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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/28156-h.zip b/28156-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..26eb8ff --- /dev/null +++ b/28156-h.zip diff --git a/28156-h/28156-h.htm b/28156-h/28156-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e400aa --- /dev/null +++ b/28156-h/28156-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1222 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Minor Detail, by Jack Sharkey + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + h2 {font-weight: normal;} + hr {width: 45%; margin: 1em auto; clear: both; visibility: hidden;} + .td2 {text-align: right;} + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .trn {border: solid 1px; margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: justify;} + p.cap:first-letter {float: left; margin-right: .05em; padding-top: .05em; font-size: 300%; + line-height: .8em; width: auto;} + .cap {margin-top: 2em;} + .dcap {text-transform: uppercase;} + .bk1 {width: 25em; text-align: justify; margin: 1em auto;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Minor Detail, by John Michael Sharkey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Minor Detail + +Author: John Michael Sharkey + +Release Date: February 23, 2009 [EBook #28156] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINOR DETAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="bk1"><b><big><i>General Webb had a simply magnificent +idea for getting ground forces into the +enemy's territory despite rockets and +missiles and things like that. It was a +grand scheme, except for one</i></big></b></div> + +<h1><big>MINOR DETAIL</big></h1> + +<h2><small>By JACK SHARKEY</small></h2> + +<p class="cap"><span class="dcap">The</span> Secretary of Defense, +flown in by special plane +from the new Capitol Building +in Denver, trotted down the +ramp with his right hand outstretched +before him.</p> + +<p>At the base of the ramp his +hand was touched, clutched and +hidden by the right hand of General +"Smiley" Webb in a hearty +parody of a casual handshake. +General Webb did everything in +a big way, and that included +even little things like handshakes.</p> + +<p>Retrieving his hand once +more, James Whitlow, the Secretary +of Defense, smiled nervously +with his tiny mouth, and +said,</p> + +<p>"Well, here I am."</p> + +<p>This statement was taken +down by a hovering circle of +news reporters, dispatched by +wireless and telephone to every +town in the forty-nine states, expanded, +contracted, quoted and +misquoted, ignored and misconstrued, +and then forgotten; all +this in a matter of hours.</p> + +<p>The nation, hearing it, put +aside its wonted trepidations, +took an extra tranquilizer or +two, and felt secure once more. +The government was in good +hands.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Leaving the reporters in a disgruntled +group beyond the cyclone-fence-and-barbed-wire +barriers surrounding Project +W, General Webb, seated +beside Whitlow in the back of +his private car, sighed and folded +his arms.</p> + +<p>"You'll be amazed!" he chortled, +nudging his companion +with a bony elbow.</p> + +<p>"I—I expect so," said Whitlow, +clinging to his brief case +with both hands. It contained, +among other things, a volume of +mystery stories and a ham sandwich, +neatly packaged in aluminum +foil. Whitlow didn't want +to chance losing it. Not, at least, +until he'd eaten the sandwich.</p> + +<p>"Of course, you're wondering +where I got the idea for my +project," said "Smiley" Webb, +adding, for the benefit of his +driver, "Keep your eyes on the +road, Sergeant! The WAC barracks +will still be there when you +get off duty!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," came a hollow +grunt from the front seat.</p> + +<p>"Weren't you?" asked General +Webb, gleaming a toothy smile +in Whitlow's direction.</p> + +<p>"Weren't I <i>what</i>?" Whitlow +asked miserably, having lost the +thread of their conversation due +to a surreptitious glance backward +at the WAC barracks in +their wake.</p> + +<p>"Wondering about the project!" +snapped the general.</p> + +<p>"Yes. We <i>all</i> were," said the +Secretary of Defense, appending +somewhat tartly, "That's why +they <i>sent</i> me here."</p> + +<p>"To be sure. To be sure," General +Webb muttered. He didn't +much like tartness in responses, +but the Secretary of Defense, +unfortunately, was hardly a +subordinate, and therefore not +subject to the general's choler. +Silly little ass! he said to himself. +Rather liking the sound of +the words—albeit in his mind—he +repeated them over again, +adding embellishments like +"pompous" and "mousy" and +"squirrel-eyed." After three or +four such thoughts, the general +felt much better.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> thought the whole thing up, +myself," he said, proudly.</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd stop being so +ambiguous," Whitlow protested +in a small voice. "Just what <i>is</i> +this project? How does it work? +Will it help us win the war?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Sssh!