Page 134 - Just Deserts

Telepax

“Of course. But that doesn’t do us much good, does it? TTI does
not manufacture desert fatigues or armor-plated camp showers. All
our emphasis has been on large-scale heavy-duty military hardware,
like long-range bombers and strategic ballistic missiles with massive
throw-weights. So we must convert what we can, as fast as we can, to
new uses, while we figure out a way to cut our losses on the rest. I
have every confidence that increasing attention will be paid to
America’s new enemy in coming years, and that TTI will be in the
forefront of the response to that threat.”
The security man, an ex-policeman infrequently sharing the
exalted confidences of high officials like C. L. Arkon, found himself
losing the thread. “So we’ll go after those camel jockeys, eh? Fine
with me, sir. Doesn’t seem fair that they control all that oil.”
“No, no, no! That’s what everyone else is doing, Forrest. And it’s
not that big a pie to slice up, any more. What we are going after is the
real threat to our way of life: street crime. The federal government
will be pumping billions into local police forces as the population
realizes that the new enemy is within its borders. And TTI will be
ready to meet the challenge.”
Again Raynes, a man of literal meanings and concrete analogies,
found himself wondering how the government would get away with
dropping thousands of tons of bombs on American slums from high-
altitude bombers. True, no one had objected domestically when that
strategy recently had been executed against the neighborhoods in
Panama City theoretically giving shelter, or at least tacit support, to
General Noriega; but some local group of liberal crybabies would
inevitably crawl out from under the rocks and make a stink were
Raynes’s imaginary scenario ever implemented in Detroit or Atlanta.
He leaned back in the unfamiliar cushioning of a VIP guest chair and
decided to remain silent. It was his right, after all.
Arkon himself had ceased speech, and was intently studying some
papers on his desk. “Security,” he finally resumed, “must also be
redefined in this new era of putatively free enterprise. Before, it was
the Red Menace, fifth columnists, saboteurs. You had your hands full
checking into the background of everyone working here, making sure
some foreign government hadn’t compromised one of our engineers
with a Swiss bank account or a go-go dancer. In this pursuit our own
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