Perimeter

But there is a second theory, a darker theory.

Some intelligence experts believe the buzzer is the audible heartbeat of a system the Russians called Perimeter and what the West calls the Dead Hand.

Now, during the Cold War, the Soviets were terrified that an American nuclear strike could wipe out Moscow and their top generals before they had a chance to give the order to fire back.

So they built a doomsday machine, a fully automated system hooked up to their nuclear silos.

So Georgia shouldn't think, oh, that's just a D.C. problem.

We saw National Guardsmen within, you know, every state and municipality kind of has that Perimeter where they say, you know, pass this line, no campaigning.

And there are more limitations once you're within the perimeter.

D.C. has, I think, a 50 foot perimeter around polling locations.

Perhaps the most ominous theory, one that has captured public imagination, is that UVB-76 is a component of a dead man's switch in Russia's nuclear defense apparatus.

Specifically, some have linked it to the legendary Soviet Perimeter system.

This system, which was designed during the Cold War, allowed the Soviet Union to automatically retaliate with nuclear missiles if the USSR's leadership were wiped out.

According to this hypothesis, the Buzzer's tone is effectively a signal that says all is well.

My old entries, with their blocky capitals and mongrel Spanish, were absent.

Every new record bore a neat, impersonal script, the lines carefully cataloging a routine, "Perimeter verified.

All clear on level two.

No anomalies detected." Even my own recent scrawl was gone, replaced by unfamiliar hands.

Backup.

Perimeter.

I traced the backup line to the lamp circuit, cut it with my side cutters, and stripped about six inches of insulation.

My fingers were already stiff, the cold biting through my gloves.

My hand shook a little.

I wrote the date, the time.

I wrote, Perimeter walk completed.

Hatch secure.

Doc used to always talk about wanting to have guys who are instigators.

Russell Westbrook may be one of the greatest instigators Perimeter instigators, certainly of this generation that we've seen.

You just didn't like to play against that dude because he forced you.

If you're defending him, he's going to go at you hard.