</i>" said the general, jerking +a quivering forefinger perpendicular +before pursed lips. +"Security!"</p> + +<p>He closed one eye in a broad +wink and wriggled a thumb in +the direction of the driver. "He's +only cleared for Confidential +material," said the general, his +tone casting aspersions on the +sergeant's patriotism, ancestry +and personal hygiene. "This +project is, of course, <i>Top Secret</i>!" +He said the words reverently, +his face going all noble +and brave. Whitlow half-expected +him to remove his hat, but he +did not.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>They drove onward, then, in +silence, until they passed by a +large field, in the center of +which Whitlow could discern the +outlines of an immense bull's-eye, +in front of a tall, somewhat +rickety khaki-colored reviewing +stand, draped in tired bunting.</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked Whitlow, +relinquishing his grip on +his brief case long enough to +point toward the field.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ssssh!</i>" said "Smiley" Webb. +"You'll find out in a matter of +hours."</p> + +<p>"Many hours?" Whitlow asked, +thinking of the ham sandwich.</p> + +<p>General Webb consulted a +magnificent platinum timepiece +anchored to his thick hairy +wrist by a stout leather strap.</p> + +<p>"In exactly one hour, thirty-seven +minutes, and forty-three-point-oh-oh-nine +seconds!" +he said, proudly.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," Whitlow sighed. +"You're certainly running this +thing—whatever it is—in an +efficient manner."</p> + +<p>"Thank <i>you</i>!" General Webb +glowed. "We like to think so," +he added modestly.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Passwords, signs, countersigns, +combination-locks and +electronic recognition signals +were negotiated one by one, until +Whitlow was despairing of +ever getting into the heart of +Project W. He said as much to +General Webb, who merely flashed +the grin which gave him his +nickname, and opened a final +door.</p> + +<p>For a moment, Whitlow +thought he was going deaf. The +shrill roar of screeching metal +and throbbing dynamos that +pounded at his eardrums began +to fuddle his mind, until General +Webb handed him a small +cardboard box—also stamped, +like every door and wall in the +place, "Top Secret"—in which +his trembling fingers located +two ordinary rubber earplugs, +which he instantly put to good +use.</p> + +<p>"There she is!" said General +Webb, proudly, gesturing over +the railing of the small balcony +upon which they stood. "The +Whirligig!"</p> + +<p>"What?" called Secretary of +Defense Whitlow, shaking his +head to indicate he hadn't heard +a word.</p> + +<p>Somewhat piqued, but resigned, +General Webb leaned his +wide mouth nearly up against +Whitlow's small pink plugged +ear, and roared the same information +at the top of his lungs.</p> + +<p>Whitlow, a little stunned by +the volume despite the plugs, +nodded wearily, to indicate that +he'd heard, then asked, in a high, +piping voice, "What's it for?"</p> + +<p>Webb's eyes bulged in their +sockets. "Great heavens, man, +can't you <i>see</i>?" He gestured +down at his creation, his baby, +his project, as though it were +self-evident what its function +was.</p> + +<p>Whitlow strained his eyes to +divine anything that might give +a clue as to just what the government +had been pouring money +into for the past eight months. +All he saw was what appeared +to be a sort of ferris-wheel, except +that it was revolving in a +horizontal plane. The structure +was completely enclosed in metal, +and was whirling too fast for +even the central shaft to be anything +but a hazy, silver-blue +blur.</p> + +<p>"I see it," he shouted, squeakily. +"But I don't understand it!"</p> + +<p>"Come with me," said General +Webb, re-opening the door at +their backs. He was just about +to step through when, with a +quick blush of mortification, he +remembered the "Top Secret" +earplugs. Hastily, averting his +face lest the other man see his +embarrassment, he returned his +plugs to their box, and did the +same with Whitlow's.</p> + +<p>Whitlow was glad when the +door closed behind them.</p> + +<p>"My office is this way," said +Webb, striding off in a stiff military +manner.</p> + +<p>Whitlow, with a forlorn shrug, +could do nothing but clutch his +brief case and follow.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"It's this way," General Webb +began, once they were seated +uncomfortably in his office. +From a pocket in his khaki +jacket, Webb had produced a +big-bowled calabash pipe, and +was puffing its noxious gray +fumes in all directions while he +spoke. "Up until the late fifties, +war was a simple thing ..."</p> + +<p>Oh, not the March of Science +Speech! said Whitlow to himself. +He knew it by heart. It was +the talk of the Capitol, and the +nightmare of military strategists. +As the general's voice +droned on and on, Whitlow barely +listened. The general, Top Secret +or no Top Secret, was +divulging nothing that wasn't +common knowledge from the +ruins of Philadelphia to the +great Hollywood crater ...