He set about his business for the day, sitting down at the computer desk and turning on both the tower and monitor. His assistant remained standing in the same spot in suspended animation; at times, Dr. Brody wondered if he had been given some sort of robot as an aide-de-camp instead of a living, breathing person.

He noted the clock that appeared as the operating system loaded, and saw that it was two minutes shy of noon. He had planned on getting to work immediately, but he was expecting radio communication from that dotard captain in another two minutes and decided to wait; the only thing he hated more than being corrected by someone of inferior intellectual standing was having his work interrupted once commenced.

As the clock changed to twelve noon, a loud beep blared from the radio receiver next to...

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