As she batted the glittering copper sphere around the floor, the white-footed tabby could not have known she was in danger. She simply did what cats do. At least her last moments were playful. The ball whirred and clicked, as if switching on and off with each random swipe of her paw. Then, in a literal flash, the cat disappeared without a trace. All that remained was the sphere, now teetering on the edge of a smoldering hole where the cat used to be.
Ellen cried out, “Bootsie!” dropped her phone and rushed toward the cat-sized excision in the floor.
“No. No. No. Stay back.” Charlie hugged her. Ellen sobbed in his arms.
“I’m really sorry about Bootsie,” Charlie tried to comfort Ellen. “It looks like the poor thing stumbled on the exact sequence to discharge the nanocapacitor.”
Charlie thought, stored energy is always dangerous, no matter who or what plays with it. That amount of energy could power an electric car for 2000 kilometers. Or disintegrate a cat, apparently. The sphere was only two centimeters in diameter. Hmm…a large enough nanocapacitor could vaporize a man. In the wrong hands…well, I’d better make sure there are no more…mishaps.
“Daddy,” Ellen broke into his thoughts. “I need to tell you something.”
“What is it sweetheart?”
“I was live-streaming Bootsie playing with the ball.”
“That’s alright, honey,” Charlie tried to sound hopeful. “I’m sure nobody will believe she really disappeared that way. There are all kinds of video tricks on the internet, you know.”
Charlie was worried. The video was not a fake. He was afraid the cat was out of the bag in more ways than one. Ellen’s post went viral, under various headings: “Death-ray Kitty.” “Meow-wow!” “Kitty gone.” “Cat-zapped!” It became fodder for conspiracy theories: “Secret Government Experiment Vaporizes Cat – Are There Human Victims?” “Alien Disintegrator Technology Revealed.” “Unlimited Energy Invention Kept from Public.”
Tesla wanted six prototypes of the nanocapacitor in a few weeks. If Charlie’s identity became known, the deal would be off. Bootsie had put the nanocapacitor project in flux, if not jeopardy.
The engineers at Tesla were no help. “The video is out there,” they said, “and there’s not much anyone can do about it.” Millions of people had already seen it and various geeks had authenticated it. There was no way to take it down, back, or even sideways. All Charlie could do was hope his identity would not be discovered. Internet security was up to TikTok, which was no consolation at all. If even one user knew who posted the clip, others would know who he was. End of story.
He kept his prototypes and a flash drive with his research hidden. Yet, as everyone knows, nothing can be hidden from a determined thief. It wasn’t long until the prototypes and the data went the way of Bootsie, off into thin air. His Tesla deal promptly drove off a cliff. Charlie was devastated.
Ellen tried to console him. “I’m sorry Daddy. I had no idea Bootsie would just disappear like that. I just wanted a cute video of her playing with a shiny ball.”
“I know, Ellen. Neither of us could have known.” Charlie hoped his prototypes would be safe, but he didn’t think so.
—–
The man who stole the prototypes had a grudge. Not against Charlie, though. Ray had lost his wife to a system that was prevented from saving her rather than their non-viable fetus – for this he blamed the “rich old farts” in the White House and in Congress. He was convinced the love of his life died because of a Supreme Court approved by old men. His brother had suffered a massive stroke because he couldn’t afford healthcare after old men blocked improvements in the law. His niece and nephew were saddled with lifelong college debt because old men didn’t want to do anything about that problem. And climate change, energy independence, infrastructure, a social safety net, immigration, and wasteful spending were obviously far less important than “rich old farts” and their re-election campaigns.
Ray was irate. “Half of Congress is over 65. What business do these rich old farts have making laws for the rest of us?!” he shouted at the TV. “They won’t have to live with the policies they make – or fail to make!” “Why are so many over 75, for God’s sake? Why are there no term limits?” “Why aren’t these guys held accountable for their failure to govern? Why don’t they just retire and let some new people give it a try?” To Ray, the old farts were the problem, not some vague idea of “the government.”
While he desperately wanted to do something about it, Ray didn’t know what until he saw Ellen’s video. After that, it dawned on him – the same device that vaporized Bootsie could “retire” the oldest members of the House and Senate. It could do to a Senator what the little copper ball had done to the hapless cat. Ray imagined the oldest members from each party receiving a nice, but deadly, gift. What if the oldest rich old farts disappeared in a flash? Maybe that, and a threat of more to come, would be enough. After a few of them were zapped out of existence, the other rich old farts might be persuaded to retire and with any luck, enact term limits on their way out the door. The prototypes in his basement were a good start.
The main challenge would be delivering the nanocaps to his targets. Ray had to work fast. He was sure Charlie had reported the theft. Security would be tight, to say the least. How should he proceed? He didn’t have a clue until he thought about Bootsie. She died playing. What if the devices looked harmless? What if they were disguised as commonly-used objects? Maybe, like Bootsie, the rich old farts wouldn’t notice.
What to use? Notebooks? Golf balls? Jewelry cases? Trophies? Coffee Mugs? Any vessel that could hold a large enough charge. Perhaps a gift from a Super-PAC? Or a lobbyist? Or a colleague? The nanocaps must make physical contact with the target. A little research about the targets would tell Ray what to send.
