Page 31 - Unlikely Stories 1

DeathCon

“Well, Thyssen, what else can you show us? We’ve seen a couple of
military-industrial representatives. How about some of those home
workshop inventors you were telling us about?”
“Right this way, Buell. We’ll just take a shortcut through the killer
satellites and orbital bombs to the innovators section.”
“My goodness! Those things look ready to launch right now!”
“Oh, they’re not going anywhere. None of that is legal, you know?
Treaties and all that, trying to stop the militarization of outer space.
Well, nature abhors a vacuum! Ha-ha! Get it? At any rate, no law
against being ready, and there just might be some customers not
bound by those restrictions. But, enough said! Here we are: mostly
card tables instead of professional show booths, and the crowds are a
bit thinner. Nevertheless, no procuring agent of a responsible,
modern army can afford to overlook the next generation of
weaponry. True, the chances aren’t good that any of these ideas will
catch the fancy of the big money boys—these people know it, but it
doesn’t dampen their ardor. You see, they really believe they’ve made
a better mousetrap.”
“That’s mighty interesting, Thyssen. Let’s just go over to this
fellow: his display looks familiar. Hello, there! I’m Buell Bauser, and
you’re on ‘Wonders Never Cease.’ And who are you?”
“Stewart Potts, sir. Are we on television? That’s more than I’d
hoped for.”
“Well, you will be, if you don’t wind up on the cutting room floor.
Now that I’m next to it, I see that one of the devices on your table is
a toy plastic model of a tank. Is that right? You’re not going to make
the next generation of armored vehicles out of plastic, are you?”
“No, Mr. Bauser, I’m not going to do that. Maybe someone else
has that idea, and is developing a plastic tougher than any armor
plating now in use. My intention is to use the vehicle as a delivery
system for chemical and biological warfare. You see in these
schematics how an otherwise obsolete M60 Patton can be refitted at
minimal cost to contain the tanks and pressure nozzles required to
spray pathogens or toxic substances in a wide pattern around its
path.”

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