Strong Words: Arthur Warren

Strong Words

Originally aired 2/7/78



Charlie Strong took the desk in typical style, his plain blue suit cleanly pressed, his face clean shaven, and a look that, despite all the news he had reported for almost fifty years, reflected the stoic and unwavering man underneath perfectly. These days, there was enough bad news. His job, at least as far as he considered it, was to make something good of all the terrible news that came across his desk. It was easy to be a doomsday prophet, it was harder to find something good in the ashes. Charlie had a way of finding that “good”, and thus, he had kept his job for a very long time.

    He was given the cue. Time for the game face.

    “Live from Gulfport, Mississippi, this is Strong Words with Charlie Strong,” the recorded announcement played.

    “Good evening, America, and thank you for tuning in to Strong Words. Tonight, we will be speaking to Arthur Warren, CEO of Armorcorp, on his company’s latest breakthrough that promises to change life for millions of Americans and victims of other chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks the world over,” Charlie said. He was always careful to infuse hope into his speech patterns, but never to overdo it. America lately was burnt out on false hope. He turned to his guest, who was sitting just a few feet from him.

    “Arthur, thank you for joining us this evening, and taking time out of your busy schedule,” Charlie said.

    “Thank you for having me, Charlie, and I’m happy to say that we have been busy figuring out how to make life better for everyone, rather than to just keep it from getting worse,” Arthur said in a moderately cheerful manner. His genuine excitement to share his news was tempered by his professionalism.

    “We are all eager to hear what you have come up with, Arthur. Now, the word is that you have come up with a new sort of armor suit, am I correct?”

    “It is an armor suit, Charlie, but a different kind of armor for a different kind of battle: the battle to survive daily life in a land so poisonous that it threatens to kill someone just for breathing,” Arthur said.

    “You are, of course, referring to the lands that were rendered uninhabitable by the Exodus attack?” Charlie clarified.

    “Yes. As most Americans know, most of the entirety of the Midwest was turned into a nuclear wasteland after Exodus destroyed those nuclear plants. They basically divided us into two separate countries, east and west. Of course, gear to survive these conditions has existed for some time, but the focus when wearing such articles of clothing was to simply survive long enough to get out of the danger zone. This was a great disadvantage, as operations in such areas would need to be conducted long scale,” Arthur explained.

    “And your company has had a long history of revolutionizing the armor field, making it stronger, and yet cheaper to produce,” Charlie said.

    “This is true, Charlie. Before the Exodus attack, we had begun a program to seek out materials to create a new sort of armor for soldiers, one that is capable of blocking both ballistic attacks, such as knives and gunfire, and capable of meeting the military’s CBRN requirements, while being no heavier than their normal uniform. In the past, soldiers would be required to wear their ACU’s or ABU’s, battle rattle, and chemical gear to protect from all such attacks, which could add seventy to ninety pounds of extra gear to the soldier. No man, no matter how fit, could be expected to perform in his prime under such conditions,” Arthur explained.

    “I have been there myself, Arthur. The citadels off the Chinese Pacific coastline were always under threat of rebels with old Soviet chemical weapons, and those were some very long days,” Charlie said.

    “Back in the ‘30’s...we are getting old, aren’t we Charlie?” Arthur said with a smile and a slightly sad smile.

    “Too old, Arthur. So you did manage to create a new suit of armor?” Charlie asked.

    “Ah, yes. The challenge, as I said earlier, was to make the armor as maneuverable as a normal combat uniform, but we wanted to take it even further. The problem with armor is that it must be carried, and it offers no help in moving itself,” Arthur said.

    “Moving itself?” Charlie asked.

    “Yes. We had dabbled in the fields of powered armor in the past, but none of our projects made it past the experimental stage. The problem with powered armor is not that it doesn’t work...quite the contrary, it works very well. The problem was that it was difficult to control; joysticks were not fast enough, and controls that based themselves on the user’s movement were extremely difficult to master, not precise at all. We began to study the movement of the human body. It is fluid, moves more gracefully than any machine ever built, and we knew that we stood the greatest chance at success by mimicking this movement.”

    “But there is more to movement than just what you can see externally,” Charlie noted.

    “Yes, and that is where our joint venture with Torus Labs came in. They examined the human nerve system in depth, noting the precise voltages that the human body produced to command itself to move. A sort of command signal was sent, and based on very minor differences in the voltages, the nervous system knows exactly where to send those voltages, and the limbs interpret them in direction, speed, duration...everything it does is based on these tiny variations,” Arthur explained, clearly getting excited.

    “Like a computer code,” Charlie said.

    “In a way. It is much more advanced than computer code, and perhaps a method of programming that may be used someday. Anyhow, we built the armor from a carbon-nanotube structure, stronger than steel, more heat resistant than titanium. The armor is energized throughout its structure by a series of electrodes, which move the armor. Now, the body sends back voltages to the brain as well, to let the brain know that its command was received and carried out. The suit will also do this, letting it feel like a natural extension of the user’s body,” Arthur explained.

    “Now, how does that come in handy?” Charlie asked.

    “Well, Torus discovered that this return voltage was a way of confirming the movement. If the brain failed to receive the return signal, either because the limb did not send it or the brain could not interpret it, the brain would go into a sort of panic mode. This panic, at first, made our suits impossible to operate, as they would work initially, but would stop when the brain thought that the limbs were not doing their jobs. This return signal was vital, not only for the motion of the suit, but also to ensure that the body would not panic while using the suit, which would leave them worse off for using it should it fail,” Arthur replied.

    “On that note, I do have a question of my own. Say, for instance, that the suit did fail, perhaps drain its battery...would it trap the user inside of it?” Charlie asked, trying to find the words to ask what he wanted to say.

    “That is an excellent question, and one we had to think over for a while. In the event that the suit fails to send return signals, it is reverted to what is known as limited response mode. In this mode, the suit goes into a more fortified form, and the only things that continue to move are the joints. These are easier to operate than the skin on the rest of the body, as most joints only move in one direction, and they have a range of motion that can be tuned into the suit. This will give the user basic armor functionality, enabling him to continue what he is doing until the suit can be repaired,” Arthur said enthusiastically.

    “So it would be like wearing regular armor?” Charlie reiterated.

    “Something like it. But these suits are tested for full functionality in every conceivable environment, and are designed to work in hell. In any environment from ice to flames, these babies will hold up,” Arthur said with obvious pride in his voice.

    “We look forward to seeing your company’s work on the field, Arthur. Thank you, once again, for joining us this evening, and we hope to hear your company’s name much more very soon,” Charlie said, wrapping up the interview.

    “Thank you for the publicity, Charlie,” Arthur said, chuckling a bit.

    “Any time, Arthur,” Charlie laughed as he said, “To everyone tuning in tonight, thank you for watching. Join us again tomorrow night as we will have Barry Stahl, one of the premier scientists at Torus Labs, on his company’s progress on Project Argos. Until we meet again...stay strong.”