Stupid Luck and Happenstance.
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
It was 3000 tonnes, worth about $18 million. It was taken from a storage warehouse where the syrup was drained from the storage barrels and replaced with water. This was done over a period of time with some inside assistance I believe. Some 26 people were eventually arrested in connection with the case.
I know it's not a joke to a Canadian but the idea of a 'Canadian Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve' is highly likely to elicit a grin and "Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve? Surely you're joking." in your US readers.
As opposed to the TACTICAL reserve?
Being a New Hampshire Yankee, Maple Syrup is an important part of life.
Part 41, Chapter 515
Chapter Five Hundred Fifteen
31st December 1945
Berlin
The sounds of the prison were subdued on a night like tonight. Even those who had totally lost the plot, who would normally be screaming into the night were quiet. The minutes were counting down towards midnight and that couldn’t be stopped. Joseph Stalin could hear the guards coming. The sounds of their footsteps echoing off the concrete walls. “When they dump your ashes into the cesspit I will consider this through” Were the words that the little Romanov bitch had used. It looked like she was about to get what she wanted. The Doctors had decided that he was healthy enough to be executed. Now he had minutes until his date with the noose and crematorium. The Germans were insulting him by hanging him this way. They didn’t want the blade of a guillotine to be sullied by his blood.
There was the scream of metal on metal as they came for him. When they had brought his last meal, the guard had mentioned that he wouldn’t have the same excuse as Beria for this being undignified. The woman who had set Beria off was out of the country. Still rough hands grabbed him and yanked him out of the cell.
Montreal
The last few days everyone had gone to their respective corners. Margot was keeping her peace for now, Kat had a look on her face that suggested that she had Margot’s number and Doug was afraid about what that might be. When she had vanished overnight, Doug had realized that he didn’t need to worry about her. There were few people with Kat’s resources. The next day she was back, and it was clear that she had learned something. Finally, Doug asked her what was going on only to have her motion him out onto the back porch where they had been argument on Christmas day. With the New Year’s Eve party going on inside no one noticed that they had stepped out.
“I had a talk with Malcolm when he found out that I slept on the couch in his office” Kat said.
“Wait” Doug said, “You crashed in my Dad’s office. At the consultancy firm?”
“It’s a little more involved then that” Kat said, she didn’t need to mention the distraction she’d set up for the armed guards and several locks she’d needed to pick.
“Whatever” Doug said, “What did he tell you?”
“It’s obvious when you think about it” Kat said, “You and Emma were born, what? Six years apart?” And your parents married right after the First Great War?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Doug asked.
“How much do you remember of your childhood?” Kat asked in reply.
“It was happy for the most part” Doug said, “Why?”
“Your father told me of how your mother wanted a big family” Kat said, “Instead she got a series of miscarriages and a stillbirth. You and Emma were considered something of a miracle.”
Doug was clearly surprised by that news. “I had no idea” He said.
“When your sister was born they had to take extraordinary measures to save her life” Kat said, “Surgery that she might not have approved of, that was the end of her aspirations, forever.”
“You think that your own biography pushes her buttons and she’s been sniping at you because of that” Doug said, “But why did my father tell you?”
“Because he knows the world I operate in” Kat said, “He was understandably afraid I might hurt her.”
“Wait a second” Doug said, “How would he know that?”
“You do know what counter intelligence means?”
“Yeah” Doug said, “But Dad’s a retired Army Colonel.”
“Who better?” Kat asked, “The agency he heads exists because of something I did here in Canada before the war.”
“Jehane Thomas” Doug said, “That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Unfortunately,” Kat said, “Back then I tended to buffalo people who would otherwise not take me seriously. They would either have to take me seriously or the dozen Paras I had as muscle backing me up. I don’t do that anymore”
Doug laughed, he could imagine her doing that. Maria Acker had talked about what Kat was like five years earlier in Australia. This strange wisp of a girl who could hardly speak the local language yet still managed to function. “So, the Canadian Government has been keeping tabs on you? He said, “They know that you’re out of the SKA and Abwehr these days?”
“Now, about that” Kat replied.
