Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

like to add anything?"Major Lindsay was short, stocky, and crew cut, and appeared to be just enteringmiddle age. His sunken eyes and complacent expression gave him the look of a stern,humorless man, of someone who had resigned himself to the burden of the secrets towhich he'd been overexposed."You must all understand," the major jumped immediately into his subject, "thatevery document in these notebooks has been declassified for some time and available tothe interested public through the Freedom of Information Act, which I will hereafter referto as the FOIA. I know this will probably annoy you, but introducing you to only thosedocuments that you could obtain on the outside is a deliberate security precaution. Ifsome of this material were to find its way out of this facility, the reality of ourinvolvement would not be compromised in any way, since what you have is alreadypublic but for the most part unknown. I'm merely here to demonstrate to you that thesematerials are authentic.""You'll notice that there are marginal notations on the pages, referring you tomaterial that is still presently and permanently classified. This material has beenconsidered admissible for your security clearances on a need-to-know basis. You mayview these materials, but my signature is required for their retrieval, and they may onlybe viewed under staff supervision in the Facility archive. These references are notexhaustive, as you might guess. In addition to this hard copy material, we've arranged atour tomorrow morning of the places in the Facility relevant to answering your questions,and removing any lingering doubts you may have about the project to which your taskforce is assigned. This will be the first and only time you gain access to these areas. Beadvised that any additional attempt to enter these areas will be viewed as a securitybreach. Your security clearances and access cards do not enable you to leave the areaswith which you are already familiar, hence your presence after today outside yourassigned areas will be addressed with deadly force. Is that clear?"A few of the small audience nodded, while the others' alarmed expressions madeit apparent they had still not become desensitized to the extreme security measures. Themajor indicated to the Colonel that he was finished, and immediately took his seat. Brianstole a glance at Deidre, who nodded in the affirmative. Colonel Ferguson motioned toNeil, whose unsettled countenance couldn't be missed."I was brought on this project at the Colonel's request and by approval of theGroup," the undersecretary began, "because this matter concerns national security.However, as the Colonel informed you at our first meeting, the President has noknowledge of either the true threat we're facing or our true purpose here. To myknowledge, perhaps only one or two individuals at the NSA have the correct informationas well. After our work is done, we will be implementing a plan to gradually introducethe information to official governmental channels when the Group deems it appropriate.There's no easy way to say this ..." Neil paused, searching for the words, "we didn't bringthe virus to earth ... actually, it wasn't brought at all it was made. They've deliberately putus in this situation."Dr. Bandstra paused, as he removed a handkerchief from his lapel pocket andwiped the beads of sweat away that had appeared on his brow.Brian couldn't help taking note of his friend's visible agitation, and his mind began racingahead. Without thinking his voice filled the temporary vacuum. "Just who are they? " he102