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"Well, that's far from the academic career I had envisioned for you. You should have become an educator. You could have made a contribution to the development of our people and their potential. You would have ennobled society, enriched its culture, increased its potential. But now, all that seems irrelevant. It seems you've made your choice. Still, I must urge you to be careful, comrade Mikheyev, you're treading a dangerous ground by having chosen a mindless profession."
The Professor shook Boris' hand before he rushed on and disappeared into the crowd.
Boris was shaking. A mindless profession? How dare he!
Still, the Professor was one of the few men in his life that he instinctively looked up to. "You should have seen the 'prof' in the classroom," he said to Alexei. "That man was like a commander in battle. There was no fooling during his lectures. You'd let your attention slip one second, and you'd miss a vital point. And believe me, he would get you for it. He seemed to sense if someone wasn't right with him."
The two walked on silently. "You have no idea," he said later to Alexei, "how I wish I had followed his advice."
"Let's go across the street," Alexei suggested once they were outside the terminal building.
Facing the terminal was a newly created park that featured a large reflecting pool, which also doubled as heat sink for the terminal's air conditioning system. At the far side of the reflecting pool, a row of flags welcomed the arriving travelers on their way to the busses and the train station. The bright colors were mirrored in the surface of the water. Each republic that had remained in the Union was represented. There had been more flags before.
"We're alone now. We can talk freely here. Also, I won't be talking about computer games," said Alexei in a serious tone once they reached the pool. "I was in Moscow as you know." He said this as if it explained his caution.
He paused for a moment, looking back and across the pool as if to assure himself that no one was near.
"The first day in Moscow was uncomfortable," he continued. "I was asked a lot of tricky questions. I was never certain what exactly we were allowed to know at the base, and how much of it I was allowed to reveal, even to them. They wanted to know every detail of everything that has happened. I hope I didn't incriminate anyone. They wanted to know what our reactions would be in a real situation. They asked specifically if anyone was reluctant to do his job during the launch or immediately afterwards. They even wanted to know to what extent the guys talked about it afterwards, among themselves..."
"Speak softly, Alexei, there's someone by the flags," Boris interrupted him.
"You're right," Alexei said, looking towards the flags and back down the path they had come. He spoke on, quietly. "When I presented our plan, I told them what you had said about the likelihood of an accidental war, with all those missiles being fully targeted in their silos. You should have seen the big boss! He became white in the face. I didn't know at first what to make of it."
The two men stopped. Boris looked thoughtfully across the pool, observing the reflection of the flags while Alexei continued. "I explained that the situation would be a great deal safer if our missiles were pre-targeted to fall into the ocean, which would then be electronically re-targeted if an intended launch had been confirmed. A hot missile wouldn't harm anyone then without this post launch in-flight targetting."
"Well? Did they like the idea, Alexei?"
"Not at first. They made a lot of excuses, like it being impractical, and the cost being prohibitive. Ah, but I was ready for that. I told them that no new exotic hardware would be needed. One would simply use the existing equipment in a different way."
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