Can It Be Said Enough? Thorium! Thorium! THORIUM!

Thorium?  Thorium.  This metal will supply cheap, clean, safe, plentiful nuclear power to the world for the next 1,000 years.

If we use it.

Thorium, a silvery-white metal named for the Norse god Thor, is a mildly radioactive element (with an atomic weight of 90) that is as abundant as lead.  Monazite, a rare earth and thorium phosphate mineral, is the primary source of the world's thorium. 

The naturally occurring isotopes of thorium are readily refined from mineral to metal.  Industry uses thorium to make high-grade glass, high-temperature ceramics, and high-performance alloys of magnesium.

Thorium is inherently safe.  Radiation from even pure thorium is too weak to penetrate human skin.  Only long term negligent exposure or massive over-exposure is medically dangerous.  Short of a career of mining without basic safety procedures or chewing it daily, thorium presents no medical dangers.

Thorium reactors are inherently safe.  Thorium  cannot sustain a chain reaction on its own; there must be an initiator.  Basically, disaster or attack would simply shut down the reaction.

Thorium reactors are inherently clean.  Unlike other reactors, thorium reactors produce waste that decays to the same level of radioactivity as coal ashes after 500 years.  In fact, thorium reactors can be used to safely 'burn out' waste materials from uranium reactors.

Thorium is three to four times more plentiful than uranium.  By weight, thorium produces 200 times more energy than uranium.  The USA, India, Turkey, and Australia all possess large reserves of thorium, accounting for over 50% of the Earth's known reserves.

Experts estimate that at present energy use and reactor technology, thorium could power America for the next 1,000 years with just known reserves.

Sound too good to be true?  There are some small challenges, but honestly, we went from no space program to landing on the Moon in less than a decade.  We need thorium reactors supplying American electricity much more than we needed astronauts on the Moon.

Thanks to American and Russian choices during the Cold War, too little research has gone into thorium reactor design.  A few thorium reactors are coming online now, but there is a good deal of argument about what will be most efficient, cheapest, and safest.  New reactor designs need testing and approval.

Thorium startup is expensive; and the thorium fuel itself needs to be 'activated' by irradiation.  Once the first reactor is up and running, though, it can be used to activate the next batch of fuel.  As more reactors come online, fuel activation is cheap and easy.

American coal, uranium, and oil interests don't want to face competition from thorium; the first time in history they have all agreed on anything.  They don't care what's good for America, just what's good for the Company.

Thorium reactors are hugely safer and simpler than present uranium/plutonium reactors.  They could entirely replace the burning of fossil fuels on Earth for the next ten centuries.  They would change everything.

Drought?  With enough cheap electricity, desalinated sea water could be pumped to suffering areas; droughts would be history.  Poverty?  Plentiful electricity could bring jobs and industry to the poorest places on Earth.  Global warming?  Gone.  Pollution from coal and oil?  Gone. 

Call it optimism, call it hope, but make sure you remember the mighty THORIUM!
 
For more information -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium

Merry Christmas!

So ya know, I'm not particularly Christian, but there's nothing more heartening than an unsolicited seasonal greeting, however you spell it.

I was a mail carrier for a good part of the last 20 years, and the above observation is not something I read about, but something I experienced.  People enjoy a cheerful greeting, a smile in the daily course of business, even a random hug for just being human, but folks really appreciate a heartfelt holiday hail.

There are probably several reasons why.  There's usually a 'happy' or 'merry' in there, unlike the plain 'good' of daily greetings.  Holiday's are annual 'landmarks,' and thus a stronger connection.  And, honestly, who doesn't like being cheerful for cheerful's sake a few times a year?

Whatever the reasons,
We all like to hear
herald of seasons
with voice of good cheer.

So don't hesitate
It's always okay
To happily state
Happy Holiday!

I Like Robots

That's because I really, truly feel robots will define our future.  While not absolutely a bad thing, there will be negative along with positive effects.  Soon robots will become front-line soldiers, for instance - thanks to  political infighting among US military branches, the bad news is it may be our soldiers defending themselves from enemy robots instead of the other way around.

Anyway, my interest leads me to a weekly perusal of what's new in robotics on Youtube.  Why there?  Because long before a robot is seen as interesting to the media, geeks and nerds are already swapping videos of their accomplishments.

