The Andromeda Strain - Crichton Michael - Страница 17

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"Now you may dress," said the voice. "Be advised that you may feel dizzy for a few hours. You have received booster immunizations and gamma G. If you feel dizzy, sit down. If you suffer systemic effects such as nausea, vomiting, or fever, report at once to Level Control. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

"The exit is to your right. Thank you for your cooperation. This recording is now ended."

Hall walked with Leavitt down a long red corridor. His arm ached from the injection.

"That machine," Hall said. "You'd better not let the AMA find out about it."

"We haven't," Leavitt said.

In fact, the electronic body analyzer had been developed by Sandeman Industries in 1965, under a general government contract to produce body monitors for astronauts in space. It was understood by the government at that time that such a device, though expensive at a cost of $87,000 each, would eventually replace the human physician as a diagnostic instrument. The difficulties, for both doctor and patient, of adjusting to this new machine were recognized by everyone. The government did not plan to release the EBA until 1971 and then only to certain large hospital facilities.

Walking along the corridor, Hall noticed that the walls were slightly curved.

"Where exactly are we?"

"On the perimeter of Level 1. To our left are all the laboratories. To the right is nothing but solid rock."

Several people were walking in the corridor. Everyone wore pink jumpsuits. They all seemed serious and busy.

"Where are the others on the team?" Hall said.

"Right here," Leavitt said. He opened a door marked CONFERENCE 7, and they entered a room with a large hardwood table. Stone was there, standing stiffly erect and alert, as if he had just taken a cold shower. Alongside him, Burton, the pathologist, somehow appeared sloppy and confused, and there was a kind of tired fright in his eyes.

They all exchanged greetings and sat down. Stone reached into his pocket and removed two keys. One was silver, the other red. The red one had a chain attached to it. He gave it to Hall.

"Put it around your neck, " he said.

Hall looked at it. "What's this?"

Leavitt said, "I'm afraid Mark is still unclear about the Odd Man."

"I thought that he would read it on the plane."

"His file was edited."

"I see." Stone turned to Hall. "You know nothing about the Odd Man?"

"Nothing," Hall said, frowning at the key.

"Nobody told you that a major factor in your selection to the team was your single status?"

"What does that have to do-"

"The fact of the matter is," Stone said, "that you are the Odd Man. You are the key to all this. Quite literally."

He took his own key and walked to a corner of the room. He pushed a hidden button and the wood paneling slid away to reveal a burnished metal console. He inserted his key into a lock and twisted it. A green light on the console flashed on; he stepped back. The paneling slid into place.

"At the lowest level of this laboratory is an automatic atomic self-destruct device," Stone said. "It is controlled from within the laboratory. I have just inserted my key and armed the mechanism. The device is ready for detonation. The key on this level cannot be removed; it is now locked in place. Your key, on the other hand, can be inserted and removed again. There is a three-minute delay between the time detonation locks in and the time the bomb goes off. That period is to provide you time to think, and perhaps call it all off."

Hall was still frowning. "But why me?"

"Because you are single. We have to have one unmarried man."

Stone opened a briefcase and withdrew a file. He gave it to Hall. "Read that."

It was a Wildfire file.

"Page 255," Stone said.

Hall turned to it.

Project: Wildfire

  ALTERATIONS

1. Millipore(R) Filters, insertion into ventilatory system. Initial spec filters unilayer styrilene, with maximal efficiency of 97.4% trapping. Replaced in 1966 when Upjohn developed filters capable of trapping organisms of size up to one micron. Trapping at 90% efficiency per leaf, causing triple-layered membrance to give results of 99.9%. Infective ratio of.1% remainder too low to be harmful. Cost factor of four or five-layered membrance removing all but.001% considered prohibitive for added gain. Tolerance parameter of 1/1,000 considered sufficient. Installation completed 8/12/66.

2. Atomic Self-Destruct Device, change in detonator close-gap timers. See AEC/Def file 77-12-0918.

3. Atomic Self-Destruct Device, revision of core maintenance schedules for K technicians, see AEC/Warburg file 77-14-0004.

4. Atomic Self-Destruct Device, final command decision change. See AEC/Def file 77-14-0023. SUMMARY APPENDED.

SUMMARY OF ODD MAN HYPOTHESIS: First tested as null hypothesis by Wildfire advisory committee. Grew out of tests conducted by USAF (NORAD) to determine reliability of commanders in making life/death decisions. Tests involved decisions in ten scenario contexts, with prestructured alternatives drawn up by Walter Reed Psychiatric Division, after n-order test analysis by biostatistics unit, NIH, Bethesda.

