Acknowledgements:
Omi as always
The BTN8rs - with apologies
The BTN Chatters - for their support
Disclaimers:
"A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend" - Willow, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
I do not own any Numb3rs characters nor do I have any rights to
anything related to the TV show Numb3rs. I plead fair use and claim
only my own writing and characters.
'How many people died because of what I thought up?'
Charlie stopped the DVD of The Pretender and put the remote aside.
He'd read the reviews of the series, been skeptical of their idea of a genius who could do anything, become anyone. In the end curiosity had won out and he'd borrowed the DVDs of the first season to check them out.
He'd expected bad brainless entertainment. He'd expected them to make geniuses look like inept children, incapable of functioning in the real world.
He hadn't expected to see his own moral dilemma put into words by the lead character.
He pulled a folder out of his bag and slipped some documents out of the envelope within.
Enclosed was a Department of Defense consulting job. He hadn't said yes yet. He hadn't said no.
What he had wondered was if anyone could tell him the implications of the work: in the short term, in the long term, if people might be saved by it and if people might die.
Oppenheimer had struggled with the repercussions of his own work. Science and the military could be partners in saving thousands of lives or ending them. The problem was it was often the same science doing both.
He turned off the DVD. There were no answers in entertainment. This was too real to trust to any expert other than his own conscience.
