The air force headquarters building was quite an achievement of twentysecond century construction with its artificial marble walls and perma plastic windows so strong, it would have taken a neutron bomb to melt them. All the rooms were secure against any and all spying devices and the AI computers practically ran the entire operation, permitting the humans to dream of new ways to make work, spend ridiculous amounts of money or design new exploration projects. Actually the air force was a convenient catchall for the air defenses as well as the space force. They had finally decided to locate the headquarters in Houston to replace the old NASA location and it had worked out quite well, being centrally located in the country and having such a strong tradition of space travel and aeronautic quality control. A striking blonde receptionist presented the tall, dark security maninto the general's office. Her smile out dazzled even the early morning sunshine which shimmered through tinted windows from the east. Kal smirked, ""I know what I'd like to ask for but I'll settle for some coffee, please."" The lady was attractively decked out in her skin tight, sky blue uniform complete with blue nylons and gold lieutenant's bars. Her blonde hair beautifully accented her striking outfit. She gave him a knowing wink before she left to prepare his beverage. The general stood up to receive him which was an unexpected courtesy. ""Welcome to Houston Major. Please have a seat we've got a bit to cover."" They shook hands and in moments they were in their respective seats appraising each other. General Wilcox was a blunt , commanding presence of about sixty or so with iron gray hair, clear amber eyes and a smile both warm and professional. Kal could discern a man of decisive purpose and he knew from very reliable sources that this general had a no nonsense attitude towards subordinates. As for Kal the general observed a man of perhaps thirty with slightly curly auburn hair and jet black eyes. His dark brown mustache was uninteresting contrast to his lighter hair color. He was about six foot four and looked like he could take care of himself in any bar at any spaceport. The general spoke again, ""Well it's good to have you aboard Major Allison. As of this moment everything we are about to discuss is of the most classified nature so if you have any reservations about the mission now's the time to walk out of here and nobody will be the wiser."" Kal hesitated for a moment, ""Colonel Mason advised me that this missionwas extremely important for the space program in general and the Martian colony in particular. I know how to keep my mouth shut sir."" The general nodded slightly, ""Good enough, Mason recommended you quite highly and I've taken the liberty of checking your record. It's quite outstanding in fact. The important word here is loyalty. We're about to discuss something so important and so secret that's it's a matter of national and even world security that this project remain under wraps. It's of such vital importance, that we may have to do a brain scan on you after everything is completed so you don't remember the mission. I'm not thrilled about that because we might need your expertise for reference later on. Let's just say when you get back here you'll be watched quite carefully, at the very least, I'm afraid."" Kal grimaced a little, ""As long as it doesn't interfere with my love life I guess I can live with a little special handling."" The general raised his eyebrows slightly and grinned, ""Oh you needn'tworry about that. What you can't find will be amply supplied for you. After all we do look after our own especially when they've gone beyond the call of duty. Well its time for brass tacks I'm afraid."" Kal asked, ""All right General what's it all about?"" ""Actually we've been working on the groundwork for this project for anumber of years. It's called the ITP grid. The letters stand for Interstellar Teleportation Project and that gives it away so we just call it the ITP. It all starts of course with computers. It takes millions of Terra Bites of space and computing power to do the job. You see theoretically the computer must disassemble, reassemble and keep track of billions of atoms that comprise a human being. In essence what will happen is that the computer on Earth will disassemble...
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