Project Gutenberg 2016-03-13 Public domain in the USA. 128 Sharkey, Jack 1931 1992 Sharkey, John Michael The Business, As Usual Produced from Galaxy Magazine August 1960 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Business, As Usual" by Jack Sharkey is a satirical science fiction story published in the early 1960s. This narrative unfolds in the context of the Cold War, exploring themes of espionage, military strategy, and the absurdity of political machinations. The book cleverly captures the tone of the era, focusing on the idea of using unconventional means to achieve geopolitical objectives, specifically through a unique agent. In this story, the United States government debates how to utilize a new radar-resistant airplane. The solution proposed is to send in a seemingly harmless agent, a stuffed teddy bear named Agent X-45, into enemy territory as part of an operation aimed at destabilizing the Communist regime. As the plan rolls out, the humor and irony stem from the assumption that the Russians, notorious for their paranoia and strict protocols, would be thrown into chaos by this act of folly. However, things take a comical turn when the bear is discovered, leading to unforeseen consequences that highlight the ludicrousness of the plan and the inherent dangers of underestimating one's opponent. Ultimately, the story critiques government policy and the lengths to which authorities will go to project power, showcasing how even the most ridiculous schemes can have serious repercussions. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 77.5 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Cold War -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 43430 2025-07-20T13:53:05.573553 text/html 19751 2024-10-23T00:10:19 text/html 280947 2025-07-20T13:53:07.209578 application/epub+zip 279775 2025-07-20T13:53:05.935583 application/epub+zip 70594 2025-07-20T13:53:05.733572 application/epub+zip 312915 2025-07-20T13:53:08.326572 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 306376 2025-07-20T13:53:07.011554 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 97558 2022-09-23T12:13:31.288160 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 36205 2025-07-20T13:53:05.462565 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16466 2024-10-23T00:10:19 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 17582 2025-07-20T13:53:08.444543 application/rdf+xml 25355 2025-07-20T13:53:05.802565 image/jpeg 4369 2025-07-20T13:53:05.768573 image/jpeg 255140 2025-07-20T13:53:05.585569 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia