Metafire

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"I don't know a Jack Martin," she said again. "I suppose he is."

At that point Randy decided to hold. They knew he was police. They could check the name and would find out there was not a policeman named Jack Martin. Or, maybe, Steve would think of this and create such a policeman. No, there was no chance of that. He was now starting to remember Steve as another person that let him down when he needed help.

But, while it was true that Steve hadn't thought of it, John Ferguson did. When Metafire checked out the name "Jack Martin," they found him listed in the police registry. He was a Sargent and had a history as a line cop that had been promoted to a detective. It was a copy of Randy's history, in Jack Martin's name.

Dick then left the room. Frank spoke up again, "Do you see these containers over here?" They were in a large room with a small conference table with chairs. The containers had a variety of seals on them, but one label stood out, GE Subterranean TV. "You are going to ride inside this container."

The government had built the transport capsules to sit on existing Minuteman Launch platforms. The transport capsules were of about twelve feet in diameter and long. The shape was useful for lifting people and maximizing living space, but utterly unequiped for re-entry. While everything that went into space had to be checked out, equipment that was intended strictly for inside-capsule use was not heavily constrained. Except for weighing in, a company could arrange several large boxes to be boarded, without inspection, at launch time. Again, this was a one way trip for most of these people. They had the right, within the group, to decide what they would bring, as long as the essential provisioning requirements were met.


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