I come across all kind of robot exploits this way.  Here are a few that caught my interest.

What to get that hard-to-buy for kid this year?

Yes, this video is long and boring - and fascinating if you consider the implications.  True robot sports are just a few years away and games will never the same.

Sports and toys; no big deal, right?  What can robots do that isn't just for fun?  Build stuff.

Of course the US military have their share of robots, like this 'clothing and equipment' testing robot. . .

'load-carrying robot'. . .

and fence jumping robot.

Sadly, some robots are doomed to less survivable duty.  A company in Australia has recently delivered target robots to the USMC. 

But it won't just be the robots replacing humans and doing things alone.  We can build robots easily enough, but the brains to run them are the really hard part.  Adding humans to robots, or robots to humans, will be the most amazing part of the future - 

I like robots, and I hope they like me, because the alternative might suck.  

8)

This Is Only A Test

Saw this on G+ and wanted to share.  Though I don't know if this is truly significant of your neurological state, I found it a fun and interesting mental exercise.

A Short Neurological Test

1- Find the C below..

Please do not use any cursor help.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

2- If you already found the C, now find the 6 below.

99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
69999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999

3 - Now find the N below. It's a little more difficult.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

This is NOT a joke. If you were able to pass these 3 tests, you can cancel
your annual visit to your neurologist. Your brain is great and you're far
from having a close relationship with Alzheimer.

Congratulations!

eonvrye that can raed this rsaie your hnad.


If you can read the following paragraph, you are just awesome.
Only great minds can read this
This is weird, but interesting!

If you can raed this, you have a sgtrane mnid too

Can you raed this? Olny 45 plepoe out of 100 can.

I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in what oerdr the ltteres in a word are, the
olny iproamtnt tihng is that the frsit and last ltteer be in the rghit
pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it whotuit a
pboerlm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot
slpeling was ipmorantt!

And yes, spelling is very ipmorantt.  Heh.

Crazy Talk

Just a moment as I don my foil skull cap and check for men in black. . . okay, paranoid crazy talk begins.

Our cultural battles have ignored the extremely wealthy for a very long time.  In fact, America has had no true class war that I remember.  Instead we've encouraged and supported a kind of intra-class 'cold war' since the Depression; those with nothing, those with some, and those with enough, all bickering and struggling with each other.

And the whole time the rich were helping drive the conflict.  They, the greedy and immoral, structured a false reward system around brand names and false appearances.  No matter how poor someone might be, anyone could feel better about themself if they owned a Fridgidaire.  The rich got richer by backing both sides of conflict.

At the same time They, the burgeoning 1%, bought the American government and commanded it to install laws that gave Them huge advantages in taxation, liability, land ownership, legal recourse, and more - just about every possible way our judicial, executive, legislative, and financial system could be twisted.  They said it was good for the economy and good for America, but over the decades it turns out to be good for Them and the hell with the rest of America.

By keeping everyone else at each other's throats, a very few have stolen America.  Worse, it's beginning to look like they will get away with it - unless something changes.  That change would be us.  Don't think it'll be easy, because it won't.  They'll fight us every step, legal and illegal.  They have the power of media, police, and our own military, and they will use it against us.

All we need is someone to stand up and say, "I aim to misbehave."

Whoops.  Went a little off the crazy end right there.  Think I'll get rid of this foil hat.

8)

Dear Mr. Incumbent Politician,

Usually I try to stay at least moderately informed about you and your opponent, then carefully weigh which one is best for the job every election. I'm changing my voting criteria this year.

If you bring criminal charges or cause the judicial system to bring criminal charges against against a major CEO, any one of the Bailout Group companies, or policemen who harm Americans participating in peaceful protests, I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote for you.

If you pass a law that strips corporations of personhood or otherwise blocks a corporation from the same rights as a citizen of the United States, I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote for you.

If you make the selling of debt a form of usury, fraud, or otherwise illegal I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote for you.

If you force a shut down of Wall Street, for even one day, I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote for you.

If you pass a law that taxes the 1% at a 200% unless they really make jobs, I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote for you.

