Binary code: Mystery number one - стр. 47

– How's that?

– Here we go. At first, we did everything by the book. Every four hours, the codes change. The system resets the download and starts over. It's monitored by all the understudies and someone else! If any of the posts on schedule duty miss even a minute, an alarm goes off, and the codes are changed by one of the understudies, and the one who missed is classified. That is, nothing else is known about him. The most interesting thing is that in order to test the system, maintenance was once conducted under the new instructions. An emergency occurred during the maintenance. According to the instructions, the Cheget and Kazbek systems were switched off and they were de-energized. The commands came from the post of the object "Zero", that is, from us, or rather – from me, to whom all understudies are subordinated. Everything went smoothly, without fail, but after the moment of code change, which had not been changed, because the tests were in progress and the time of change was shifted, the system suddenly gave a command to the combat mode.

– Was it supposed to be different?

– You see, the autonomous control and command system was de-energized, we didn't enter a command, the system had nowhere to get an order.

– So what?

– Everyone's in shock. What do we do? Confirmation signals are coming in from all stations. The commander-in-chief is on the line: "What's the matter?" Submarines, missile sites are requesting confirmation or cancelation! My hair is standing on end! No one was really in such a situation. Although the launch training was going on in such a way that everyone was so sure of himself that he would have made a decision without hesitation. Everything was mixed up in my head. What if there was a malfunction, a mistake, a test, a drill? Time is running into seconds. I give the command to urgently shut down the phase and enter new codes. The thing is, the whole system was under routine maintenance. The decision was made at the top, that is, at the bottom. You know what I mean. There was no one to argue with.

– Why?

The general looked at Rutra surprised, not answering the question, he continued:

– Perimeter" requests "Cheget" and "Kazbek", but there is silence. We wait for a request directly to the post to confirm the presence of a person, i.e. to manually give the command "Stand down", and then it turns itself off. And the automatics records in the log that the command to disconnect was from a person. Who gave the command? At first we thought it was the understudies. We're waiting to see who will be sent to the "grave". A large gathering is announced. The question is raised: who made such a regulation? Specifically unknown. From official positions – the head of the Ministry of Defense, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and Commander-in-Chief – refer to the requirement of the developer of the system. All those who had anything to do with it, veiledly hint that it is necessary to deal with the specialists of NPO "Impulse", on whose recommendation the regulations were changed. That is with the specialists of the Zero Center, because in this situation our specialists acted under the legend of this enterprise. You should know that by the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation NPO "Impulse" was determined to be the leading organization for creation of automated control systems for the benefit of the Russian Armed Forces. Those responsible for Cheget and Kazbek report that the command came through an internal closed line. That it was coordinated and approved by the top leadership. It is not known who or what gave the command "Stand down". We had to close the case and deal with it quietly. That is, to take the blow on ourselves, declaring that there was no failure, the system worked according to its program. We appointed a guilty person for misinterpretation of the functionality of the stages of routine work, which was the reason for the fuss. Everything was settled, settled, but the questions remained. It is impossible to hide it completely. That's why "specialists" of NPO "Impulse" had to write a report about possible failures in the system due to interference from an unknown source. Admiral Hent says that after he conducts an internal investigation at the Zero facility, we will reconvene. The investigation isn't finished yet, though a reassembly is scheduled in a couple days. So time is short…