Page 31 - Unlikely Stories 1

DeathCon

“Ah! Like intercontinental ballistic missiles and anti-ballistic
missile systems, both tributes to American ingenuity. I must say you
are one sharp lady, Jessie. Good luck in your battle with Nemesys for
sales supremacy: may the best company win!”
“Thanks, Buell, and again: don’t worry. Neither of us will be
the loser.”
“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?”

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