If you manage to strike any positive blow against corporate criminals or the ultra-rich, ultra-greedy 1% - say, force them to bank only in American banks or lose everything - I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote for you.

On the other hand, should you fail to meet my new criteria, I WILL AUTOMATICALLY vote against you, no matter what schmuck I'm forced to vote for.

No promises accepted.

Inflexibly,
Citizen America.

Early Warning

Back in November virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands publicly announced at a virus conference in Malta that his team had modified the H1N1, or bird flu virus, to be far more deadly. The bird flu presently doesn't spread like a 'normal' flu, via airborn droplets from sneezes and coughs. Instead, the bird flu requires very close contanct, so is less contagious.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2063326/Scientists-mutate-bird-flu-make-MORE-contagious--critics-claim-bioweapon-kept-secret.html

Most people missed this, though there was a blip in the media. Now, Dr. Fouchier wants to publish the research and techniques, making this super-flu available to anyone who would like to recreate it.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/12/20/scientists-spark-fears-by-creating-highly-contagious-airborne-strain-bird-flu/

What will eventually happen? Well, the secret is out, the horses are gone, the bag is empty, and everyone knows the bird flu can be modified into a world-smashing bioweapon. Knowing what's possible is half the problem solved - sooner or later, and I'd bet on real sooner, we'll be facing a terror inspired pandemic.

Not to worry. First, it's the flu; people die from flu every day, a sad fact but reassuring in that the world doesn't collapse. Second, it's the bird flu; until now those infected were often already sick or vulnerable or elderly, which is sad but also gives us hope that being normal and healthy will protect us. Third, it's just the flu; we already know what to do to avoid the flu.

The very best news is that, unlike other flu epidemics, we have plenty of warning. If any braincells are still firing Washington, DC, we have already acquired samples and are developing a vaccine.

Please let there be braincells left in Washington. . .

From The Past

Though often quoted, such wisdom as our ancestors were blessed with bears re-quoting, often and loudly.

For President Obama and all others in our government who believe they can take our freedoms to make us safe:
 "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin 

Those patriots in the Occupy movement should take heed and heart with these words:
 "In the beginning of a change the patriot is a scarce man, and brave, and hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." - Mark Twain

 Here is a message to all those police forces and city governments who act outside the USofA Constitution:
"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse. . ." - Thomas Jefferson

 And finally, for all of us in Citizen America, our original leader has a reminder:
 "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." - George Washington

Dear Mr. President,

You don't know me, and apparently I don't know you. I voted for you to become President of the United States, mostly because I felt your upbringing might help you better understand what many previous Presidents have forgotten about America. We value freedom.

You may not know that you are handing the tools of dictatorship into the hands of corporations and zealots of the future. In signing SOPA and the defense funding bill, your children or their children may face an America where speaking out means disappearing, where information is rigidly controlled and censored, where civil rights have become civil wrongs. You may be signing away our freedom.

Maybe nobody in the White House is telling you the truth. Maybe you have no idea what kind of trouble you're making into law. Maybe you'll listen to me and all the others who are asking. . .

Please don't do it.

Respectfully;
Citizen America

The Case For Warp Drive

     Science is missing something; interstellar space travel can't be as impossible as they say.  That is, assuming aliens are here on Earth.
     That latter statement isn't an entirely silly assumption.  A heap, a hill, maybe even an entire mountain range of evidence exists for that assumption.  Sure, most of that evidence comes from freaky, flakey, very personal sources, but can it honestly be 100% wrong?  Airport radar contacts, exhaust burns in the desert, simultaneous sightings by groups of strangers, etc. - there's more to alien evidence than abduction stories.
     So, assume aliens are here, flying around probing, beaming, time-warping victims.  While we can also guess these activities are only a piece of the puzzle of alien activities, that subject can be saved for another time.  The question at the heart of this discussion changes; instead of 'if' or 'why,' we must ask 'how?' 
     This particular question is a big part of the skeptical argument against aliens.  How is it that aliens can cross the impossibly wide gulf of space and fail at something so simple as hiding from us hairless apes?   As fast as our own stealth technology is advancing, shouldn't those advanced aliens be completely undetectable?
     Let's apply a little Sherlock logic.  Given aliens are here, as hard as they might try they can't seem to stay hidden.  They may even have crashed a ship or two here on Earth.  This evidence tells us that their technology isn't infallable, or even a great deal beyond ours. 
     Conclusion?  Interstellar space travel must be far simpler than Earthly scientists believe.  If Earth's bumbling E.T.s can do it, surely it lies within our power, too. 
(Unless E.T. is holding us back...)
     Dear Scientists: please look a little harder for Warp Drive - it's only logical.