Hanford Site, Washington State
Edward Teller walked into the lead lined room. The plutonium used in the gadgets had been chemically separated in this place and then the bottom had fallen out of the project. There was no reason for him to have been disgraced in the process. He had no idea where those things had been found in his basement had come from but as he had racked his mind for answers it occurred to him that it must have been a conspiracy. The failures of his devices and his being set up must have been done by a nefarious individual or agency. He knew exactly how he was going to make them pay and reveal how wrong they were in the process.
The plutonium had been left in a crate pending their shipment to Los Alamos and the sharp cutbacks to the program meant that the site was all but abandoned. Except for the rapidly cooling body of the night watchman that is. There were only about nine or ten pounds of the stuff, plenty for what he had in mind. Great for ringing in the new year.
31st December 1945
Berlin
The sounds of the prison were subdued on a night like tonight. Even those who had totally lost the plot, who would normally be screaming into the night were quiet. The minutes were counting down towards midnight and that couldn’t be stopped. Joseph Stalin could hear the guards coming. The sounds of their footsteps echoing off the concrete walls. “When they dump your ashes into the cesspit I will consider this through” Were the words that the little Romanov bitch had used. It looked like she was about to get what she wanted. The Doctors had decided that he was healthy enough to be executed. Now he had minutes until his date with the noose and crematorium. The Germans were insulting him by hanging him this way. They didn’t want the blade of a guillotine to be sullied by his blood.
There was the scream of metal on metal as they came for him. When they had brought his last meal, the guard had mentioned that he wouldn’t have the same excuse as Beria for this being undignified. The woman who had set Beria off was out of the country. Still rough hands grabbed him and yanked him out of the cell.
Montreal
The last few days everyone had gone to their respective corners. Margot was keeping her peace for now, Kat had a look on her face that suggested that she had Margot’s number and Doug was afraid about what that might be. When she had vanished overnight, Doug had realized that he didn’t need to worry about her. There were few people with Kat’s resources. The next day she was back, and it was clear that she had learned something. Finally, Doug asked her what was going on only to have her motion him out onto the back porch where they had been argument on Christmas day. With the New Year’s Eve party going on inside no one noticed that they had stepped out.
“I had a talk with Malcolm when he found out that I slept on the couch in his office” Kat said.
“Wait” Doug said, “You crashed in my Dad’s office. At the consultancy firm?”
“It’s a little more involved then that” Kat said, she didn’t need to mention the distraction she’d set up for the armed guards and several locks she’d needed to pick.
“Whatever” Doug said, “What did he tell you?”
“It’s obvious when you think about it” Kat said, “You and Emma were born, what? Six years apart?” And your parents married right after the First Great War?”
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Doug asked.
“How much do you remember of your childhood?” Kat asked in reply.
“It was happy for the most part” Doug said, “Why?”
“Your father told me of how your mother wanted a big family” Kat said, “Instead she got a series of miscarriages and a stillbirth. You and Emma were considered something of a miracle.”
Doug was clearly surprised by that news. “I had no idea” He said.
“When your sister was born they had to take extraordinary measures to save her life” Kat said, “Surgery that she might not have approved of, that was the end of her aspirations, forever.”
“You think that your own biography pushes her buttons and she’s been sniping at you because of that” Doug said, “But why did my father tell you?”
“Because he knows the world I operate in” Kat said, “He was understandably afraid I might hurt her.”
“Wait a second” Doug said, “How would he know that?”
“You do know what counter intelligence means?”
“Yeah” Doug said, “But Dad’s a retired Army Colonel.”
“Who better?” Kat asked, “The agency he heads exists because of something I did here in Canada before the war.”
“Jehane Thomas” Doug said, “That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Unfortunately,” Kat said, “Back then I tended to buffalo people who would otherwise not take me seriously. They would either have to take me seriously or the dozen Paras I had as muscle backing me up. I don’t do that anymore”
Doug laughed, he could imagine her doing that. Maria Acker had talked about what Kat was like five years earlier in Australia. This strange wisp of a girl who could hardly speak the local language yet still managed to function. “So, the Canadian Government has been keeping tabs on you? He said, “They know that you’re out of the SKA and Abwehr these days?”
“Now, about that” Kat replied.
Hanford Site, Washington State
Edward Teller walked into the lead lined room. The plutonium used in the gadgets had been chemically separated in this place and then the bottom had fallen out of the project. There was no reason for him to have been disgraced in the process. He had no idea where those things had been found in his basement had come from but as he had racked his mind for answers it occurred to him that it must have been a conspiracy. The failures of his devices and his being set up must have been done by a nefarious individual or agency. He knew exactly how he was going to make them pay and reveal how wrong they were in the process.
