It took the Air Force people some time to evaluate this proposal. The concept was clearly irritating them. “You can’t evaporate a whole human body with an airborne X-ray laser.”

“You could if it was tunable.”

“Tunable free-electron lasers aren’t radar-transparent. Besides, their power demand is out the roof”

“Well, you could collate four or five separate aircraft into one overlapping fire zone. Besides, who needs clunky old free electrons when there are quantum-pitting bandgaps? Bandgaps are plenty tun-able. ”

“Sorry to interrupt,” Oscar said. “Norman, we’re needed back at the bus now.”

The Air Force girl stared at Oscar, slowly taking him in, from perfect hat to shiny shoes. “Who’s the suit?”

“He’s… well, he’s with the U.S. Senate.” Norman smiled cheerily. “Really good friend of mine.”

Oscar put a gentle hand on Norman’s shoulder. “We need to move along, Norman. We’ve just made a group reservation at a great Cajun restaurant.”

Norman tagged along obediently. “Will they let me drink there?”

“Laissez les bon temps rouler, ” Oscar said.

“Those were nice kids,” Norman announced. “I mean, road-blockers and all, but basically, they’re just really nice American kids.”

“They’re American military personnel who are engaging in highway robbery.”

“Yeah. That’s true. It’s bad. It’s really too bad. Y’know? They’re stuck in the military, so they just don’t think politically.”

They crossed the Texas border in the clammy thick of the night. The krewe was glutted with hot baked shrimp and batter-fried alligator tail, topped with seemingly endless rounds of blendered hurricanes and flaming brandied coffees. The food at the Cajun casinos was epic in scope. They even boasted a convenient special rate for tour buses.