</p> + +<p>All at once, weapons had gotten +<i>too</i> good. That was the whole +problem. Wars, no matter what +the abilities of the death-dealing +guns, cannon, rifles, rockets or +whatever, needed one thing on +the battlefield that could not be +turned out in a factory: Men.</p> + +<p>In order to win a war, a country +must be vanquished. In order +to vanquish a country, soldiers +must be landed. And that was +precisely wherein the difficulty +lay: landing the soldiers.</p> + +<p>Ships were nearly obsolete in +this respect. Landing barges +could be blown out of the water +as fast as they were let down +into it.</p> + +<p>Paratroops were likewise +hopeless. The slow-moving troop-carrying +planes daren't even +peek above the enemy's horizon +without chancing an onslaught +of "thinking" rockets that +would stay on their trail until +they were molten cinders falling +into the sea.</p> + +<p>So someone invented the supersonic +carrier. This was +pretty good, allowing the planes +to come in high and fast over +the enemy's territory, as fast as +the land-to-air missiles themselves. +The only drawback was +that the first men to try parachuting +at that speed were battered +to confetti by the slipstream +of their own carriers. +That would not do.</p> + +<p>Next, someone thought of the +capsules. Each man was packed +into a break-proof, shock-proof, +water-proof, wind-proof plastic +capsule, and ejected safely beyond +the slipstream area of the +carriers, at which point, each +capsule sprouted a silken chute +that lowered the enclosed men +gently down into range of the +enemy's rocket-fire ...</p> + +<p>This plan was scrapped like +the others.</p> + +<p>And so, things were at a +stalemate. There hadn't been a +really good skirmish for nearly +five years. War was hardly anything +but a memory, what with +both sides practically omnipotent. +Unless troops could be +landed, war was downright impossible. +And, no one could land +troops, so there was no war.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Whitlow +<i>liked</i> the state of affairs. To be +Secretary of Defense during a +years-long peace was a soft job +to top all soft jobs. And Whitlow +didn't much like war. He'd +rather live peacefully with his +mystery stories and ham sandwiches.</p> + +<p>But the Capitol, under the relentless +lobbying of the munitions +interests, was trying to +find a way to get a war started.</p> + +<p>They <i>had</i> tried simply bombing +the other countries, but it +hadn't worked out too well: the +other countries had bombed +back.</p> + +<p>This plan had been scrapped +as too dangerous.</p> + +<p>And then, just when all seemed +lost, when it looked as though +mankind was doomed to eternal +peace ...</p> + +<p>Along came General "Smiley" +Webb.</p> + +<p>"Land troops?" he'd said, confidently, +"nothing easier. With +the government's cooperation, I +can have our troops in any country +in the world, safely landed, +within the space of one year!"</p> + +<p>Congress had voted him the +money unanimously, and off he'd +gone to work at Project W. No +one knew <i>quite</i> what it was +about, but the general had +seemed so self-assured that— Well, +they'd almost forgotten +about him until some ambitious +clerk, trying to balance at least +<i>part</i> of the budget, had discovered +a monthly expenditure to an +obscure base in the southwest +totalling some millions of dollars. +Perfunctory checking had +brought out the fact that +"Smiley" Webb had been drawing +this money every month, and +hadn't as much as mailed in a +single progress report.</p> + +<p>There'd been swift phone-calls +from Denver to Project W, and, +General Webb informed them, +not only was all the money to be +accounted for, but so was all the +time and effort: the project was +completed, and about to be tested. +Would someone like to come +down and watch?</p> + +<p>Someone would.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>And thus it was that James +Whitlow, with mystery stories +and ham sandwich, had taken +the first plane from the Capitol ...</p> + +<p>"... when all at once, I +thought: Speed! Endurance! +<i>That</i> is the problem!" said +Webb, breaking in on Whitlow's +reverie.</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon?" said the +Secretary of Defense.</p> + +<p>Webb whacked the dottle out +of his pipe into a meaty palm, +tossed the smoking cinders +rather carelessly into a waste-basket, +and leaned forward to +confront the other man face to +face, their noses almost nudging.</p> + +<p>"Why are parachutes out?" he +snapped.</p> + +<p>"They go too slow," said Whitlow.</p> + +<p>"Why do we use parachutes at +all?"</p> + +<p>"To keep the men from getting +killed by the fall."</p> + +<p>"Why does a fall kill the +men?"</p> + +<p>"It— It breaks their bones +and stuff."</p> + +<p>"<i>Bah!</i>" Webb scoffed.</p> + +<p>"Bah?" reiterated Whitlow. +"Bah?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly bah!" said the general. +"All it takes is a little +training."</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>"All <i>what</i> takes?" said Whitlow, +helplessly.</p> + +<p>"Falling, man, falling!" the +general boomed. "If a man can +fall safely from ten feet— Why +not from ten times ten feet!?