Book-12 Gravity cyclone novella - стр. 13

– Yes, – the general dropped. But in the practice of the military, and even in his department, there are no guilty ones, just as there are no reasons that give rise to these guilty ones themselves. Bushy eyebrows parted, eyes regained their usual melancholy, diffuse smoked prune color, and the general pressed a button. A moment later, the door opened to admit the chubby captain. The staff secretary, as in the old pre- revolutionary times, the adjutant of His Excellency, was helpful and transformed, trying his best to resemble his master, both in appearance and in habits.

– Colonel Smirnov's case?! – the general barked as he entered. The captain, not at a loss, in a coolly obliging tone in his voice, gently remarked: – It is on your table, comrade general, – Fedorov fussed. The captain, with lightning speed, with some catlike movement, ran up to the general's table, throwing on the go:

– Allow me? – and took out what was needed from the pile of cases.

– Thank you, captain. You are free.

– There is! May I go out!

– I said go.

The secretary went out noiselessly. The general leafed through the gray folder with the "SECRET" stamp on the cover for a long time, step by step studying the colonel's record. Secret reports of informants ran before my eyes. Characteristics of the commanders of the units where the colonel served and not a single case of violation of discipline. The general snorted in displeasure. Even in his personal file there is a report from the deputy for the political part of the squadron, in which officer Fedorov began his service, that he allegedly, having got drunk with his colleagues, sent him, i.e. Major so- and- so, what the Major's name was, he no longer remembered. And along with it, the entire leadership of the army in three letters of the expression, famous from Slavic Russia. How beautiful, then, the major inflated – this is the case. He had no doubts of success, that, finally, the generals themselves would envy his vigilance. But the naive major did not take into account that this pimply lieutenant, stupid in appearance, the illegitimate son of the Commander of the Air Force of the Central Asian Military District, General of the Army Comrade Chervinsky, a hero of the Soviet Union, a participant in the Great Patriotic War. Recalling this fact, General Fyodorov smiled maliciously, then again, dissatisfied and angrily, began flipping through the colonel's file. The report of the major, the future colonel, Smirnov, that he had a personal meeting with a creature of extraterrestrial origin, caught my eye. In the report to the command, Major Smirnov described the incident in detail. The general looked up in hope, staring unblinkingly into the space of the room. However, the hope of bringing the colonel to administrative responsibility for negligent service, with the addition of a tendency to periodically visited hallucinations, was not justified. Since the change in policy regarding the secret study of UFOs did not allow the colonel to be recognized as a nutcase. Oh, how would it be now. What prospects for the service would look ahead. In Moscow, at the headquarters of the Armed Forces. Business trips. Hunt on government grounds. Young soldiers in the bathhouse with massages and other non- traditional services. Dreams intoxicated the imagination, and Fedorov, with the ferocity of a gambler, began to delve into the colonel's personal file, looking for possible clues to unreliability. A sharp phone call brought the general out of the "mines" to the mountain. – Yes! he almost growled into the phone. I'm busy! – He briefly threw and slammed the pipe, hammering into place. The phone chirped plaintively. The call was repeated immediately.