Stan Mason - Stopping World War Three

‘I prepared this card for you when the Director told me your were coming,’ he said gruffly. He handed me a plastic card before placing a similar one into the machine. A door opened which closed swiftly behind him after he had passed through. I ignored the machine and tried to push the door open by force but it was made of solid steel and refused to budge. I had to retreat and emulate the action of my guide in order to join him inside.

‘You can’t get past that machine without identification,’ he told me flatly. ‘The bad news for any intruder is that the card can be inserted in this computer terminal only once in each twenty-four hours. It’s done to ensure maximum security. The good news is that you don’t need a card to get out of this place. Ah… here’s Mr. Packman himself.’ The Brigadier saluted the Director as he approached us.

‘Jason!’ greeted Packman. I can give you thirty minutes then I’ll have to pass you back into the hands of the Brigadier.’ He turned to the old man. ‘You can wait here, Brigadier, while I show Mr. Scott around.’ He took me by the arm gently and led me further into the building. ‘We have an upstairs and a downstairs. Both are relatively large. All the secret equipment is kept below divided into non-nuclear, nuclear, lasers, armour structures for vehicles, tanks, ships and general research.’

‘Armour structures.’ I repeated woodenly.

‘Yes. Do you know that in 1987 a new anti-tank rocket was provided for the British army after ten years of development. By that time, the Soviets had move on to reactive armour so that the anit-tank rocket was ineffective. It was a shoulder-launched LAW80. The Ministry of Defence claimed that the tracks of the tanks were the traditional part to be attacked. As the tracks of the Russian tanks were not made of reactive armour they were still vulnerable. How some Civil Servants will defend budgets even when they know they’re wrong is beyond my ken. Unfortunately, we’re in the hands of politicians who keep whining that public money must be used for services such as health, education, transport, housing and a variety of other needs at the expense of defence. What they don’t understand is that the world is not a Garden of Eden with only one snake to concern us. Every country must have protection. The worrying factor is the accelerating level of weaponry. Where does it all end? It’s a pity we don’t manufacture crystal balls to allow us to look into the future. I’d be the first in the queue to buy one.’

‘I heard about the prototype of the new laser weapon. The most advanced lethal weapon of its kind in the world.’

He stopped dead in his tracks. ‘Where did you hear that?’

I paused for a moment realising that I had told him too much. ‘At a Board meeting. Yes I’m sure I heard it there,’ I managed to say, hoping that he would believe me. ‘I overheard someone mention it in the background but I don’t know who.’

His face showed that he was annoyed at my remark. ‘Well they’re very naughty to have done so,’ he criticised irately. ‘ Dangerous talk costs lives. It’s an illusion to believe that we live in a world of human-beings in civilisation on this planet, Jason. Half of them are animals. Wild animals! They’ll cheat and lie, steal and kill for money… for power… for greed, ambition and causes.’ He paused to calm himself down and then walked on. ‘Come! I’ll take you downstairs to the laser area but you must promise me that what you see will remain a secret.’

I placed my hand over my heart. ‘Everything will be kept entirely secret, I assure you.’ I recognised that he was right in his philosophy on people. I was already becoming one of those wild animals!

He led me down a corridor with a sloping floor until we came to a dead end. There was another computer terminal was located at the side of the wall.

‘Ah,’ I told him sagely, ‘I can’t use this card for another twenty-four hours. That’s what the Brigadier told me.’

‘He was quite correct. All cards can only be used once during that period, however this is a different security check. The machine will answer to only one of two handprints… that of the supervisor of the division and mine.’ He placed his hand on the glass plate and a light glowed. Suddenly, the wall at the end of the corridor slid open with a gentle hum and we passed into a large room. There were five men working on different projects as the Director took me on the brief tour.

‘In most cases, laser light works only in short bursts. Where continuous beams of light are available, the power source is insufficient to produce the kind of energy force we need. We experiment with glass lasers with flash tubes, solid lasers which use crystals and produce strong sources of power, gas lasers where gas is installed in glass tubes measuring up to thirty feet in length and also liquid lasers. It’s quite a lot for you to take in at one go.’

I looked around the room focussing my eyes on the weapon everyone was so keep to possess. ‘I presume that’s the military weapon of the twenty-first century,’ I ventured, pointing my finger in its direction.

‘There are currently five countries trying to manufacture the same weapon in the United States… especially for Star Wars. No one knows who’s ahead at the present time. Personally, as Rhett Butler said in ‘Gone With The Wind’, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn! There’s a company rule which states for security reasons that directors aren’t allowed to extend their appointment here for longer than three years. Well my term’s almost up now so I won’t be here for much longer. What’s it like in commercial computers? Maybe it’s on the cards that we’ll exchange places.;

I smiled but continued to stare at the laser weapon. ‘I should imagine the plans for that monster are tucked well away. I wouldn’t like to think someone could steal them.’

He walked over to a bank of computers and placed his right hand on one of them. ‘They’re well protected,’ he said innocently, completely unaware of my deep interest in his answer. ‘The computer is access-barred to delivering such sensitive information. It won’t work unless it has two passwords. Most passwords contain four digits each… ours comprise five. We’ve made it as tough as possible for any potential hacker. I’ve one set of the password, the supervisor of the division has the other. I don’t know his; he doesn’t know mine. The system’s foolproof.’

‘Thank Heaven’s for that,’ I responded falsely pretending to be relieved by his comments.

‘You say the idea you have is to use laser beam applications for commercial computers. I thought all our manufactures were farmed out to a company on a sub-contract basis.’

‘It is,’ I confirmed readily. ‘But we’re considering acquiring a computer manufacturer or an assembly company. If so, I want to be ahead of the competition. We can’t beat the Far East countries in terms of the cost of manufacture because the wage levels out there are so low so we have to find other methods. Robotics interconnected with laser beam operation might be the answer.’

He thought about it for a moment and then shifted his feet uneasily. ‘Hm,’ he muttered. ‘I hope they don’t have a project of that kind lined up for me when I move from here. It sounds too damned complicated for my liking.’

‘Well these matters are all tentative at present. It could take months or even years to come about.’ I looked around the room trying to take in as much as I could at one visit. There were close-circuit cameras located near to the ceiling at strategic points which probably operated both day and night. They offered the security staff a view of every part of the complex on an array of monitors centrally located elsewhere. ‘I’m pleased to see security cameras installed for night work.’