"Steve White - The Prometheus Project" - читать интересную книгу автора (White Steve)

The President drew a breath and released it slowly. "Well, none of that matters now. Thanks to the
vagaries of the electoral system and the buffoonery of Andy Ortega, you areтАФGod help us!тАФgoing to
be President of the United States. So it's time for me to pass the burden on to you. That's why we're here
now."
Langston was puzzled. "But the inauguration isn't untilтАФ"
"Never mind that circus. And never mind everything the presidency is officially about. I'm talking about
the real burden. Something every president for the last six decades has had to live with after learning of
it in private from his predecessor."
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Of course you don't. The little ritual we're here to enact is not generally known. Nor will you find
anything about it in the Constitution."
Langston felt a coldness slide along his spine.
"I am," the President continued, "about to impart to you certain information which has been handed
down by each president to his successor ever since Eisenhower took over from Truman. I will not swear
you to secrecy, because it would be a meaningless formality. After you've heard what I have to say, you
will know that it must be kept in confidence. All your predecessors have understood thisтАФeven the ones
who looked like they might present problems. I've heard a few stories . . ." The President gave a chuckle
of amused reminiscence. "There was one president-elect who had to have it put to him as a religious
imperative, on the Sunday school level; it seems he genuinely believed the infantile pietism he spouted.
And then there was a later one who turned out to be perfectly happy to go along with anything that didn't
interfere with his extraordinarily single-minded pursuit of every pair of panties in sight. In fact, I
understand he was tickled pink to knowтАФfor onceтАФsomething his wife didn't know!" The President
sobered. "The only break in the chain was before either of those, at the time of the Kennedy
assassination. Afterwards, Johnson had to be informed by other means. I gather there were
complications. But he had no trouble grasping this information's . . . 'sensitivity' is hardly the word.
Neither have any of the others."
The thinly veiled slights to a couple of former presidents whom Langston particularly admired helped
break the spell. He leaned forward, glaring. "If you think I'm going to unquestioningly accept this vague,
unsubstantiated mystificationтАФ"
"Of course not. I wouldn't expect you to. On your standards, you're actually being rational. No one
should take something like this on blind faith. And we all know that photos and film can be faked. So in
order to assure that you take me seriously . . ." The President reached into a desk drawer and withdrew a
foot-square sheet of gray metal. He wordlessly passed it to Langston, who handled it gingerly. It was
lighter than he'd expected, and unyieldingly rigid.
"Well, what do you think?" asked the President.
Langston handed it back, irritated. "What am I supposed to think? Steel, I suppose, although it's very
thin for something that won't bend at all."
"So it is." As Langston watched in dawning amazement, the President took out a block of what looked
like soft wood and placed the square of metal atop it. Then he produced what looked like a metal-punch,
placed it in position above the metal, and held up a heavy mallet. "The Secret Service gets upset at
people putting bullets through things in here," he explained, and, without warning, brought the mallet
down. Langston jumped in his chair as the bit punched through the metal and into the wood.

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/White,%20steve%20-%20The%20prometheus%20project/0743498917___0.htm (5 of 8)28-12-2006 15:57:06
 - Prologue

The President held up the metal sheet, which now had a small round hole with a slight lip on the
underside.
As Langston watched, the metal around the hole began to . . . do something. The lip grew even slighter,
and then smoothed itself out altogether. And the hole closed, and vanished. The metal was as flawless as