Sigma One (8 page)

The members in the room didn't understand and indicated so by their puzzled looks.

Salinger continued and provided the explanation. "If SIGMA ONE is able to succeed, vee see a great fallout to our agency as a result. Success of SIGMA ONE would mean the billions of dollars now being spent on defense could become available to further the dwindling space program budget. And vee, gentlemen and lady, have scientific evidence, performed in our own labs which back up Mr. Huxley's claims. In our opinion, the project is highly feasible, and to not continue to support it, you'd be a regrettable mistake."

With this last comment, Salinger lit another cigarette, held it between his index finger and thumb, and took a long slow drag on it, closing his eyes as he did. The smoke encircled his head as he stood there waiting for a reply.

Colonel Anderson spoke first. "Just a damn minute, Doctor. What's this about evidence you have? And if you do have such evidence, why weren't we informed of its existence earlier. I don't know about the rest of the people in this room, but I have better things to do than to waste time playin' solitaire with a deck of fifty one."

Salinger replied. "In due time, colonel. In due time. You'll all be able to read our report, but first, vee owe it to Mr. Huxley to hear his briefing. Then, if you are still not convinced, I'm prepared to address your questions.

Pat decided to speak next, glad that Salinger had added his support, but before he spoke, he looked around the room and calculated his chances of succeeding in getting the committee to continue SIGMA ONE. He first turned his attention to Butterworth, who was seated complacently staring off into space. He didn't appear to be phased by Salinger's announcement. Butterworth was probably undecided, having not yet heard the financial status briefing. Pat hoped he could sway him through quickly going over the figures for SIGMA ONE and glossing over the details which indicated the tremendous overrun they were experiencing.

Pat next looked at Ms. Robinson who appeared interested in Salinger's comments as indicated from the way she had leaned forward in her chair when he began to speak of the interest NASA had in SIGMA ONE. Even though she seemed interested, Pat knew he couldn't count on her in the final vote. She was too set against the project and only intent on funding one of Green Peace's pet projects. Pat fumed at the idea of canceling SIGMA ONE and buying more rubber life rafts for radical environmentalists. He didn't for a minute buy Robinson's line about working within the establishment. She made it quite clear that the only way she would be supportive was if she were shown hard evidence. Pat had to count on her to vote no.

Pat looked at Dr. Gandliong and Agent Walker and surmised that these two were probably for continuation; Gandliong having risked his career through misappropriation of aids research funds to support SIGMA ONE, and Walker for the comment he made earlier.

The three military men were obviously not going to be swayed very easily, if at all. Commander Packett and Colonel Anderson were more interested in furthering their respective service's research and development budgets for which they would get recognition and probably promotions if new weapons systems could be brought on line. General Lassiter, too would probably vote against the project now that he had been reminded that to vote for it with the intention of making it public would be tantamount to treason. Pat knew Lassiter was too smart to risk that.

Finally, Pat sized up Salinger. He was a definite yes vote. That made three likely supporters, in Gandliong, Walker and Salinger, and four probably against, in Green Peace, and the three service representatives. This left only Butterworth undecided. The odds didn't look too good. Pat knew he had better give the briefing of his life if he were to salvage any hopes of continuation.

Hesitantly he began.

"Gentlemen and Ms. Robinson, I'm here representing the NSF as you all are aware and shortly I will answer any technical questions you have regarding our project's status. First though, I'd like to review with you where we stand."

Pat was grandstanding a little. He figured a good tactic would be to go over some facts that would remind the members in lofty terms the glorious history of the NSF and of some of its accomplishments and turn the tenor of the meeting to more favorable discussions before addressing the real issues they were there to hear.

He put the first chart up on the viewgraph projector. It showed the NSF logo, a round circle surrounded by stars. The circle was split in the middle with two vertical blue bars. In the left hand portion inside the circle was a picture of a test tube. On the other side, an outline of the United States flag was shown. Below the circle were the initials NSF emblazoned in bold black gothic letters.

The logo was generic and nondescript and in no way indicated the type of research that the foundation was conducting. It had been chosen for just this purpose.

Pat quickly removed this introductory slide and put up the charter of the NSF next: Scientific Investigations to Guard Mankind Against Obliteration by Nuclear Exchange. The purpose of this chart was to remind everyone why SIGMA ONE was started and why it was so important to continue it.

He let the chart stay on the viewgraph projector while he began to speak. "As you know, our organization--the brainchild of Senator Radcliff and myself over ten years ago--was founded on the principal of finding a way to eliminate the threat of world destruction by nuclear war."

"At that time, early in the formation of the NSF, our staff was small and each of your organizations was tapped to contribute both manpower and funding. Although our successes throughout the years have largely remained a secret to all but a select few, I can claim the concept of Strategic Defense as a justifiable product of our early research. And even though we have yet to deploy such a system, its very existence is providing a formidable motivation to move the world closer to lasting peace."

"Other contributions we have made to world peace include the formation of special study groups to address such varied issues as control of nuclear proliferation, counter terrorism, and urban crime. Although these don't specifically deal with the nuclear war problem, I'm sure you all agree that these problems need special attention today, and in each case, United States failure to take a world leadership role in any one of these areas could spell the end of democracy."

"SIGMA ONE, as you can guess, is the flagship of the NSF. It is our major reason for existence, and it is the success of SIGMA ONE that will eventually lead to benefits far in excess of the funding it is currently receiving from taxes on your organizations." He stopped in mid-sentence and looked squarely at Ms. Robinson and the three military men.

"Ms. Robinson, SIGMA ONE will not stop the current destruction of whales immediately. It will however, free resources which can be spent on repopulating the oceans of the world when funding of nuclear weaponry no longer nets to drain our economy."