—–
When the detectives showed up, Charlie seemed evasive. At first, he didn’t report the theft because he didn’t want to admit he made the device that swallowed a cat in a burst of electrical energy. But he was smart enough to realize that if the thief could track him down, the police could too. They wanted to know more about the “death ball” and why he hadn’t reported the robbery. He admitted his prototypes were stolen, and said he had no idea who took them. When pressed, Charlie said his research was a secret. Then the detectives became even more interested. “Please come with us, Sir. We want to ask you a few more questions.”
Despite Charlie’s cooperation, the trail led nowhere. He tried to explain the principles of the nanocapacitor to the detectives, with mixed results.
“So, you’re saying this death ball could kill you if it were bigger?” one of them asked.
“Yes, Detective Mueller, and if house cats were bigger, they would eat you.”
“Don’t get smart with me.”
“Too late,” he paused. “I’m Sorry, Detective. I meant to ask, what are you going to do about catching the thief?”
“Did anyone else know about your balls…I mean…your nanocapacitors?”
“Only a handful of engineers at Tesla, and Elon Musk, of course.”
“Do they have names?”
“They do.”
“Would you mind sharing them?”
“Of course not.”
“Well?”
“Well what?”
“Their names?”
“Yes.”
“Now?”
“Alright. Darlington, Wheatstone, and Farnsworth. Good luck getting an audience with Musk.”
—–
Ray decided to start with several of the oldest Senators. “Gifts” would be given by their supporters at their next meetings with their respective PAC leaders. Ray was surprised how easy it was to make it look like a limited-edition golden coffee mug was to be awarded to the most esteemed senior Senators and Congressmen. Even easier to provide special mugs – embedded with reconfigured prototypes and their clones. Rather than rely on touch activation, the mugs would be armed by hot liquids, and would discharge when the user’s lips contacted the rim. One sip of coffee or tea and zap – no more “rich old fart.” Even if only a few mugs vaporized their targets, the fear of forced retirement would take hold. The message to “get out, or else” would become clear enough. And there were lots of other household objects to put into play if the mugs didn’t work.
—–
“Darlington’s clean,” Mueller declared. “He’s a loyal Musk minion. His head is too far up Musk’s you-know-what…no way he has anything to do with the theft.”
“So’s Wheatstone. He was out of town when the whole video thing went down. Way out. Fishing in the north of Canada with no internet. He only heard about it when he got back – after the break-in.”
“That leaves Farnsworth. Nobody knows where in the world he is. I put out a BOLO. Until we clear him, he’s a person of interest.”
“What about Musk, Mueller?”
“Why would he arrange to steal technology he bankrolled?”
“I don’t know. I just want to meet him, that’s all.”
“It seems Darlington isn’t the only one infatuated with Musk.”
—–
Ray hit the jackpot. Two mugs on the same day. Two rich old farts became water vapor and dust. He sent this message: “As of today, two senators no longer exist. They both failed this county. They should have stepped down at least a decade ago for the good of the nation. But they were too obsessed with power and would not do the right thing. The founding fathers never intended for anyone to make a career out of Congress. It’s high time for legislated term limits and voluntary retirements. If all Congress members over the age of 75 do not retire immediately, there will be more involuntary retirements. You have my word. There is no other way to stop me. Let new blood have a chance or the old blood will be purged. Decide to spend more time with your family or you will end up like the two dinosaurs who died today.”
The internet spewed forth a hailstorm of accusations and political spin. Senators demanded to know whether the police had any suspects. Conspiracy theorists connected the cat video to the murders and called for the inventor’s head on a platter, even though he had nothing to do with the Senators’ deaths. When Elon Musk pointed out that nanocapacitors could be the future of energy storage and might prove to be the key to space exploration, his critics shouted him down. To most of the public, nanocapacitors were only “murder machines” or “death balls,” as the detectives put it. The “vaporization of sweet kitty” became known as a test of a “new weapon to subdue the masses.” What if nanocapacitors were placed in bullets, shells, and missiles? Conventional weapons might become obsolete. However, the NRA expressed the hope that “good guys with nanocapacitors” would make the country safe again.
After the “disappearances” of Senator One and Senator Two, Mueller started to connect the dots. Farnsworth was still missing. His resume showed he was not only a superb electrical engineer, but also was regarded as a leading expert in cybersecurity. He knew how to gain access to information and use it against whatever targets he chose. He had lost his wife after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Ray Farnsworth was not a man to be underestimated. And he had a revenge motive. What if Supreme Court Justices were next?
Farnsworth was in the wind, though. He covered his tracks well. Unless there was a new “nanocap” murder, there wasn’t much the FBI could do. Sometimes a perpetrator is just that good.
Under duress, Congress quickly passed a term limits bill – providing that after two terms (12 years), Senators were required to sit out at least one term before standing for re-election. Members of the House were permitted up to four terms (8 years) before being required to skip a turn. Age limits would require a constitutional amendment, but there was talk. Several members in their 70s and 80s announced their immediate retirement. Ray Farnsworth placed these moves squarely in the win column.
After many years, the FBI found Ray. At that point, his lawyer argued that if there were no bodies, there could be no murders. Elon Musk acquired the nanocapacitor patent for a relatively small amount of money, considering its value. Confidential sources reported that he used the technology on the first Mars mission. Charlie and Ellen eventually got a new cat and named her, Bootsie.
MurrayWorks 