Magic In Common

Quantum.  It's the magic word in TV science fiction.  Scientists are just discovering it's Mother Nature's magic, as well.

With a moment of consideration it should not be surprising that the amazing development tool of evolution would come to use the weirdest, but most efficient energy handling scheme in the Universe.

I won't try to explain quantum behavior because I can't; small libraries could be made entirely of books to introduce quantum concepts, books written by people who know more about it than I do, books that fail to make quantum physics easy to understand.  Not to worry, I only intend to talk about one quantum feature - Quantum Entanglement (QE).

Entanglement.  One tenet of quantum physics is that you can't know both the location AND vector of any particle at the same time.  There exists a fundamental blur of uncertainty when we look that closely at reality.    Odd, but it gets odder.  Two particles, photons for instance, who encounter each other closely enough will temporarily blur together.  The photons become confused which is which, even after they become separated, and this is entanglement.  For a time, vibrate one and they both react; measure one, and the other, no matter how far away, will instantly display identical measurements.

Science is struggling to find ways to use this potentially powerful state of entanglement, but Mother Nature is way ahead of us.

Nerve cells and neurons are different from the other cells in the body.  Their special shape allowing connection to other nerves requires special internal structures.  The chemo-electric signals passing from nerve cell to nerve cell jumps along an internal support structure called they cytoskeleton.  Recently it has been shown that the cytoskeleton traps individual entangled photons in an internal tube.  Even more recently scientists have become involved in an extensive argument whether or not these quantum structures are useless and accidental, or an important part of what makes humans intelligent.

Similar structures have just now been discovered in photosynthetic cells.  Searching for how energy is so perfectly transferred within plants, researchers stumbled on what may be another application of QE by Mother Nature.  It seems that QE on a huge scale might allow a kind of 'wireless' energy transmission during photosynthesis.

Yes, it's weird, but it's in your head, so get used to it.  Computers using QE will be thousands of times faster than present technology.  QE may allow for instant communication over any distance with total security, for everything from cellphones to interplanetary probes to robot avatars.  QE could even allow power transmission from your power plant directly to your electric car, laptop computer, flashlight, or pocket outlet.

We know so little about the QE phenomena we don't have a handle on what might be bad about it.  If QE helps manage a person's memories, could such memories be seen by a QE reader?  Or even recorded?  Or even more terrifying possibilities - hacked, altered, or erased?

The bad always comes with the good, another lesson from Mother Nature.  She has possibly shown us the way to a new, brighter era for man, but don't forget Her dark side.

Cloudy Stuff

Take a body of written work and count word use, then organize it graphically - most used words bigger and centralized with other words getting smaller and further out by frequency.  That's dubbed cloud analysis and below is what one such analyzer made of this very blog.

Strange - I'm not sure what excessive use of pronouns means 8)  Oh, and if you look close, God is imbedded in She.

If you'd like to try this yourself, click below and get on the cloud.



As Good As It Gets

Altruism is arguably the highest social peak to which a human can aspire.  Risking limb or life for another, sharing when there is nothing to gain, going back for a fallen comrade - all acts of altruism we get to see too rarely in our fellow humans.

Well, don't worry - just do a little rat watching!  A study reported in Science clearly shows altruistic behavior in rats.  I won't go on when NPR has a fine story about it already.  I just want to say I will be careful who I call a rat in the future. . .

Click the pic to see NPR's story.

Credit: Science/AAAS

LA And Lies

By most media reports, the recent removal of Occupy LA protestors was marred only by protestor conduct.  The Mayor ordered the removal for safety reasons because someone got murdered less than a quarter mile from the camp.  LA also pointed to the litter, junk, and 'abandoned' gear left after the mass arrests as another justification for the action.

Lies.

