Scientists of the Empire State have developed a new radio controlled beeper-seeker rocket system, the Empire State Press Office announced yesterday. According to Professor Morris T. Albertson, chief scientific advisor to President Fiorello La Guardia, the new system "makes the ultrasonic beeper-seeker system—so common in the skies above North America—obsolete."

The radio-beeper is considered by scientists to be more reliable and harder to detect than the ultrasonic version currently in use. Scientists around the continent claimed to be unsurprised about the development, saying that radio-seeker systems are in testing in many nations.

"It was inevitable," said Dr. Nikola Tesla from his home in Free Colorado. "The ultrasonic concept cannot compete against broadcast radio systems and must give way to new technology." Ironically, Empire State scientists have nicknamed the new beeper, "The Tesla Beeper," as much of the radio technology is an extrapolation from Tesla's work.

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Despite the calm reaction in the scientific community, politicians and militia fliers were alarmed. "How do we stop a homing rocket with thousands of feet of range? The ultrasonic rockets could only hear a beeper within a few hundred feet, and they're a terror. What if these radio seekers can be attached to aerial torpedoes?" asked Texas Senator Joshua Ratliff in a hastily-convened press conference. Politicians in several American nations immediately called for development of their own radio control systems and methods of counteracting the new weapon.

Many law enforcement agencies privately criticize the new weapon, saying that a new generation of weapons development can only lead to increased tensions, a new arms race, and increased spy activity, all adding up to a greater chance of war in North America.

Others are more pragmatic. According to Loyle "Show-stopper" Crawford of the famed Broadway Bombers militia, "I'll take any edge I can get."

For its part, the Empire State claims that radio controlled rockets are simply an improvement on an existing technology, and that the development of superior weapons will help insure the peace. As the announcement said, "No nation would dare attack the Empire State when it is known to have the best planes, pilots, and arms in North America."