Behind the DOOR
DOOR, the Department Of Ongoing Research, is a government agency I created for my stories. It may be imagined as a combination DARPA, NSA, and CIA. They have both public and private sectors. The public side is reminiscent of NASA in the 1960s, people with the “right stuff” to make a positive contribution to our nation and the world. They have medical and scientific research departments and have been responsible for many breakthroughs that have benefited mankind in general. They also have a philanthropic arm called Human Kind that helps individuals and agencies in need.
That’s the public side. The private side is very private, shadowy even. This side shuns publicity and detection by any part of the public eye. They are well funded, but with little oversight. Their main job is not to let any country outpace ours in the technology world. They will use any means necessary to achieve that objective. There is even a phrase whispered out in the street, “go through the DOOR, you’ll be seen no more”.
DOOR has dealt with threats from other countries, other dimensions and other planets. They have managed to keep a very low profile in all these cases, with the public barely aware of any of it.
I do not use DOOR in all my stories. However, here is a list of the stories in the order they should be read concerning DOOR. These are all stand-alone stories and sometimes DOOR is only mentioned in passing, but it does establish a sort of timeline for these events.
Identity Theft-novella
Project Night Owl-novella
Who Am I-short story
Hell To Pay-novella
Finally, let me just say that if I disappear, you will know I got closer to the truth about our government than I ever intended.
Stephen R Pell October, 2022