are working on a way to reduce the size of my device to something that can be held in one’s hand. We had not previously thought along these lines, because we could not foresee a need to do so. But my engineers inform me that it can be easily done, with very little reduction in reliability. One would only need to point the hand-held device in the desired direction and the existence of an alien intelligence will be verified by the glow of a colored light on the device. My engineers believe that the range of this device could be as much as twenty to thirty meters. We hope to have a prototype in a few days, and as many as six such portable devices within the week.” “Thank you, Dr. Auslander,” replied Tanner. He then addressed the conference in general. “As the highest ranking FBI official in this area, I have full authority to head this operation, which I have code-named ‘Project X’. I will coordinate the efforts of the various local law enforcement agencies. Dr. Auslander, I ask you to please report your progress on producing these hand-held devices to me daily. As soon as you are assured of their reliability, you will have them delivered to my headquarters at the San Francisco Federal Building by heavily armed guards under the tightest security. I will then oversee the distribution of these devices to the various local law enforcement agencies as I see fit.” Dr. Auslander agreed and Dr. Whitman stood up again. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he concluded. “I think we have sufficiently discussed the matter at hand and reached a viable method by which to proceed to the solution of this matter. I thank all of you for your attendance at this meeting and remind you that anything discussed here today involves the highest level of national security and is ~
Tales
from
The
Last
Resort
by
The
Mad
Mick
151
~