09.02.48: FIFTEEN TOWNS in Essex
were without power last night after armies of cable bugs stripped insulation from the main National
Grid power lines.
The bugs, a genetically engineered cross between a moth and a locust, were developed to help deal
with the world's waste problems. Scientists believed that the bugs would chew through the great dumps
of waste plastic, and in trials the system worked well. But experts failed to foresee that the bugs
would seek a fresh food source once they had exhausted waste supplies.
Teams of bug-busters are trying to control the insects by imposing sonar pulse signals onto the
electric current carried by the cables. These pulses are interpreted as bat radar signals by the
insects, which scurry away and hide from the nonexistent predators. JWM
