The Party's Over
At Sheldon's suggestion, I had been leaving my computer running 24 hours a day. So I didn't have to wait for it to boot when he woke me up in the wee hours of Christmas morning. Dr. Malenkov had finally sent me another message.
I quickly decrypted the new note, which said:
NO PARTY IN SPACE NEDDLE
I suspected that "Space Neddle" should have been "Space Needle," a Seattle landmark. Disconcertingly, I realized that Seattle was not far from Port Angeles, where Mr. Ressam had been intercepted on his way to wreak havoc at LAX. Sheldon and his team started working the phones. I went back to bed, but I didn't sleep very well.
Two days later, as you'll recall, the Mayor of Seattle announced that his city had decided to cancel its millennium celebration.[5] "The FBI can't assure us that there is no risk," he said.
Some of the CNN commentators implied that the Mayor was simply overreacting to the Y2K hysteria.
Personally, I didn't think he had overreacted at all.
| Next |  |
[ Eve of Destruction Home Page | Selected Writings ]
©2007 Henry Charles Mishkoff