Test given to SAC pilots and groundcrews, NORAD workers, and others involved in decision-making or positive-action capacity. Ten scenarios drawn up by Hudson Institute; subjects required- to make YES/NO decision in each case. Decisions always involved thermonuclear or chem-biol destruction of enemy targets.

Data on 7420 subjects tested by H,H, program for multifactorial analysis of variance; later test by ANOVAR program; final discrimination by CLASSIF program. NIH biostat summarizes this program as follows:

It is the object of this program to determine the effectiveness of assigning individuals to distinct groups on the basis of scores which can be quantified. The program produces group contours and probability of classification for individuals as a control of data.

Program prints: mean scores for groups, contour confidence limits, and scores of individual test subjects.

K.G. Borgrand, Ph.D. NIH

RESULTS OF ODD MAN STUDY: The study concluded that married individuals performed differently from single individuals on several parameters of the test. Hudson Institute provided mean answers, i.e. theoretical "right" decisions, made by computer on basis of data given in scenario. Conformance of study groups to these right answers produced an index of effectiveness, a measure of the extent to which correct decisions were made.

Group: Index of Effectiveness

Married males:.343

Married females:.399

Single females:.402

Single males:.824

The data indicate that married men choose the correct decision only once in three times, while single men choose correctly four out of five times. The group of single males was then broken down further, in search of highly accurate subgroups within that classification. Results of special testing confirm the Odd Man Hypothesis, that an unmarried male should carry out command decisions involving thermonuclear or chem-biol destruct contexts.

Single males, total:.824

Military: commissioned officer:.655 noncommissioned officer:.624

Technical: engineers:.877 ground crews:.901

Service: maintenance and utility:.758

Professional:

Scientists:.946

These results concerning the relative skill of decision-making individuals should not be interpreted hastily. Although it would appear that janitors are better decision makers than generals, the situation is in reality more complex. PRINTED SCORES ARE SUMMATIONS OF TEST AND INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS. DATA MUST BE INTERPRETED WITH THIS IN MIND. Failure to do so may lead to totally erroneous and dangerous assumptions.

Application of study to Wildfire command personnel conducted at request of AEC at time of implantation of self-destruct nuclear capacity. Test given to all Wildfire personnel; results filed under CLASSIF WILDFIRE: GENERAL PERSONNEL (see ref. 77-14-0023). Special testing for command group.

Name: Index of Effectiveness

Burton:.543

Leavitt:.601

Kirke:.614

Stone:.687

Hall:.899

Results of special testing confirm the Odd Man Hypothesis, that an unmarried male should carry out command decisions involving thermonuclear or chem-biol destruct contexts.

When Hall had finished reading, he said, "It's crazy."

"Nonetheless," Stone said, "it was the only way we could get the government to put control of the weapon in our hands.

"You really expect me to put in my key, and fire that thing?"

"I'm afraid you don't understand," Stone said. "The detonation mechanism is automatic. Should breakthrough of the organism occur, with contamination of all Level V, detonation will take place within three minutes unless you lock in your key, and call it off."

"Oh," Hall said, in a quiet voice.

A BELL RANG SOMEWHERE ON THE LEVEL; STONE glanced up at the wall clock. It was late. He began the formal briefing, talking rapidly, pacing up and down the room, hands moving constantly.

"As you know," he said, "we are on the top level of a five-story underground structure. According to protocol it will take us nearly twenty-four hours to descend through the sterilization and decontamination procedures to the lowest level. Therefore we must begin immediately. The capsule is already on its way."

He pressed a button on a console at the head of the table, and a television screen glowed to life, showing the coneshaped satellite in a plastic bag, making its descent. It was being cradled by mechanical hands.

"The central core of this circular building," Stone said, "contains elevators and service units- plumbing, wiring, that sort of thing. That is where you see the capsule now. It will be deposited shortly in a maximum-sterilization assembly on the lowest level."

He went on to explain that he had brought back two other surprises from Piedmont. The screen shifted to show Peter Jackson, lying on a litter, with intravenous lines running into both arms.

"This man apparently survived the night. He was the one walking around when the planes flew over, and he was still alive this morning."

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