It was a celebratory mood with the boys at
NASA; they had just made the scientific achievement of a lifetime.
As they were uncorking a bottle of
champagne, Dr. Lowenstein, the head scientist at NASA, asked everyone to be quiet as he
had received a congratulatory phone call from the President of the United States.
He picked up a special red phone, and spoke
into it.
"Mr. President," said Dr.
Lowenstein, grinning broadly, "after twelve years of hard research and billions of
dollars spent, we have finally found intelligent life on Mars."
He listened for a second, and his smile
gradually disappeared, replaced by a frown.
He said, "But that's impossible ... we
could never do it. ... yes Mr. President," and hung up the phone. He addressed the
crowd of scientists staring at him curiously.
"I have some bad news," he said,
"the President said that now that we've found intelligent life on Mars ... he wants
us to try to find it in Congress."
