James P. Hogan Paths to Otherwhere

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project, commencing virtually immediately. Since everyone here will be
affected, it's important that you all understand something of the background."
Kintner paused and looked around. Attentive expressions had settled on all
sides.
"I don't have to remind you of the importance of this project to the vital
interests not only of this nation, but of our entire Western heritage. We
expect major hostilities to break out in Asia before very much
longer according to the consensus of our analysts, a year at most. Europe will
be drawn in, and ourselves then or later, either aligned with one of the rival
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power blocs or as eventual antagonists of whichever side emerges from the
initial conflict." As Kintner had said, nobody in the room needed reminding.
They had all heard it from him innumerable times. It was the standard wisdom
of the day. He continued:
"We are now learning that this is not some accidental whim of fate unfolding,
but the culmination of deliberate policies that were set in motion by alien
interests envious of our success, over half a century ago. When World War Two
ended, the leaders of the historical and cultural tradition that we refer to
broadly as the Western world ourselves, Europe, and the former Greater
Russian
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those interests would one day acquire the technologies that we had created,
and move against us with their superior numbers. Because of the general war
weariness and misguided idealism of the times, they were unable to acknowledge
such realities openly. Therefore, they created an elaborate deception which
made it possible for us to develop the weapons which alone were capable of
redressing such a numerical imbalance. Our possession of those weapons kept
the real threat in check for fifty years." That was the standard line,
dispensed universally. Hugh had no particular reason to disbelieve it,
although
Sarah said it was a distortion of what had really happened.
Kintner went on, "That ended when the Soviet corner of the alliance was
undermined and fell apart. Their former territories are now being contested.
Unless we take measures to protect them, ours will be next." Kintner paused
and swept his eyes round the room again. On either side of him, Mulgrave and
Ducaine sat facing the room impassively like attending acolytes at an address
by a bishop. He made an empty-handed gesture. "Protect them with what? Since
the turn of the century our opponents have been arming openly and matching us.
Their numerical preponderance has increased. Their zealousness to right past
wrongs for the most part fabricated by unscrupulous opportunists leaves them
unamenable to reason."
He raised an arm in a sweeping gesture to indicate not just the room but the
whole facility around them. "Ingenuity, not force, is the answer. We believe
that the understanding of MV phenomena that has been achieved here at the LANL
is unique in the world at the present time. That is why all work has been
concentrated and placed under military security. Initially, the aim was to
provide our political leadership with a means of finding an optimum path
through the difficult choices ahead. Then, more recently, we stumbled there's
no other
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remarkable possibility of being able to actually experience nearby areas of
the Multiverse directly. Applied intelligently, such a capability offers the
prospect of deducing facts about our own world that could never be ascertained
purely from the information accessible within it." Thus far, Kintner had given
a potted version of his routine pep talk and summarized what everyone already
knew. The audience waited, sensing that he had come to whatever he had called
them together to announce.
"Washington considers rapid development of such a capability crucially
important which is why we've all been under pressure. But more is involved
than just providing capability. For its potential to be realized, that
capability has to be made available to the appropriate intelligence-gathering
agencies. For them to use it effectively, they need to begin gaining
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experience at the earliest opportunity that it's possible to arrange. And we
for our part need their inputs to guide us in producing what's wanted." The
gold-framed bifocals swept around the room one last time.
"It has therefore been decided to implement close working relationships
between us without further delay. To that end, an advance team of intelligence
operatives selected for their technical backgrounds will be arriving early
next week to commence familiarization training. A part of the facility will be
set aside for their use while an extension of the QUADAR is being installed in
additional space to be provided alongside this building. This ancillary
project will operate under direct orders from Washington, but with a local
coordinator who will liaise via the Laboratory's General Director. Its code
designation will be 'Polygon.'"
"What they're telling people about the Russians isn't true," Sarah said to
Hugh and Sam over lunch in the TA-3 cafeteria later. Dave was with Jantowitz
in the
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