2592. Always do one thing at a time © Bruce Goodman 2 December 2022

Noah poured himself a wine to celebrate. What he had done was so simple and yet people had said it was not possible. Noah had hacked his way into the digital framework of every nuclear country and disabled their nuclear buttons. He did it in a flash – all at once – with one push of what he called “My Peace Button”. Noah was a crank; a total crank. He was a creative genius of unrivalled ability. An example would be his burglar proof abode. If a stranger entered his house uninvited all windows and door were silently barred. The burglar would slowly starve to death. The system could be activated from anywhere in the world. Noah was not one in a million; he was one in eight billion. The systems he devised weren’t the usual run-of-the-mill stuff. Only one nuclear warhead was not disabled. Noah had altered its pre-set trajectory. It could not be changed. It would head to downtown Beijing. The Chinese could blow up themselves or Noah could activate it with the push of a button. Noah poured himself another wine and sat down in his armchair. “Goodbye Beijing,” he said. He pressed the button. It was now a question of waiting. It was then he realized something: he’d muddled the GPS. The nuclear warhead was heading straight for his burglar-proof house. Contact Author Back to Index Next Story Previous Story