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Trout nodded "Einstein said that with a controlled chain reaction a reality, an atoested that the United State develop such a weapon before the Germans did"

"That's right," Frobisher said "The president appointed a committee to look into it, and the result was the work here at Los Alamos Few people know that near the end of the war, Einstein wrote a second letter that has never been published In it, he warned of the dangers of electronetic war, based on the theorems But unlike Kovacs, as considered by some to be a bit of a quack, Einstein's op

inion had weight Truman was president by then He appointed a coestion, and out of that came a research effort similar to the Manhattan Project"

"We've heard that the Russians were pursuing the same line of research," Gamay said

"That's right By the mid-sixties, ere neck and neck with the Russians"

"How far did the research go?"

"Far They concentrated on the land rather than the sky, and created so Alaskan quake, this country retaliated We caused sohts in Russia That was all small potatoes"

"Floods and quakes hardly seem minor occurrences," Gamay said

"That was only the warm-up Scientists from both countries discovered about the same time that the coes in the earth's electro between the two countries was held on a reovernment officials attended Both countries were presented with evidence showing the serious consequences of further experi the Kovacs Theorems"

"How do you know all this if it was so secret?" Gamay said

"Sireed to end research and get back to lesser evils, such as nuclear warfare"

"It's hard to believe there is so an eyebrow

"Believe it" Frobisher leaned forward in his chair and lowered his voice fro the secret was considered of such consequence that a security apparatus was set up in each country Anyone who becaeable about Kovacs and his as discouraged or, if necessary, eliminated"

"Then the Kovacs Society wasn't forame?" Trout said

Frobisher smiled "That story usually turns most people off No, the Kovacs Society was for was that it would be a first stop for someone interested in his work If you had wandered in here a few years ago asking questions that crossed a certain threshold, I would have made a telephone call and you would have disappeared You're lucky the unit was disbanded a few years ago"