of the capsules. Each man was packed into a
break-proof, shock-proof, water-proof, wind-proof plastic capsule, and
ejected safely beyond the slipstream area of the carriers, at which
point, each capsule sprouted a silken chute that lowered the enclosed
men gently down into range of the enemy's rocket-fire ...

This plan was scrapped like the others.

And so, things were at a stalemate. There hadn't been a really good
skirmish for nearly five years. War was hardly anything but a memory,
what with both sides practically omnipotent. Unless troops could be
landed, war was downright impossible. And, no one could land troops, so
there was no war.

As a matter of fact, Whitlow _liked_ the state of affairs. To be
Secretary of Defense during a years-long peace was a soft job to top all
soft jobs. And Whitlow didn't much like war. He'd rather live peacefully
with his mystery stories and ham sandwiches.

But the Capitol, under the relentless lobbying of the munitions
interests, was trying to find a way to get a war started.

They _had_ tried simply bombing the other countries, but it hadn't
worked out too well: the other countries had bombed back.

This plan had been scrapped as too dangerous.

And then, just when all seemed lost, when it looked as though mankind
was doomed to eternal peace ...

Along came General "Smiley" Webb.

"Land troops?" he'd said, confidently, "nothing easier. With the
government's cooperation, I can have our troops in any country in the
world, safely landed, within the space of one year!"

Congress had voted him the money unanimously, and off he'd gone to work
at Project W. No one knew _quite_ what it was about, but the general had
seemed so self-assured that-- Well, they'd almost forgotten about him
until some ambitious clerk, trying to balance at least _part_ of the
budget, had discovered a monthly expenditure to an obscure base in the
southwest totalling some millions of dollars. Perfunctory checking had
brought out the fact that "Smiley" Webb had been drawing this money
every month, and hadn't as much as mailed in a single progress report.

There'd been swift phone-calls from Denver to Project W, and, General
Webb informed them, not only was all the money to be accounted for, but
so was all the time and effort: the project was completed, and about to
be tested. Would someone like to come down and watch?

Someone would.

* * * * *

And thus it was that Ja