantasy. If you don't believe it after listening to it, don't refute me. Just treat it as a science fiction story."

"Go ahead, Yasha." At this moment, Sokov really wanted to know what this magical metal was used for: "I was just listening to the story."

"Originally, the stone was placed in a hall. The researchers tried every possible way but could not cut it. Until one day, when a technician was sitting on the ground next to the stone to rest, someone asked him to do something, so he casually put a drawing in his hand on the ground." Yakov said, "When he came back, he unexpectedly found something like an eye emerging from the stone, emitting a beam of light that was illuminating the drawing. Soon, a magical scene appeared. As the beam disappeared, an object marked on the drawing appeared on the open space next to it."

When Sokov heard this, he couldn't help but exclaimed in his heart: "Wow, this is too exaggerated. After a beam of light scans the drawing, the things on the drawing automatically become real objects. It's simply a fantasy." But thinking of the prior agreement with Yakov, he did not interrupt him, but let him continue.

"When the people at the institute discovered this, they were overjoyed and quickly brought more blueprints, hoping that the same miracle would happen again." At this point, Yakov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands and said, "In the end, the blueprints were brought, but the mysterious light did not appear again."

"In other words, after the mysterious eye scans the blueprint with light, it can turn the design data on the blueprint into a physical object?" Sokov looked at Yakov and asked, "Yasha, am I right?"

"Light scanning?!" Yakov said with some surprise: "Misha, you used this word quite accurately. The strange stone used a light beam to illuminate the blueprint, which is scanning, isn't it?" "And then, did the stone scan other blueprints and turn the things on the blueprints into real objects?"

"It is said that the eye on the stone will appear once every two years, and then the provided drawings will be scanned, but each scan does not take long." Yakov continued: "Some of the scanned drawings have become real objects, while others have not turned into anything."

After hearing this, Sokov began to ponder the strange behavior of this strange stone: "Yasha, you said that the reason why the drawings that the stone scanned did not turn into real objects is that the value of the items is not high, or there is an error in the design of the drawings?"

Yakov was stunned for a while by Sokov's statement, then he nodded slowly and said in an agreeing tone: "Misha, what you said makes a lot of sense. I also think that those drawings that have been scanned by light beams but have never been turned into physical objects are either of low value or the drawings are not designed correctly."

"Among the weapons currently in our army's service, which one is made directly from the strange stone?"

"Katyusha rocket launcher." Yakov answered without hesitation: "Don't you realize that since the Katyusha rocket launcher was finalized, it has never been improved. Also, the design drawings of the new rocket you invented were also scanned by that light beam. Otherwise, do you think that with our current military technology, we can design such an advanced rocket?"

Yakov's statement made Sokov half-believing and half-doubting, because he and Yakov had never been to Chelyabinsk.

Yakov obviously saw Sokov's confusion, and added: "Misha, the city we went to was indeed not Chelyabinsk. But as far as I know, the drawings you designed were copied several times and then sent to Chelyabinsk. I think the fact that it was produced so quickly should be the result of beam scanning."

"Yasha, I don't agree with you." Sokov took the opportunity to express his doubts after hearing what Yakov said: "Even if my design drawings have been scanned by the light beam, can it produce so many rockets? You know, the number of rockets consumed since they were put into the battlefield is an astronomical figure. I don't think that a beam of light can meet the needs on the battlefield."

"Misha, you are too impatient. I haven't finished what I am saying. It's not too late to express your opinion after you listen to me."

Sokov nodded and made a gesture of invitation to Yakov: "Yasha, please continue."

"I didn't finish what I said just now, so you misunderstood me." Yakov said, "The equipment that has been transformed from drawings will be quickly sent to other regions for disassembly and measurement, and then the corresponding parts will be produced and assembled based on the test data. The new rockets are disassembled and measured for various data, and then the parts are produced in different factories, and then assembled by a unified military factory."

"Oh, so that's how it is." At this point, Sokov finally understood why the Soviet army was still able to continuously produce more advanced weapons and equipment even after losing its main military industrial cities. The mysterious research institute that Yakov mentioned must have played an indispensable role in this.

"Just scanning the blueprints, we can get the real thing?!" Sokov kept muttering to himself, and suddenly a terrible thought flashed through his mind: "Oh my God, no wonder the intelligence department tried so hard to train a fake president, it turned out to be for this."

Yakov heard Sokov mumbling something and couldn't help asking, "Misha, what are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Sokov covered up and said, "I just think this is too incredible, unimaginable, absolutely unimaginable. Although you said that the military expert can't speak, I still think that he must be talking nonsense because he is drunk. There is no strange stone from outer space. There is no magical beam that can transform the data in the blueprint into a real object."

"Misha, I've already told you that I heard it from others. I can't guarantee the truth of the story. Just treat it as a story."

"Yes, yes, you are right." Sokov nodded vigorously and said cooperatively, "In fact, I just treated this matter as a story."

Yakov filled his stomach at Sokov's and drank a few cups of hot tea. Then he stood up and said, "Misha, I have to go back to work. You've been tired for so long, so you should take some time to rest. I'll come to see you another day."

After seeing Yakov off, Sokov called the captain in and asked him to clean up the things on the table.

After the captain packed up his things, he respectfully asked Sokov, "Comrade General, do you have any other instructions?"

"No more, you can go out first." Sokov waved his hand at the captain and said, "I want to rest."

Sokov returned to the room, lay on the bed and began to think about what Yakov had said: a strange stone from outer space, eyes appeared on the stone, and after scanning the blueprint with a beam of light, the things on the blueprint could be turned into real objects. No matter how he listened to it, it sounded like an April Fool's Day joke.

  But after repeated thinking, Sokov connected the issue of the fake president. If the fake president really replaced Truman, it would mean that he would have access to important American secrets. If he were to review the blueprints of a weapon as powerful as the atomic bomb, would the people below dare to refuse?

Even if the design drawings of the atomic bomb filled several rooms, as long as he could see a few key drawings, figure out the principle of the atomic bomb explosion, etc., and then hand over the information to the Soviet side, it would play a vital role in the Soviet side's development of the atomic bomb.

He vaguely remembered that the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb, RDS-1, was an implosion-type nuclear weapon like the American atomic bomb, with a solid plutonium core. It seemed that the Soviets had learned all the inside stories of the Manhattan Project through other channels. If the fake president's plan succeeded, they would get more specific inside information.

With this in mind, Sokov felt that it was natural for Ustinov to suddenly invite him to join the important R&D team. After all, he had accompanied the fake president on his way back to Moscow from Berlin. Even if the other party did not reveal any information to him, there would always be people who would suspect that he might have some inside information. So it would be natural for him to be placed in an isolated area in the name of joining the R&D team.

After realizing this, Sokov became anxious. If Ustinov invited him to join the R&D team again, would he agree or not? If he agreed, he would have to live a life isolated from the outside world for the next few years or even decades. If he didn't agree, would someone make him disappear?