| Thatcher's M.A.D System | |
|---|---|
|
Creator |
Irving Thatcher |
|
Type |
Failsafe Nuclear Weapon System |
|
Intended Effect |
Incites cascading nuclear retaliation |
|
Malfunction |
Accidentally triggered and modified, negating any deactivation measures |
|
Location |
|
|
Activation |
Inserting atomic arming keys |
|
Collected by |
Warehouse 13 |
|
Date of Incident |
August 22, 2006 |
|
Date of Collection |
November 29, 2019 |
| [Source] | |
Origin[]
During the 1960s, nuclear scientists and physicists feared the rapid proliferation of immensely powerful WMDs. Eureka resident Irving Thatcher was inspired to create a MAD controlled system – mutually assured destruction. The idea was the equal threat of complete annihilation by the remaining side’s forces would deter anyone from initiating first strike. The Titan Project design team managed to create a targeting IRBM system with dead man’s switch. Thatcher expected to receive a Nobel Prize at Stockholm in 1962 for his development. But nobody anticipated Linus Pauling winning a second lifetime award. The shock gave Thatcher a breakdown, where he was forced to retire from Global Dynamics.
Effects[]
Inserting two plastic activation keys will arm the system after a short delay. Klaxons blare with hourly announcements until launch exactly a day after activation. The downtown area becomes a launching platform for a singular, massive particle beam. It fires a stream of irradiated uranium isotopes through the ionosphere and reflects the discharge off mirrors left on the moon during the Apollo missions. It can be projected at any city for total vaporization in an instant.
Similar to other space-based weapons, it uses a single channel transponder package that communicates commands to the weapon with low frequency data output. Blocking the signal is ineffective, and the arconium carbonide shell makes it impenetrable to laser bombardment drill. The control panel needs to be manually deactivated to stop the countdown. Opening the middle panel (proprietary reverse thread hex screws) allows access to the launch code override circuitry. A third key is required to properly shutdown.
Appearances[]
It appears in the Season 1 episode Dr.Nobel. Locked within the bowels of Section 4, the project remained dormant until Fargo foolishly activated the control panel in his new office space. A missile silo sprung up within the vicinity of current downtown Eureka, which immediately triggered a DOD evacuation response. No digital records existed at the time, so a paper trail revealed Dr. Thatcher was the inventor. They brought him in to examine the machinery, but was unable to form any coherent thoughts much less remember the schematics. Attempts to cut wiring instead shortened the timeframe to seven hours.
Sheriff Carter used a memory device to enter Thatcher’s memories and eventually realized the loss of the Nobel fractured his thought. Using Nathan Stark’s prize to recreate an awards ceremony stabilized his psyche enough to fix the device with his former team. But the damaged circuitry instead defaulted the system into premature launch. Only crashing a jeep into the laser nudged the weapon off axis enough to miss the moon’s reflectors. (And destroy the Zephyr probe approaching Jupiter). The keys and control panel have been maintained in Eureka in case of repeat incidents, and the weapon system itself disassembled by GD staff.
