Page 24 - Psychoceramics and the Test of Fire

Black Pinhole Nanofurnace

According to Aitkens, late in the evening before he planned to
issue a press release announcing his completed device and send a
detailed description of its underlying physics to a peer-reviewed
journal, three men paid him a visit. One he recognized as a low-level
technician at Delenda many years earlier; the other two did not
identify themselves beyond flashing federal ID badges, but did all the
talking. They said they were completely conversant with Aitkens’
work, and had come to offer him a new security clearance and a high-
paying job if he would return to his old position. Immediately on
guard, Aitkens quizzed them on their intentions: Delenda had
rejected and abandoned him; now, like the lazy friends of the little
red hen, did they expect him to turn over the fruits of his labor for a
pittance? Had they suddenly seen the light, realized that his invention
would save the world, and hoped to persuade him to hand over the
lion’s share of the profits?
No, they replied; that’s not how things happened. Governments,
the British, Russian and American alike, played both sides of the
street when it came to unconventional theories with potential military
application, particularly if they suspected their adversaries of pursuing
the same lines of research. The public could wonder about the reality
of Area 51, the Philadelphia Experiment and a dozen varieties of
extrasensory espionage, but the Pentagon’s black budget had plenty
of room for low-cost wandering down blind alleys to dead ends—if
just one of them turned out to be a breakthrough idea, and “we” had
gotten to it before “they” did, it was worth it. Aitkens’ scheme, at the
time he had pitched it to Delenda, was just too far out; further, the
intelligence gathered overseas indicated no other country was
pursuing such a plan. Thus he had been ushered out of the
establishment, relegated to the status of a has-been.
But his recent purchase of certain high-tech equipment, he
claimed, had brought him back to the attention of the government.
His phone was tapped, bank accounts scrutinized and lab assistants
approached and turned into informers. When it became clear to the
undercover agents that he had succeeded, the reaction was
predictable and swift: this new technology had to stay under wraps
and the thumb of the Department of Defense. Aitkens objected: the
nanofurnace, once disseminated globally, would eliminate the
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