Emprise [antikvár]

prologThe Fission BlanketThe idea must have surfaced ten thousand times in wishful thinking even in the earliest days of the atom age, before MARV's, MIRV's, and MAD; before Cuba and cruises and an unending cold war that teetered on the verge of the ultimate heat. If only the nuclear genie hadn't been releasedif only there were some way to put him back in his bottle.If only But for some, whether through hubris or naivete, the thought began not with "if" but with "maybe."Maybe there was a way Only a few of the names were ever known, in part by choice and in part by chance. But in the fall of 1954, a dozen such met in one of the private chambers of the United Nations and gave birth to a project which they intended would free the human race from technological bondage. For some, the act was one of treason against the nations in which they claimed citizenship. For all, it was an act of heroism for humanityor so they told themselves.Some, in an ironic vein, called the project Manhattan Minus One. The official code name was Hope.In the years to come, the secrecy which necessarily surrounded Hope would cost more than fifty lives, as the group was forced to protect itself in the most final way from the probing of the KGB and NSA and their lesser counterparts theix