DOES THIS DOCUMENT contain
information
affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of
the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U.S.C., sections 793 and 794? Is its
transmission or the revelation of its contents in any manner to
unauthorized persons prohibited by law? Dr. Searle, distinguished
colleagues, members of the Princeton faculty, and fellow students, I ask
your kind attention. You are aware of your responsibilities for
safeguarding critical material whose disclosure could cause exceptionally
grave danger to the United States of America. Display your
identification badge at all times. Access to restricted areas is limited
to cleared personnel with a certified need-to-know. Observe posted
directives: COSMIC TOP SECRET; Closed Facility;
Haunted, Keep Out.
I am the sole living custodian of the only remaining copy of a highly
sensitive TOP SECRET report marked No Foreign Nationals, National
Security Information, Unauthorized disclosure subject to criminal
sanctions. Classified by PAWSM/PPMP 2.09, exempt from general
declassification, schedule of executive order 11652, exemption category
3, declassify on DDCP. Alluring revelations may follow. Or tiresome
mathematics.
Mere demonry and witchcraft? Mr. Wizard's talented apprentices scoff
at the stars, tomorrow he will be unlocking the secrets of the universe,
or, perhaps, locking the nuclear burst blackout data in his office safe.
And today, General Systems Research Corporation meets the challenge of
Sputnik by proudly supporting community science education because GSR
believes that today's science is tomorrow's security.
Meet the magicians. We wear deep-pocketed white lab coats bearing
our names marked on the collar in black grease pencil, in block capitol
letters: Ashley, Besser, Bramson, Demidoff, Monier. Five
crisply-starched dark blue blazers with the Pitney School seal hang in a
neat row in the entrance hall. Dreaming of Merit Scholarships and the
President's Science Talent Search, we toil endlessly in the physics lab
with its shiny new equipment from GSR, amid odors of lycopodium, ozone,
rosin, and burned-out electrolytic capacitors, a dank perfume of
mushrooms, hot wax, pines, charred cardboard, and approaching
thunderstorms. I know just how the brew in a witch's cauldron must have
smelled.
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