bit about the riot at Moscow University
that had raged around her ears, apparently without touching or being
influenced by or influencing her own quiet program.

That they didn't think alike was evident. That this was a competent
sociologist, and not just a computer technician had not at first been
evident. But Nails was well pleased with his decision in the selection
of this particular unit of his command.

Things would go well in her presence, he felt. Details he might have
struggled with would iron out or disappear, and scarcely come to his
attention at all.

Very competent, he thought. And attractive, too.

* * * * *

In the engineering compartment, Mike was adjusting the power output
from the pile ten miles away, down from the full emergency power that
had been required to pump the more than five hundred thousand cubic
feet of water from the rim to the hub in seven minutes, to a level
more in keeping with the moderate requirements of the lab as it waited
out the storm.

As he threw the last switch, he became aware of a soft scuffling sound
behind him, and turned to see tiny Dr. Y Chi Tung, single-handedly
manhandling through the double bulkhead the bulky magnetic resonance
device on which he had been working when the flare alarm sounded, and
having the utmost difficulty even though the near free-fall conditions
made his problem package next to weightless.

The monkeylike form of the erudite physicist, dwarfed by the big
chassis, gave the appearance of a small boy trying to hide an outsize
treasure; but the nonchalant humor that normally poked constant fun at
both his profession as a physicist and the traditions of his Chinese
ancestors, was lacking.

Dr. Ishie was both breathless and worried.

"Mike," he gasped. "I was afraid to leave it, unshielded. It might
pick up some residual activity. Radiation, that is. From those
hydrogen hordes outside." He let the object rest for a moment, mopping
his head while he talked. "Can you hide it in here? I'm not really
anxious to have Budget Control know where some of this stuff
went--even though I have honorable intentions of returning the
components later--and the good captain down there on the bridge might
not consider its shielding important, either, if he knew I'd
sabotaged his beautiful evacuation plan to bring my pet along!" The
tone of Ishie's voice indicated his uncertainty as to Mike's
reception.

The idea of Dr. Y Chi Tung