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said Whitlow, "increasing +height accelerates the +<i>rate</i> of falling, and—"</p> + +<p>"<i>Poppycock!</i>" the general +roared.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Whitlow, +somewhat cowed.</p> + +<p>"Muscle-building. That's the +secret. Endurance. Stress. +Strain. Tension."</p> + +<p>"If— If you say so ..." said +Whitlow, slumping lower and +lower in his chair as the general's +massive form leaned precariously +over him. "But—"</p> + +<p>"Of <i>course</i> you are puzzled," +said the general, suddenly chummy. +"Anyone would be. Until +they realized the use to which +I've put the Whirligig!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. Yes, I suppose so ..." +said Whitlow, thinking longingly +of his ham sandwich, and its +crunchy, moist green smear of +pickle relish.</p> + +<p>"The first day—" said General +Webb, "it revolved at <i>one</i> +gravity! They withstood it!"</p> + +<p>"What did? Who withstood? +When?" asked Whitlow, with +much confusion.</p> + +<p>"The men!" said the general, +irritably. "The men in the +Whirligig!"</p> + +<p>Whitlow jerked bolt upright. +"There are <i>men</i> in that thing?" +It's not possible, he thought.</p> + +<p>"Of course," said Webb, soothingly. +"But they're all right. +They've been in there for thirty +days, whirling around at one +gravity more each day. We have +constant telephone communication +with them. They're all feeling +fine, just fine."</p> + +<p>"But—" Whitlow said, weakly.</p> + +<p>General Webb had him firmly +by the arm, and was leading him +out of the office. "We must get +to the stands, man. Operation +Human Bomb in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>"Bomb?" Whitlow squeaked, +scurrying alongside Webb as the +larger man strode down the +echoing corridor.</p> + +<p>"A euphemism, of course," +said Webb. "Because they will +fall much like a bomb does. But +they will not explode! No, they +will land, rifles in hand, ready +to take over the enemy territory."</p> + +<p>"Without parachutes?" Whitlow +marveled.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," said the general, +leading the way out into the +blinding desert sunlight. "You +see," he remarked, as they +strolled toward the heat-shimmering +outlines of the reviewing +stand, its bunting hanging limp +and faded in the dry, breezeless +air, "it's really so simple I'm astonished +the enemy didn't think +of it first. Though, of course, +I'm glad they didn't— Ha! ha!" +He oozed self-appreciation.</p> + +<p>"Ha ha," repeated Whitlow, +with little enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>"When one is whirled at one +gravity, you see, the wall—the +outside rim—of the Whirligig, +becomes the floor for the men +inside. Each day, they have +spent up to ten hours doing +nothing but deep knee-bends, +and eating high protein foods. +Their legs will be able to withstand +<i>any</i> force of landing. If +they can do deep knee-bends at +thirty gravities—during which, +of course, each of them weighed +nearly three tons—they can +jump from any height and survive. +Good, huh?"</p> + +<hr /> + +<p>Whitlow was worried as they +clambered up into the stands. +There seemed to be no one about +but the two of them.</p> + +<p>"Who else is coming?" he +asked.</p> + +<p>"Just us," said Webb. "I'm the +only one with a clearance high +enough to watch this. You're +only here because you're <i>my</i> +guest."</p> + +<p>"But—" said Whitlow, observing +the heat-baked wide-open +spaces extending on all sides of +the reviewing stand and bull's-eye, +"the men on this base can +surely watch from almost anywhere +not beyond the horizon."</p> + +<p>"They'd <i>better</i> not!" was the +general's only comment.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Whitlow, "what +happens now?"</p> + +<p>"The men that were in that +Whirligig have—since you and +I went to my office to chat—been +transported to the airfield, from +which point they were taken +aloft—" he consulted his watch, +"five minutes, and fifty-five-point-six +seconds ago."</p> + +<p>"And?" asked Whitlow, casually +unbuckling the straps of +his brief case and slipping out +his sandwich.</p> + +<p>"The plane will be within +bomb vector of this target in +just ten seconds!" said Webb, +confidently.</p> + +<p>Whitlow listened, for the next +nine seconds, then, right on +schedule, he heard the muted +droning of a plane, high up. +Webb joggled him with an elbow. +"They'll fall faster than any +known enemy weapon can track +them," he said, smugly.</p> + +<p>"That's fortunate," said Whitlow, +munching desultorily at his +sandwich. "Bud dere's wud thig +budduhs bee."</p> + +<p>"Hmmf?" asked the general.</p> + +<p>Whitlow swallowed hastily. "I +say, there's one thing bothers +me."</p> + +<p>"What's that?" asked the general.</p> + +<p>"Well, it's just that gravity is +centripetal, you know, and the +Whirligig is centrifugal. I wondered +if it might not make some +sort of difference?"</p> + +<p>"Bah!" said General Webb. +"Just a minor detail."</p> + +<p>"If you say so," Whitlow +shrugged.</p> + +<p>"There they come!" shouted +the general, jumping to his feet.