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He glanced
again at
the paper
before finishing
his litany of accusations.
“Seven unauthorized entries into
secret computer
files in violation
of your
security
contract
and operational
para-meters within the
past month.”
He shook
his head.
“Like following a
trail of
bread crumbs.
Your intention
became pretty obvious.” The
suit
stopped and
stared at
Ron, who
returned the hard
gaze unflinching.
He knew
the accusations
were true. He
had been cavalier
and foolish,
but felt
no
guilt in
his accomplishment.
The younger
man opened
his folder
and turned
his attention to Ron. “Mister
Fremont, you’ve
heard the charges against you.
Security
violations are a
serious matter, as you
must surely
realize. If
you wish to
explain your actions, you may do so at this time.”
Ron glanced
slowly around
the room,
noticed video cameras on
the wall, but wondered why there wasn’t a
tape recorder on the
table. He
leaned back
in his
chair before responding.
“I became
curious about
the origins
of the strange materials I was testing,” he said in a low voice.
The suits
didn’t interrupt, seemed to
wait for
Ron to continue.
This isn’t being
recorded, Ron
thought.
Ain’t
that interesting.
“I kept looking
for original
data on
the materials
I was evaluating
– looking in
data
bases
I could
access. Curious mainly.
Eventually,
I discovered
reference to
a ‘Group 5’
on some of
the paperwork. No
one would
tell me
anything about it, and
I tried
to find
out who
they were.
I guess
I got real curious – pushed
the envelope.”
“What do
you know
about that?”
asked the
older man staring at Ron.
Ron felt
the hair
stand up
on his
neck. He
shrugged. “No
one would
tell me
anything.” Asshole had to
know
I got into
Group 5
files. What the hell?
The
names
. .
. they
were there. Jerk knows this.
The older suit
made a few notes
on the
paper and
then looked at Ron for a few seconds before speaking.
“Continue.”
Ron shrugged. “I found
mention to
the on-base building
site A100,
where some
of the
material specimens
I was evaluating
seemed to
be held
in storage.
I became curious
as to where
that was,
and I
explored different areas
while jogging
and found
the site
a couple
days
ago.
It was an
interesting building with
climate control
and security features and I guess I became a little too curious.”
Ron looked
at the older suit
and shrugged.
“That’s where the guards arrested me.”
The older
suit nodded.
“It seems
to us
that you
have absolutely no respect
for the
security laws
that you
signed as part of your
employment agreement. Violation
of these laws,
in case you’ve
forgotten, is punishable
by statute with
long imprisonment and
severe fines.
It is
difficult for me
to believe
you were
not aware
of the
risks to
your security and
employment standing
in your penchant for trespass
in areas forbidden to you.”
The younger
suit picked
up where
his partner
left off. “Investigation
of your
background
and current
activities do not
suggest any
overt criminality, so we
have to
assume that your lapse
in judgment
is due
to your
over-stimulated scientific
curiosity. Your technical
contributions in performance
of your
job assignments
is meritorious;
however, this irresponsible behavior cannot be allowed to stand.”
The older
man picked
it up and continued.
“You will be
on probation
and required
to
attend several
meetings to review
the current laws
regarding government
secrets, your access to them,
and your
life-long obligation
to maintaining secrecy. You
are even
now prohibited
by your
own signature on security
documents from
ever discussing projects or discoveries
or opinions
of your
work under penalty
of imprisonment or
worse. This
will be
reviewed in the upcoming
sessions.”
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