This pilot fish works for a subcontractor to the prime contractor that manages a government laboratory — which puts him about as far down the government-contractor stack as it gets.

“Several months back, I mentioned to my boss that a co-worker and I had restarted a project that was shelved three years ago,” says fish. “The government wants the project, the finance guys want it, but everybody is always too busy to get involved with it.

“My boss told me at the time that the project had not been approved and I should not be working on it at all.”

So fish and his co-worker go back to doing what they’ve been doing: working on the project skunkworks-style, quietly and in between other assignments.

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