Here is linked a letter to the editor by one of those arrested.  If you value being an American, you need to read this so you understand what is happening around us.  If you value your safety, you need to read this; it is the account of an eyewitness to the law enforcement horror we may all soon face.

Please read.

http://culvercitycrossroads.com/2011/12/05/dear-editor-lapd-arrests-the-truth-at-occupy-la/

A Matter Of Trust

     When humans first ran into aliens, it was almost exactly that.
     Alarms blared through the steel passageways of ESS Theseum; "Collision stations, all hands," rang out from the intercom over and over.  The crew reacted with frantic, well-trained precision.
     "Franklin, you're fired," snapped Captain Henry Hersht from his C3 station.  He leaned toward the Virtual Display, as if being closer to the VD would somehow force a faster answer.  "Nail down that asteroid's orbit so we can get out of the way."
     "Sorry, sir, don't know how we missed something that big."  Chief Franklin closed his eyes to better focus on his direct neural link.  "What are the odds of a random rock being in a perfect survey orbit. . . there, got it.  Up on the VD with vector change options."
     "Great.  Execute primary option."  Cpt. Hersht sat back, relieved.  "You're hired again."  He overrode the alarms and opened his personal intercom access.  "All over and well done.  All hands return. . ."  Collision alarms interrupted him.  He cursed, closed the intercom, and cut the alarms again.  "Chief?"
     "Sir." Chief Franklin pulled his link cable and turned to face his CO.  "The asteroid is maneuvering."
   
       
     "No, you're not getting it," Dr. Makkin said to the com display aboard ESS Perseus.  Pure joy of disovery had her wound up, just short of babbling.  "They are almost solely macro-systems.  Their muscles have no cells!  Instead they use contracting polymer membranes.  Even the bones are extruded polymers."  
     Similar conversations went on around her in the communications shack as the First Contact team sent it's first comprehensive report back to Earth.  A similar team of aliens were aboard their own ship in Earth orbit, doing the same while the quantum communications link was up.  While decoding each other's language was the first priority, both teams had tried to cover as much as possible.
     "It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen," Taylor continued.  "I have no idea how they procreate, develop, or even practice medicine.  Honestly, if I had to operate on one I'd need a woodshop instead of an operating room."  She smiled at the display.  "I'm really glad you got me on this mission, Uncle Vaz."
     The middle-aged man on the screen grinned at that.  The background was his austere office; his rumpled business attire and open sincerity did not hint that he was an extremely important man.
     "You earned that yourself, Taylor.  Despite the fact they look like a spider skeleton with wings, you say they're quite intelligent?" Vassily asked.  His years-seamed face easily hid his keen interest in the answer.  "What do they use for a brain?"
     "A distributed neural net, nerve clusters connected by extruded cabling."  Taylor grinned and tapped her head.  "Connectivity is an order of magnitude less than us, but at least an order of magnitude faster.  Very intelligent, and quick."
     "Easy to kill, I suppose, with their brains hanging out?"
     "What?"  She frowned.  "Why would you even ask that?"
     "Just answer the damned question."  He winced at his emotional slip.  "Sorry, but it's a serious question.  Understand?"
     "So.  It's like that."  Taylor shook her head.  "No, they'd be much harder to kill than your typical human.  And Uncle Vassily?  You're an ass for sending me to do your bloody spying."

