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Cooper, Michael D., [pseud.]

"The Runaway Asteroid"

Although he was only in his middle thirties,
from his late teens he had been granted virtual carte blanche in his
research. Even at that young age, his genius had become known
throughout the inhabited Solar System. His voice was calm and
mellifluous.
"Thank you, Mr. President. My team and I have been working around the
clock for eight days to develop a system for detecting an object which
is invisible to radar. We have succeeded. The theory was not difficult
to develop, but the method provided somewhat of a challenge. We have
now designed a technique for locating a body as small as, very roughly,
two-thirds the size of the average spacecraft, by detecting its
gravitational field."
As he spoke, many of those listening to him felt the level of their
anxiety diminishing slightly. Robert Nolan lifted his head. Though his
expression was drawn, he was paying attention.
"We must manufacture millions of tiny probes and release these into
space in a systematic fashion over many millions of cubic miles. Their
design is quite simple. The laboratories and manufacturing centers of
organizations like Starlight Enterprise, Nolan Mining Enterprise, and
other companies can create these probes in vast quantities very
quickly, using robotic techniques. Each probe will have gravity
instrumentation.


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