The plutonium had been left in a crate pending their shipment to Los Alamos and the sharp cutbacks to the program meant that the site was all but abandoned. Except for the rapidly cooling body of the night watchman that is. There were only about nine or ten pounds of the stuff, plenty for what he had in mind. Great for ringing in the new year.
Last edited:
He won't. He also won't live to stand trial for murder. Although I suspect a "diminished responsibility" plea would be accepted.
Oh boy, he's going to do something really stupid. Surely he doesn't have the resources to make a working bomb, but he sure could make one hell of a dirty truck bomb.
Peabody, something you do so well is to build sympathy for a variety of characters who present as unsympathetic. It's really pretty amazing to see such a different picture of Margot thanks to this dialogue.
He is the resource you need to make a bomb.
Considering he is in the Manhattan lab with the Fissionable material, I am guessing the trigger bomb and the high precision timing device are also under his control.
Yeah; what else? It's indicated in some situations to keep a woman from bleeding to death. Even today some doctors require a sign-off by the husband before they'll do it. <long, vituperative rant deleted>
Would a "diminished responsibility plea" change anything when we're talking about maybe tens of thousands of dead and who knows how many irradiated (if he blows up, say, Times Square just as the clock strucks midnight) ?
Thing is, while I'm not an nuclear weapons expert, I'm quite sure that such a device can be rigged for remote control (although I don't know if the trigger would be outside the "You be fucked" radius) or at least a timer.
What I do wander is who will get blamed. Teller? Would they even know it was him?
The Manhattan scientists in general? The agencies could conclude it was a team conspiracy.
The blacks? They have been known for terror bombings, haven't they?
The Germans? A rival with little mercy, who already shown their cruel nature against the Japanese. They could have done this (with plausible deniability) just to spite a great country that doesn't mindlessly locks step with them.
'Like' is too tepid. However, if the Plutonium isn't in the form of a nickel-coated softball-size sphere he's unlikely to assemble a working gadget. A Really Dirty device is, of course, possible.
First this is an incredible story! Very well constructed and with a plentorra of very engaging actors.
Maybe you could get a token investigation into this, but anything too overt would allarm everone in the know that the USA are "weak".
Would that be the difference between a murder count of nine hundred or a thousand? Very big difference if you ask me. Either live long prison (how ever many times over) or the death sentence is the only choice here.
Whatever happens, Teller will be a very firm suspect in this. He was after all a very important scientist in the project and had all the knowlage to do this.
A very real possibility for this as well. Depends on where they are when the ball goes up. If they are known to be somewhere else and had no/little contact after the project was axed, maybe they could escape. But some doubt will likely always remain.
But that would give them credit for an "incredible" feat. Would the race minded atmosphere even allow that, giving the Blacks a feat that White Scientists did not accomplish?
That would be the death knell to sooo many carears that it is not funny, well for them the Germans may like it if the USA eviscarate itself. But to accomplish that the Germans would need to penetrate the highest ecelons of the USA and have done so for years or decades. Could someone realy entertain the thought of such a masterpice of spycraft? From the Germans that are often depicted as blunt and abrassive?
Maybe you could get a token investigation into this, but anything too overt would allarm everone in the know that the USA are "weak".
Even more so. What sane person would do such a thing? You wouldn't need to be Johnny Cochran to sell that one.
I think you need about 5-6kg of Plutonium to make a bomb, so he might just have enough. Assembling a weapon would be very difficult for one man, far better to build a dirty weapon. Also, consider the logistics of moving a device the size of "Fat Man". It would be far easier to oxidise the metal into dust and pack it round a couple of kilos of explosive.
If I were playing Cluedo, it would be Teller, with the dirty bomb, on top of a building next to Times Square on New Years Eve. Mind you considering how dangerous Plutonium is chemically, I wouldn't be surprised if he accidentally kills himself before deployment. If he does succeed, I'd expect casualties to be in the 40-50k range with most of Manhattan becoming uninhabitable. If the wind is in the right direction, he gets the added bonus of wiping out the financial district .
Only for the non-dead hundred people.
Well, there was this Frenchman not even a decade ago...