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== The Project X order ==

== The Project X order ==

Henry Rearden received an order that he decided that he would never fill. It was a peremptory instruction, written in an imperative, authoritarian tone, for him to deliver a large quantity of Rearden Metal to the [[State Science Institute]], for use in a project known only as "[[Project X]]."

Henry Rearden received an order that he decided that he would never fill. It was a peremptory instruction, written in an imperative, authoritarian tone, for him to deliver ten thousand tons of Rearden Metal to the [[State Science Institute]], for use in a project known only as "[[Project X]]."

Henry Rearden was not accustomed to receiving business orders that read like expropriations. He said so to the first Washington representative sent to him, a man named [[Cuffy Meigs]], who wore a semi-military-looking tunic and the leather leggings of a traffic policeman. Not long after that, Dr. [[Floyd Ferris]], the Associate Director of the State Science Institute, came to renew the demand. Henry Rearden gave Ferris his refusal as well, in no uncertain terms. He explained that he could state as his reason that he could not provide material for a secret project having a goal that no one would reveal to him, because as the inventor of Rearden Metal he held himself responsible for any use that anyone might make of it. But his actual reason is that he would never supply anything to the State Science Institute for "any project, good or bad, secret or open." Floyd Ferris threatened Henry with some unspecified action. Henry dismissed the threat and said that Ferris could now leave.

Henry Rearden was not accustomed to receiving business orders that read like expropriations. He said so to the first Washington representative sent to him, a man named [[Cuffy Meigs]], who wore a semi-military-looking tunic and the leather leggings of a traffic policeman. Not long after that, Dr. [[Floyd Ferris]], the Associate Director of the State Science Institute, came to renew the demand. Henry Rearden gave Ferris his refusal as well, in no uncertain terms. He explained that he could state as his reason that he could not provide material for a secret project having a goal that no one would reveal to him, because as the inventor of Rearden Metal he held himself responsible for any use that anyone might make of it. But his actual reason is that he would never supply anything to the State Science Institute for "any project, good or bad, secret or open." Floyd Ferris threatened Henry with some unspecified action. Henry dismissed the threat and said that Ferris could now leave.