</p> + +<p>Whitlow, despite his misgivings, +found that he, too, was on +his feet, staring skyward at the +tiny dots that were detaching +themselves from the shining +bulk of the carrier plane. As he +watched, his heart beating madly, +the dots grew bigger, and +soon, awfully soon, they could be +distinguished as man-shaped, +too.</p> + +<p>"There's— There's something +wrong!" said the general. +"What's that they're all shouting? +It <i>should</i> be 'Geronimo' ..."</p> + +<p>Whitlow listened. "It sounds +more like 'Eeeeeyaaaaa'," he +said.</p> + +<p>And it was.</p> + +<p>The sound grew from a distant +mumble to a shrieking roar, +and the next thing, each man +had landed upon the concrete-and-paint +bull's-eye before the +reviewing stand.</p> + +<p>Whitlow sighed and re-buckled +his brief case.</p> + +<p>The general moaned and fainted.</p> + +<p>And the men of the Whirligig, +all of whom had landed on the +target head-first, did nothing, +their magnificently muscled legs +waving idly in a sudden gentle +gust of desert breeze.</p> + +<div class="cap"><p class="td2"><b>THE END</b></p></div> + +<div class="trn"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b> +This etext was produced from <i>Amazing Stories</i> November 1959. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. +copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and +typographical errors have been corrected without note.</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Minor Detail, by John Michael Sharkey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINOR DETAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 28156-h.htm or 28156-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/1/5/28156/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Minor Detail + +Author: John Michael Sharkey + +Release Date: February 23, 2009 [EBook #28156] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINOR DETAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _General Webb had a simply magnificent idea for getting ground + forces into the enemy's territory despite rockets and missiles and + things like that. It was a grand scheme, except for one_ + + +MINOR DETAIL + +By JACK SHARKEY + + +The Secretary of Defense, flown in by special plane from the new Capitol +Building in Denver, trotted down the ramp with his right hand +outstretched before him. + +At the base of the ramp his hand was touched, clutched and hidden by the +right hand of General "Smiley" Webb in a hearty parody of a casual +handshake. General Webb did everything in a big way, and that included +even little things like handshakes. + +Retrieving his hand once more, James Whitlow, the Secretary of Defense, +smiled nervously with his tiny mouth, and said, + +"Well, here I am." + +This statement was taken down by a hovering circle of news reporters, +dispatched by wireless and telephone to every town in the forty-nine +states, expanded, contracted, quoted and misquoted, ignored and +misconstrued, and then forgotten; all this in a matter of hours. + +The nation, hearing it, put aside its wonted trepidations, took an extra +tranquilizer or two, and felt secure once more. The government was in +good hands. + + * * * * * + +Leaving the reporters in a disgruntled group beyond the +cyclone-fence-and-barbed-wire barriers surrounding Project W, General +Webb, seated beside Whitlow in the back of his private car, sighed and +folded his arms. + +"You'll be amazed!" he chortled, nudging his companion with a bony +elbow. + +"I--I expect so," said Whitlow, clinging to his brief case with both +hands. It contained, among other things, a volume of mystery stories and +a ham sandwich, neatly packaged in aluminum foil. Whitlow didn't want to +chance losing it. Not, at least, until he'd eaten the sandwich. + +"Of course, you're wondering where I got the idea for my project," said +"Smiley" Webb, adding, for the benefit of his driver, "Keep your eyes on +the road, Sergeant! The WAC barracks will still be there when you get +off duty!" + +"Yes, sir," came a hollow grunt from the front seat. + +"Weren't you?" asked General Webb, gleaming a toothy smile in Whitlow's +direction. + +"Weren't I _what_?" Whitlow asked miserably, having lost the thread of +their conversation due to a surreptitious glance backward at the WAC +barracks in their wake. + +"Wondering about the project!" snapped the general. + +"Yes. We _all_ were," said the Secretary of Defense, appending somewhat +tartly, "That's why they _sent_ me here." + +"To be sure. To be sure," General Webb muttered. He didn't much like +tartness in responses, but the Secretary of Defense, unfortunately, was +hardly a subordinate, and therefore not subject to the general's choler. +Silly little ass! he said to himself. Rather liking the sound of the +words--albeit in his mind--he repeated them over again, adding +embellishments like "pompous" and "mousy" and "squirrel-eyed." After +three or four such thoughts, the general felt much better. + +"_I_ thought the whole thing up, myself," he said, proudly. + +"I wish you'd stop being so ambiguous," Whitlow protested in a small +voice. "Just what _is_ this project? How does it work? Will it help us +win the war?" + +"_Sssh!