“Fair enough.” He gulped down half his beer. “Let me start with a little history. Most everyone knows about the letter Einstein wrote President Roosevelt.”

Trout nodded. “Einstein said that with a controlled chain reaction a reality, an atomic bomb was possible. He suggested that the United State develop such a weapon before the Germans did.”

“That's right,” Frobisher said. “The president appointed a committee to look into it, and the result was the work here at Los Alamos. Few people know that near the end of the war, Einstein wrote a second letter that has never been published. In it, he warned of the dangers of electromagnetic war, based on the theorems. But unlike Kovacs, who was considered by some to be a bit of a quack, Einstein's opinion had weight. Truman was president by then. He appointed a committee to look into Einstein's suggestion, and out of that came a research effort similar to the Manhattan Project.”

“We've heard that the Russians were pursuing the same line of research,” Gamay said.

“That's right. By the mid-sixties, we were neck and neck with the Russians.”

“How far did the research go?”

“Far. They concentrated on the land rather than the sky, and created some earthquakes. After the big Alaskan quake, this country retaliated. We caused some nifty floods and droughts in Russia. That was all small potatoes.”

“Floods and quakes hardly seem minor occurrences,” Gamay said.

“That was only the warm-up. Scientists from both countries discovered about the same time that the combined force from their experiments could cause major changes in the earth's electromagnetic field. A top secret meeting between the two countries was held on a remote island in the Bering Sea. Scientists and government officials attended. Both countries were presented with evidence showing the serious consequences of further experimentation using the Kovacs Theorems.”

“How do you know all this if it was so secret?” Gamay said.

“Simple. I was one of the participants. We agreed to end research and get back to lesser evils, such as nuclear warfare.”

“It's hard to believe there is something worse than a nuclear holocaust,” Gamay said, raising an eyebrow.

“Believe it.” Frobisher leaned forward in his chair and lowered his voice from habit, as if he thought that the room was bugged. “Keeping the secret was considered of such consequence that a security apparatus was set up in each country. Anyone who became too inquisitive or knowledgeable about Kovacs and his work was discouraged or, if necessary, eliminated.”

“Then the Kovacs Society wasn't formed as a cover for a poker game?” Trout said.