"Dr. Gandliong, SIGMA ONE will not stop the spread of aids. It will, however, allow more research dollars to become available in the future as its successes are realized."

"General Lassiter, Colonel Anderson, and Commander Packett, SIGMA ONE won't stop conventional wars. That's not its purpose. But it will allow our conventional military forces to be made far superior to any army, navy or air force on earth as other research projects are spun off from the basic principles of thought programming. No longer will we need to send our sons and daughters to their deaths. Using thought programming and combining it with robotics, we can stop any enemy without loss of life."

Pat flipped four charts in rapid succession to emphasize what he had just said. Each chart provided a picture of the utopia SIGMA ONE promised.

The first, shown for Ms. Robinson, showed schools of California Gray Whales spouting and cavorting in the calm blue waters of the Catalina channel. The beautiful Wrigley Casino and Zane Grey's home could be seen above the peaceful Avalon harbor. A graph at the bottom of the chart which plotted whale population estimates as a function of time indicated a stop to the downward trend of whale numbers in the 1999 to 2009 time frame showing the effects of dollars that would be poured into Green Peace from deep cuts in offensive nuclear forces.

The second slide showed a slow to the exponential rise in the numbers of aids cases in the same timeframe as research began to accelerate to find a cure for the deadly disease.

The third and fourth slides depicted artist renditions of new futuristic assault weapon, smaller automated aircraft carriers, and new supersonic remotely piloted tactical attack aircraft.

These last pictures were meant to whet the appetites of his military antagonists and the artwork on each of them was incredible in detail, bringing tears to the eyes of the military men seated at the end of the table and making Robinson and Gandliong impressed by the potential benefits to their causes as well.

General Lassiter was the first to speak after Pat's over-obvious appeal to their hot buttons.

"That's all very well indeed Mr. Huxley, but all these prospects of world peace depend on SIGMA ONE's success. And it's the viability of the project we're here to judge--not the potential future benefits it might bring if it works. So if you could please get to the meat of the matter we would appreciate it."

The other members nodded in concurrence. They had seen through Pat's intended smokescreen as well.

"Very well, General, as you wish, "Pat said reluctantly. He then put up his next set of slides which described the theoretical basis for SIGMA ONE, using the same ones he had shown Radcliff earlier in the week.

When he was finished, the committee members were impressed with the technical details, each one of which was backed up by additional comments and verification provided by Salinger in his inimitable German-English accent.

The committee members may have been impressed, but they were still not convinced.

Pat finished with a chart showing a computer program written, he said while Dr. Jackowitz, his newest star (aka O'Shaunnesey) was linking with the computer. Of course, the program was not written by O'Shaunessey and certainly not without the use of a keyboard, but Pat had to show it anyway. He hoped, but didn't expect, it would make any difference. Pat ended his presentation with a budgetary summary which, through carefully constructed bar charts and pie charts, attempted to hide the true nature of the project's overrun. Through the entire presentation, Pat directed all his comments at Butterworth, who sat stolidly and expressionless. Pat couldn't tell if Butterworth believed him or not, but the truth became patently obvious right after Pat put up his last slide and paused waiting for his reply.

Butterworth wedged himself out of his chair again and stood up.

"Mr. Huxley!" he said matter-of-factly. "No matter how pretty the graphics, or flowery the words you use to describe the many successes your organization has made over the years, it still can't hide the fact that your project is being miserably financially mismanaged!"

Butterworth was sweating now and his sophomoric voice quavered slightly. He was just not used to speaking up in public and would have preferred to have had the charts delivered to him and not have to show up at this meeting at all. Then, in his leisure, he could have reviewed the financial statements and issued a report instead of being put on the spot to provide his assessments publicly.

When Butterworth finished he remained standing and waited for a reply from Pat.

Pat said nothing. His sham was uncovered and he felt beaten. He had relied on his ability to cover over the financial data and sway Butterworth and, in turn, win his vote. He felt sick to his stomach.

Each committee member sat as silently as he, waiting for his reaction to Butterworth's accusation.

He offered none. Instead, Pat stepped slowly away from the podium and sat down to await the verdict.

Suddenly, the silence was broken as Agent Walker briskly shoved his chair back from the table and got up from his seat.

Walker strode toward the podium and when he arrived, he looked directly into Pat's eyes. He appeared to know what Pat was feeling and reached out and put his hand on Pat's shoulder.
He then began to address the assembly while still looking down at Pat. "Mr. Huxley, these hearings are never easy. It's obvious you sincerely believe in SIGMA ONE and your dream of world peace is inspiring. Your progress, too, seems to be accelerating if we can believe the statement you made about achieving limited thought programming with Dr. Jackowitz."

Walker then turned and faced the committee, moving up to the podium as he did. "But that's not I'm here today! I'm not here to argue the potential benefits of SIGMA ONE. Mr. Huxley, here, did that and he did a fine job if you ask me." He looked down at Pat again. There was sympathy in his eyes.

He looked up again and continued. "I'm here at the request of Senator Radcliff and am going to describe a situation in the world today which cannot be allowed to go unanswered by the United States. This situation makes the financial aspects of SIGMA ONE pale by comparison and, it is a situation which puts the U.S six to ten years behind the Soviets in," he paused, "thought programming."

Walker then leaned forward on the podium. All kindness left his eyes. Everyone could see the sense of urgency in his stare.

"Gentlemen and Ms. Robinson, we know the Soviets already have their own version of SIGMA ONE. And if we don't do something about it, you and I might as well start practicing our Russian, because in one, maybe two years we'll all need it when we're asked to surrender to them."