         
     "Admiral Mawnsch, I must report failure."  Chief Seeker Tangor passed a traditional printed report to the Admiral, then collapsed into a padded nest-nook.  The Admiral's ready room resembled a normal, if sparingly decorated, nesting den.
     "Flying stones, Seeker," groused the Admiral and keyed up the ready room's illumination to read the report.  "Gather another specimen, another research group.  Cliff's edge; failure could mean our extinction.  Try again, Doctor."
     "Pushing uphill, sir.  We have the best scientists already, and the humans supplied plenty of samples and criminals.  Such an effort would be wasted."  Tangor clattered structural members in distress.  "Shall I explain?"
     "If you didn't, I'd have you recycled to a creche."
     "Sunrise," it replied morosely.  "They are so physically complex we will need decades, perhaps centuries, to understand them completely.  They are entirely made up of biologic nanomachines arranged in hierarchal subsystems."
     "Round cube?" Admiral Mawnsh scrunched in disbelief.
     "Indeed.  For instance, instead of flexation membranes, they use muscle tissue arranged in hundreds of discrete flexators."  Tangor summoned a VR between them.  Images of a human autopsy scrolled as he spoke.  "Muscle tissue is an amalgam of connective membranes and microscopic cells that contract under direct stimulus from their brain.  We estimate the human body contains some 20 trillion muscle cells.  Every organ and system in the human body, from supporting skeletal structures to oxygenation fluid, is built this way."
     "A strong wall has many stones," rasped the Admiral.  "With that kind of redundency they must be tough."
     "Reversal," said Tangor.  "They are relatively frail."
     "Carry on with your research, Seeker," said the Admiral as it stood to salute.  "Even the final brick is needed.  Flow to the desired goal will be found by another channel.  Dismissed."  The Seeker returned the salute and left Admiral Mawnsch alone.
     The Admiral spent the next watch poring over Tangor's report as well as others from scouting missions to Earth and agents in the First Contact Exchange Conference.  The risk and outcome matrix was easy enough to derive, but the Admiral  didn't like what it showed.  Finally Admiral Mawnsch opened a channel to sick bay.
     "Send Medical Seeker Jharmett to my ready room, ASAP.  Tell him to bring everything he has on the Humans."  After a few seconds of pained consideration, he called the com nest.
     "Lt. Chusque, get me a line to that Minister fellow, the one running the Earth side of the First Contact Team.  Yes, Brache, that's the one.  Coded and locked, Chusque, Imperial Secret."   


     "Don't dither."  Minister of Covert Operations Vassily Brache marched briskly along Green Hall, practically dragging Senior Analyst Troy Bensen.  "Don't act shy or intimidated.  You're working with the PM on this, so treat him like he's part of the team.  Got it?"
     "Right, sir," said the gawky analyst.  "No pressure, only the end of the world," he muttered to himself.  Vassily smacked the back of Troy's head.
     Then everything became a chaos of security checks and introductions, ending in the dark woods and ancient decor of famed Ivy Rotunda.  Despite the size of the hall it was standing room only.  It looked as if every Minister in Head Office was present.
     To Troy, who was familiar with lesser gatherings, the meeting proceeded with unbelievable swiftness.  Before he was able to fully gather his wits, all attention was on him.  He rose, but hesitated, cleared his throat to cover discomfiture.
     "Spit it out, Bensen," said Prime Minister Lief.
     "Yes, sir," he said firmly and threw himself into the report.  "Quick establishment of diplomatic relations isn't happening.  We and Poesht are too alien.  We don't understand or trust their motivations yet, and must assume they have the same problem."
     "The Poesht aren't ready for a war on this scale, and neither are we.  Both empires have enjoyed an extended historical period without external enemies.  Individually, the Poeshtans are much harder to kill than we are, so given equivalent readiness, they would have a significant advantage should war begin.  They are more than intelligent enough to recognize this as well as we do."  The hall was ominously silent as Benson activated a 360VD above the podium.  Graphs and diagrams sprang to life.
     "We could preemptively attack, but lack of military forces on both sides would most likely lead to an indecisive, extended, and expensive period of hostilities.  We would lose eventually, but both race's economy and government would destabilize.  There's a good chance of both collapsing."
     "We could start building up the military now in an attempt to reach parity.  However, all they need to do is start building up as well, and they could easily stay ahead of us.  Then it's an old-fashioned arms race until war breaks out or one of us goes bankrupt."
     "If we could significantly delay the previous two options, industry could be built up and readied for an outbreak of hostilities, supplying a deterrent we don't have now."
     "As it stands, Poesht would benefit most from a preemeptive attack while they still have a clear advantage.  Should that be their decision, we can expect action within weeks, perhaps just days.  Our best response is to strike before they do."  Troy dismissed the display and sat down, pale and sweating.
     The most powerful men in Earth's history pondered how to face the untenable situation.
     "Ladies and gentlemen," said PM Lief, "it seems our best choice is bloody bad.  Let's have a. . . yes, Minister Brache?"
     "Thank you, sir," said Vassily.  He rose and cleared his throat.  "I believe there is a more productive possiblity, sir.  If I may?"  With a quick glance around the table, the PM nodded and Vassily activated the central display, showing an extreme close-up of a tiny but monstrous creature.
     "The Poesht don't suffer from diseases as we know them.  However, parasites that infested and fed on them were once a constant problem. . ."