_" said the general, jerking a quivering forefinger perpendicular +before pursed lips. "Security!" + +He closed one eye in a broad wink and wriggled a thumb in the direction +of the driver. "He's only cleared for Confidential material," said the +general, his tone casting aspersions on the sergeant's patriotism, +ancestry and personal hygiene. "This project is, of course, _Top +Secret_!" He said the words reverently, his face going all noble and +brave. Whitlow half-expected him to remove his hat, but he did not. + + * * * * * + +They drove onward, then, in silence, until they passed by a large field, +in the center of which Whitlow could discern the outlines of an immense +bull's-eye, in front of a tall, somewhat rickety khaki-colored reviewing +stand, draped in tired bunting. + +"What's that?" asked Whitlow, relinquishing his grip on his brief case +long enough to point toward the field. + +"_Ssssh!_" said "Smiley" Webb. "You'll find out in a matter of hours." + +"Many hours?" Whitlow asked, thinking of the ham sandwich. + +General Webb consulted a magnificent platinum timepiece anchored to his +thick hairy wrist by a stout leather strap. + +"In exactly one hour, thirty-seven minutes, and +forty-three-point-oh-oh-nine seconds!" he said, proudly. + +"Thank you," Whitlow sighed. "You're certainly running this +thing--whatever it is--in an efficient manner." + +"Thank _you_!" General Webb glowed. "We like to think so," he added +modestly. + + * * * * * + +Passwords, signs, countersigns, combination-locks and electronic +recognition signals were negotiated one by one, until Whitlow was +despairing of ever getting into the heart of Project W. He said as much +to General Webb, who merely flashed the grin which gave him his +nickname, and opened a final door. + +For a moment, Whitlow thought he was going deaf. The shrill roar of +screeching metal and throbbing dynamos that pounded at his eardrums +began to fuddle his mind, until General Webb handed him a small +cardboard box--also stamped, like every door and wall in the place, "Top +Secret"--in which his trembling fingers located two ordinary rubber +earplugs, which he instantly put to good use. + +"There she is!" said General Webb, proudly, gesturing over the railing +of the small balcony upon which they stood. "The Whirligig!" + +"What?" called Secretary of Defense Whitlow, shaking his head to +indicate he hadn't heard a word. + +Somewhat piqued, but resigned, General Webb leaned his wide mouth nearly +up against Whitlow's small pink plugged ear, and roared the same +information at the top of his lungs. + +Whitlow, a little stunned by the volume despite the plugs, nodded +wearily, to indicate that he'd heard, then asked, in a high, piping +voice, "What's it for?" + +Webb's eyes bulged in their sockets. "Great heavens, man, can't you +_see_?" He gestured down at his creation, his baby, his project, as +though it were self-evident what its function was. + +Whitlow strained his eyes to divine anything that might give a clue as +to just what the government had been pouring money into for the past +eight months. All he saw was what appeared to be a sort of ferris-wheel, +except that it was revolving in a horizontal plane. The structure was +completely enclosed in metal, and was whirling too fast for even the +central shaft to be anything but a hazy, silver-blue blur. + +"I see it," he shouted, squeakily. "But I don't understand it!" + +"Come with me," said General Webb, re-opening the door at their backs. +He was just about to step through when, with a quick blush of +mortification, he remembered the "Top Secret" earplugs. Hastily, +averting his face lest the other man see his embarrassment, he returned +his plugs to their box, and did the same with Whitlow's. + +Whitlow was glad when the door closed behind them. + +"My office is this way," said Webb, striding off in a stiff military +manner. + +Whitlow, with a forlorn shrug, could do nothing but clutch his brief +case and follow. + + * * * * * + +"It's this way," General Webb began, once they were seated uncomfortably +in his office. From a pocket in his khaki jacket, Webb had produced a +big-bowled calabash pipe, and was puffing its noxious gray fumes in all +directions while he spoke. "Up until the late fifties, war was a simple +thing ..." + +Oh, not the March of Science Speech! said Whitlow to himself. He knew it +by heart. It was the talk of the Capitol, and the nightmare of military +strategists. As the general's voice droned on and on, Whitlow barely +listened. The general, Top Secret or no Top Secret, was divulging +nothing that wasn't common knowledge from the ruins of Philadelphia to +the great Hollywood crater ... + +All at once, weapons had gotten _too_ good. That was the whole problem. +Wars, no matter what the abilities of the death-dealing guns, cannon, +rifles, rockets or whatever, needed one thing on the battlefield that +could not be turned out in a factory: Men. + +In order to win a war, a country must be vanquished. In order to +vanquish a country, soldiers must be landed. And that was precisely +wherein the difficulty