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Page 111
Chapter Thirteen
The Northwest Territories/61.07 N 89.90 W/November 27
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The clock on the masthead of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which once showed a time of three minutes to midnight, has been moved back for the second time in this half-decade. The hands now stand at twenty minutes to midnight, indicating how far the threat of nuclear war has receded. For which our grateful thanks to an enlightened administration in Moscow.
CCND NEWSLETTER
Cold, deep night lies over the Northwest Territories and Hudson Bay. The air temperature stands at minus 14 degrees Celsius. White-capped waves clash in a steep chop with the offshore currents. Winds of almost hurricane force lash the surface of the bay and flatten the frozen marsh grasses along the shore. Elk and caribou shelter as best they can in the frozen taiga. Many are dying. Seals and otters swim under the ice, dreaming dreams of a spring they will not live to see.
In the cold dark, the Device's onboard computer counts the seconds, hours, days. The launch erector, product of Acade-

 
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