In the Virginia countryside, Saturday…

RP1 and SW2 recognized most of these instruments from courses they had taken, though they were so shiny and new that the two of them knew they were state of the art and certainly not cheap. Some very expensive research was going on here in their Center. The idea made RP1 frown. Was it about them? Where were the researchers? "I think they come in from outside, every day, through there," whispered SW2, as if to answer his thoughts. She pointed down a corridor. There were two turnstiles, two metal stalls, and two devices for checking fingerprints and performing retinal scans, just like she'd seen in pictures of security stations at airports. A sign above the door on the other side of the turnstiles said "To Parking Garage". Just before the turnstiles was another sign that said "Have your ID ready. All personal belongings are subject to inspection." Yet another sign in the corridor had a caricature of Uncle Sam pointing a gnarled finger at the sign reader; the sign said "National security begins with you. Did you close your safe today?"

"What are they talking about safes for?" asked RP1.

GW3, who was still intent on breaking into the workstation, pointed across the room. Several upright Mosler safes, filing cabinets with formidable electronic locks, lined the wall. Such safes were not used for paper anymore; instead, they were used to house removable hard disks from the computers, including their backups. Most government offices were now paperless. Some workers still printed out hard copies for meetings and the like where computers were not available but these would be shredded at the end of the day. It was all the more reason for good computer security.