lay: landing the soldiers. + +Ships were nearly obsolete in this respect. Landing barges could be +blown out of the water as fast as they were let down into it. + +Paratroops were likewise hopeless. The slow-moving troop-carrying planes +daren't even peek above the enemy's horizon without chancing an +onslaught of "thinking" rockets that would stay on their trail until +they were molten cinders falling into the sea. + +So someone invented the supersonic carrier. This was pretty good, +allowing the planes to come in high and fast over the enemy's territory, +as fast as the land-to-air missiles themselves. The only drawback was +that the first men to try parachuting at that speed were battered to +confetti by the slipstream of their own carriers. That would not do. + +Next, someone thought of the capsules. Each man was packed into a +break-proof, shock-proof, water-proof, wind-proof plastic capsule, and +ejected safely beyond the slipstream area of the carriers, at which +point, each capsule sprouted a silken chute that lowered the enclosed +men gently down into range of the enemy's rocket-fire ... + +This plan was scrapped like the others. + +And so, things were at a stalemate. There hadn't been a really good +skirmish for nearly five years. War was hardly anything but a memory, +what with both sides practically omnipotent. Unless troops could be +landed, war was downright impossible. And, no one could land troops, so +there was no war. + +As a matter of fact, Whitlow _liked_ the state of affairs. To be +Secretary of Defense during a years-long peace was a soft job to top all +soft jobs. And Whitlow didn't much like war. He'd rather live peacefully +with his mystery stories and ham sandwiches. + +But the Capitol, under the relentless lobbying of the munitions +interests, was trying to find a way to get a war started. + +They _had_ tried simply bombing the other countries, but it hadn't +worked out too well: the other countries had bombed back. + +This plan had been scrapped as too dangerous. + +And then, just when all seemed lost, when it looked as though mankind +was doomed to eternal peace ... + +Along came General "Smiley" Webb. + +"Land troops?" he'd said, confidently, "nothing easier. With the +government's cooperation, I can have our troops in any country in the +world, safely landed, within the space of one year!" + +Congress had voted him the money unanimously, and off he'd gone to work +at Project W. No one knew _quite_ what it was about, but the general had +seemed so self-assured that-- Well, they'd almost forgotten about him +until some ambitious clerk, trying to balance at least _part_ of the +budget, had discovered a monthly expenditure to an obscure base in the +southwest totalling some millions of dollars. Perfunctory checking had +brought out the fact that "Smiley" Webb had been drawing this money +every month, and hadn't as much as mailed in a single progress report. + +There'd been swift phone-calls from Denver to Project W, and, General +Webb informed them, not only was all the money to be accounted for, but +so was all the time and effort: the project was completed, and about to +be tested. Would someone like to come down and watch? + +Someone would. + + * * * * * + +And thus it was that James Whitlow, with mystery stories and ham +sandwich, had taken the first plane from the Capitol ... + +"... when all at once, I thought: Speed! Endurance! _That_ is the +problem!" said Webb, breaking in on Whitlow's reverie. + +"I beg your pardon?" said the Secretary of Defense. + +Webb whacked the dottle out of his pipe into a meaty palm, tossed the +smoking cinders rather carelessly into a waste-basket, and leaned +forward to confront the other man face to face, their noses almost +nudging. + +"Why are parachutes out?" he snapped. + +"They go too slow," said Whitlow. + +"Why do we use parachutes at all?" + +"To keep the men from getting killed by the fall." + +"Why does a fall kill the men?" + +"It-- It breaks their bones and stuff." + +"_Bah!_" Webb scoffed. + +"Bah?" reiterated Whitlow. "Bah?" + +"Certainly bah!" said the general. "All it takes is a little training." + + * * * * * + +"All _what_ takes?" said Whitlow, helplessly. + +"Falling, man, falling!" the general boomed. "If a man can fall safely +from ten feet-- Why not from ten times ten feet!?" + +"Because," said Whitlow, "increasing height accelerates the _rate_ of +falling, and--" + +"_Poppycock!