Binary code: Mystery number one - стр. 37

By the early 1980s, the size of nuclear arsenals had reached such a scale that their use, even with the deduction of those destroyed, would lead to global radioactive contamination of the planet. In the mid-1980s, the Soviet Perimeter nuclear strike control system emerged, which was something like Skynet from Cameron's famous movie. The main part of the defensive system was the command center. It is known to the public as Kosvinsky Kamen. Deep in the Ural Mountains hides a huge bunker with a special nuclear button. In fact, it is one of the clusters of the system, and it, like all other clusters of the system, can function autonomously. The button can be pressed by only one person, a certain officer, if he receives confirmation from the "Perimeter" system that the nuclear war has begun, Moscow has been destroyed, and the government bunkers have been destroyed. And then the question of retaliation would be entirely in his hands.

Vasilievich looked carefully at Rutra.

– You have to admit, it is not an easy task to be alone when your whole country has been destroyed and in one move send the rest of the world into tatters. I am deeply convinced that the concept of the doomsday machine has done a lot of good. The threat of mutual annihilation has cooled down the hotheads a bit. It's largely responsible for World War III never starting. For now.

Ruthra nodded. He wanted to ask what Yuri Vasilyevich wanted to tell him about what he had brought him here. What the subject was, he realized, but what the story was about, he couldn't decide yet. In any case, he decided not to ask any counter-questions, so as not to prolong the story.

Vasilievich took out more cigarettes, offered them to Rutra, and continued:

– What is it? – Ruthra dared to ask.

– It's a general concept of the problem of humanity," Zhidkov replied calmly, looking at the opposite wall. – It's not just a fantasy. A thermonuclear dirty bomb could fill the atmosphere with radioactive substances, destroying all life on the planet. Sometimes a doomsday machine is also referred to as a system that is supposed to launch an automatic nuclear salvo if a nuclear attack is detected, like the Perimeter system.

– I understand. But, uh.

– So listen up. A key feature of the doomsday machine is its publicity, designed to prevent a preemptive strike that would result in the automatic destruction of all warring parties. In the movie Dr. Strangelove, the Soviets fail to announce the machine's existence in time, thus destroying all of its positive effects. Have you seen it?