Ледовый апокалипсис

На отдалечен остров в арктическата част на Канада изследователи откриват останките на мистериозен самолет от епохата на студената война. Откритието принуждава руското правителство да направи шокиращо признание. Намереният самолет е съветски стратегически бомбардировач, който изчезва заедно с екипажа преди повече от петдесет години с два тона антракс на борда.

Твърдо решен да предотврати политическа и дипломатическа буря, американският президент изпраща при мястото на катастрофата екип на Първи секретен отдел, воден от подполковник Джон Смит. Но други са стигнали първи до мразовития остров, в това число и опасен контрабандист на оръжие със своите безмилостни наемници.

В капана на полярната пустош Смит и неговият екип трябва да водят жестока война на два фронта — срещу враг, когото виждат, и срещу друг враг, който се крие в собствените им редици.

The challenge and lure of space exploration has long been fertile ground for some of the finest science fiction stories. Here, fifteen of the best chroniclers of the day after tomorrow present unique tales of space stations both in our own solar system and far beyond.

A volume of visions of future wars, fought with weapons out of nightmare, by today’s top writers of military science fiction, as well as some writers who are not usually associated with military SF, such as best-selling writer Gregory Benford, and award-winning author Kristine Katherine Rusch. Also present are Michael Z. Williamson, author of the strong selling novels “Freehold” and “The Weapon”, award-winning author of “Bolo Strike”, William H. Keith, and more.

Through the centuries, weapons have changed radically, but the soldier has remained much the same. But in the future, soldiers, too, may undergo radical changes. As editor Joe Haldeman puts it, “Weapons are an extension of the soldier, and also an extension of the culture or species that produced the soldier. And they are sometimes more dangerous to the soldier than the enemy…”

On a desolate island deep within the Canadian Arctic, a scientific expedition photograph the wreckage of a bomber on a mountain glacier. To the world at large, the half-century old aeroplane is merely a relic of the early Cold War. Only a handful of insiders know that it still represents a major threat to civilization, as the aircraft is a Soviet Air Force biological warfare platform, still armed with two tons of active weaponized anthrax. Lieutenant Colonel Jon Smith of Covert-One – the personal action arm of the President of the United States – is assigned to lead CIA agent Randi Russell and the lovely, but lethal, weapons expert, Professor Valentina Metrace to secure the site. But on the island Smith and his team find themselves confronted with a traitor from within their ranks. Cut off from all outside aid, the operatives must struggle against both betrayal and the brutal polar environment. Gradually they become aware that something else exists within the hulk of the ancient bomber: a secret potentially more devastating than even the plane's warload, and one that could bring about both a cataclysmic revision of global history and serve as the trigger for a Third World War.