     "Yes, sir," said Admiral Mawnsch respectfully to his ultimate boss, the Secretary of the Cabinet.  They spoke over a secure link via Virtual Display.  "A pit is bottomless until you fall, Secretary.  We must assume they are as aware of the situation as we are.  Perhaps because of their fragility they are a very aggressive race, at least as aggressive as we are, if not more so.  They will certainly decide to risk financial self-destruction and begin a massive program to improve their military.  We will then be forced to either shoulder the same financial burden or attack now.  Either way it is very likely both peoples will suffer eventual collapse."
     "Better to lose a limb than wait in the trap.  Thank you for your report, Admiral."  Before the Secretary could dismiss the link, Admiral Mawnsch drummed his membranes for attention.
     "Sir, I may have an alternative. . ."

   
     "The citizens of Poesht present my humble self as their representative to the citizens of Earth."
     "We are honored to receive the interstellar Ambassador of Poesht and present. . ."
     The ceremony would continue for hours, as would the social gathering after, but Vassily turned away from the monitors.  To him, the job started now.
     "Launch," he said quietly to staff at stations around the room.  "God help us all."
     Celebratory fireworks programs started in cities all across Earth and her many colonies.  Unnoticable among the brilliant displays other shells arced aloft, their detonations insignificant.  Invisibly, the haze of spores slowly drifted down to gently infect the jubilant billions.


     With an angry curse Admiral Mawnsch turned off the diplomatic scenes on the main screen.  He had commanded fleets in war, ordered ships to certain doom, lost friends in combat, and never had words been harder to utter.  He looked around the bridge at the assembled team.
     "Commence operation," he rumbled.
     In ancient holiday tradition, formations of naval space vessels flew low over the cities of the wide-flung Poesht Empire, scattering treats to the appreciative crowds with every fly-over.  Unseeable to the celebrating citizens, microscopic mites clung to each toy and sweet.  By the time they all went home to enjoy family and food on the joyous occaision of interstellar peace, most were infested.  In the normal course of living infestations rates reached 100% within a month.


     The meeting was absolutely secret; no aides or advisors or even bodyguards allowed.  The small interplanetary freighter had been abandoned here months ago and would be destroyed as soon as the two beings each left in their respective tiny shuttlecrafts.  The only objects in the otherwise empty central cargo bay was a cheap folding table and toaster-sized generation-one translator.  The two beings entered from opposite sides of the bay at nearly the same instant.
     "Admiral Mawnsch, good to see you again," said Vassily.  "How are you today?"
     "Please dispense with banalities, Minister Brache." the Admiral growled.  "Let us not chew a bitter fruit; this unsavory task is best done quickly."
     "Indeed."
     They approached the table silently and each placed a secure document carrier in front of him.  At a shared nod they slid their respective cases toward the other and opened them.  Each exposed a simple keypad panel and a set of complex keys hung in the lid.
     Turning the keys and entering a code would release a virus on each homeworld, a virus designed to switch both the mites and spores from benign to deadly, resulting in a plague like nothing in history.  Both looked at the devices with unpleasant expressions, though neither could read the other's face.
     "My staff will confirm proper function within the hour," said Vassily as he shut the case.
     "As shall my technicians."  Mawnsch showed atypical hesitation.  "Vassily.  I am told a cure will take three to five years."
     "Yes, we think about the same for us.  I will keep you in the loop on our program."
     "Not my concern.  I'm folding my tent.  What weighs on my mind is, what will we do then?"
     "I should hope something better than what we do now, sir.  Holding each other as genocidal hostages is very close to madness.  I pray we can work out a real solution before then."  Vassily forced himself to step forward and put out his hand, a gesture understood by both races.
     The Admiral's membranes flapped sharply, which was interpreted as a bark of laughter, and slapped it's primary manipulator digits into Vassily's hand.  The man winced, but grasped them firmly.
     "To trust," he said.

The End