Nano 9: Forward Progress.
Agent Daltry stormed into the lab, barely glancing at the pack of nerds in white coats. "Project: Cassandra," he muttered, making the skepticism in his voice very clear. "What's it supposed to do."
The top nerd--Dr. Robards--stepped forward. "The device is supposed to allow the user to see into his own future."
"Or her," came the rebuke from one of the female scientists. This comment drew a sharp glare from Robards, who obviously had not gotten used to the idea of women in the labs.
Daltry sneered at all of them. "Ridiculous."
"We've achieved some remarkable results, actually. With a little more funding, we could--"
"It doesn't matter," Daltry snapped. "Because there's no way the United States government is going to sink any more money into this ridiculous scheme. Your project is shut down, as of now."
"Please, sir," Robards pleaded. "Give it a chance. In fact, you can try it out for yourself. Go on, take a look."
Normally, Daltry would have turned around and left. But sometimes he liked to give them a little false hope before crushing them. He approached the device, which looked like a ViewMaster plugged into some kind of Star Trek refrigerator. "What do I do?" he asked.
"Just look into the goggles."
Daltry leaned forward, lining up his eyes with the goggles. He saw something--it was blurry at first, but quickly came into focus. He saw a man in a white lab coat, pulling a gun out of his pocket. The man took a few silent steps toward another man in a navy blue suit, who was peering into some sort of strange machine.
"And you say it works?"
"Sort of. We can only look ahead ten seconds."
The top nerd--Dr. Robards--stepped forward. "The device is supposed to allow the user to see into his own future."
"Or her," came the rebuke from one of the female scientists. This comment drew a sharp glare from Robards, who obviously had not gotten used to the idea of women in the labs.
Daltry sneered at all of them. "Ridiculous."
"We've achieved some remarkable results, actually. With a little more funding, we could--"
"It doesn't matter," Daltry snapped. "Because there's no way the United States government is going to sink any more money into this ridiculous scheme. Your project is shut down, as of now."
"Please, sir," Robards pleaded. "Give it a chance. In fact, you can try it out for yourself. Go on, take a look."
Normally, Daltry would have turned around and left. But sometimes he liked to give them a little false hope before crushing them. He approached the device, which looked like a ViewMaster plugged into some kind of Star Trek refrigerator. "What do I do?" he asked.
"Just look into the goggles."
Daltry leaned forward, lining up his eyes with the goggles. He saw something--it was blurry at first, but quickly came into focus. He saw a man in a white lab coat, pulling a gun out of his pocket. The man took a few silent steps toward another man in a navy blue suit, who was peering into some sort of strange machine.
"And you say it works?"
"Sort of. We can only look ahead ten seconds."