_" the general roared. + +"Yes, sir," said Whitlow, somewhat cowed. + +"Muscle-building. That's the secret. Endurance. Stress. Strain. +Tension." + +"If-- If you say so ..." said Whitlow, slumping lower and lower in his +chair as the general's massive form leaned precariously over him. +"But--" + +"Of _course_ you are puzzled," said the general, suddenly chummy. +"Anyone would be. Until they realized the use to which I've put the +Whirligig!" + +"Yes. Yes, I suppose so ..." said Whitlow, thinking longingly of his ham +sandwich, and its crunchy, moist green smear of pickle relish. + +"The first day--" said General Webb, "it revolved at _one_ gravity! They +withstood it!" + +"What did? Who withstood? When?" asked Whitlow, with much confusion. + +"The men!" said the general, irritably. "The men in the Whirligig!" + +Whitlow jerked bolt upright. "There are _men_ in that thing?" It's not +possible, he thought. + +"Of course," said Webb, soothingly. "But they're all right. They've been +in there for thirty days, whirling around at one gravity more each day. +We have constant telephone communication with them. They're all feeling +fine, just fine." + +"But--" Whitlow said, weakly. + +General Webb had him firmly by the arm, and was leading him out of the +office. "We must get to the stands, man. Operation Human Bomb in ten +minutes." + +"Bomb?" Whitlow squeaked, scurrying alongside Webb as the larger man +strode down the echoing corridor. + +"A euphemism, of course," said Webb. "Because they will fall much like a +bomb does. But they will not explode! No, they will land, rifles in +hand, ready to take over the enemy territory." + +"Without parachutes?" Whitlow marveled. + +"Exactly," said the general, leading the way out into the blinding +desert sunlight. "You see," he remarked, as they strolled toward the +heat-shimmering outlines of the reviewing stand, its bunting hanging +limp and faded in the dry, breezeless air, "it's really so simple I'm +astonished the enemy didn't think of it first. Though, of course, I'm +glad they didn't-- Ha! ha!" He oozed self-appreciation. + +"Ha ha," repeated Whitlow, with little enthusiasm. + +"When one is whirled at one gravity, you see, the wall--the outside +rim--of the Whirligig, becomes the floor for the men inside. Each day, +they have spent up to ten hours doing nothing but deep knee-bends, and +eating high protein foods. Their legs will be able to withstand _any_ +force of landing. If they can do deep knee-bends at thirty +gravities--during which, of course, each of them weighed nearly three +tons--they can jump from any height and survive. Good, huh?" + + * * * * * + +Whitlow was worried as they clambered up into the stands. There seemed +to be no one about but the two of them. + +"Who else is coming?" he asked. + +"Just us," said Webb. "I'm the only one with a clearance high enough to +watch this. You're only here because you're _my_ guest." + +"But--" said Whitlow, observing the heat-baked wide-open spaces +extending on all sides of the reviewing stand and bull's-eye, "the men +on this base can surely watch from almost anywhere not beyond the +horizon." + +"They'd _better_ not!" was the general's only comment. + +"Well," said Whitlow, "what happens now?" + +"The men that were in that Whirligig have--since you and I went to my +office to chat--been transported to the airfield, from which point they +were taken aloft--" he consulted his watch, "five minutes, and +fifty-five-point-six seconds ago." + +"And?" asked Whitlow, casually unbuckling the straps of his brief case +and slipping out his sandwich. + +"The plane will be within bomb vector of this target in just ten +seconds!" said Webb, confidently. + +Whitlow listened, for the next nine seconds, then, right on schedule, he +heard the muted droning of a plane, high up. Webb joggled him with an +elbow. "They'll fall faster than any known enemy weapon can track them," +he said, smugly. + +"That's fortunate," said Whitlow, munching desultorily at his sandwich. +"Bud dere's wud thig budduhs bee." + +"Hmmf?" asked the general. + +Whitlow swallowed hastily. "I say, there's one thing bothers me." + +"What's that?" asked the general. + +"Well, it's just that gravity is centripetal, you know, and the +Whirligig is centrifugal. I wondered if it might not make some sort of +difference?" + +"Bah!" said General Webb. "Just a minor detail." + +"If you say so," Whitlow shrugged. + +"There they come!" shouted the general, jumping to his feet. + +Whitlow, despite his misgivings, found that he, too, was on his feet, +staring skyward at the tiny dots that were detaching themselves from the +shining bulk of the carrier plane. As he watched, his heart beating +madly, the dots grew bigger, and soon, awfully soon, they could be +distinguished as man-shaped, too. + +"There's-- There's something wrong!" said the general. "What's that +they're all shouting? It _should_ be 'Geronimo' ..." + +Whitlow listened. "It sounds more like 'Eeeeeyaaaaa'," he said. + +And it was. + +The sound grew from a distant mumble to a shrieking roar, and the next +thing, each man had landed upon the concrete-and-paint bull's-eye before +the reviewing stand. + +Whitlow sighed and re-buckled his brief case. + +The general moaned and fainted. + +And the men of the Whirligig, all of whom had landed on the target +head-first, did nothing, their magnificently muscled legs waving idly in +a sudden gentle gust of desert breeze. + + +THE END + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories_ November 1959. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Minor Detail, by John Michael Sharkey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINOR DETAIL *** + +***** This file should be named 28156.txt or 28156.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/1/5/28156/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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