don't have any
control over my labor relations. Tell him to bring his gripes to me."

* * * * *

At sixteen-thirty, Doris Rives came in, finding him still at his desk.

"I have the written tests all finished, and I have about twenty of the
tests and interviews completed," she said. "I'll have to evaluate the
results, though. I wonder if there's a vacant desk around here,
anywhere, and a record player."

"Yes, sure. Ask Joan to fix you up; she'll find a place for you to work.
And if you're going to be working late, I'll order some dinner for you
from the cafeteria. I'm going to be here all evening, myself."

Sid Keating came in, a short while later, peeling out of his overcoat,
jacket and shoulder holster.

"I don't think they got everything out of that reactor," he said.
"Radioactivity's still almost active-normal--about eight hundred
REM's--and the temperature's away up, too. That isn't lingering
radiation; that's prompt radiation."

"Radioactivity hasn't dropped since morning; I'd think so, too," Melroy
said. "What are they getting on the breakdown counter?"

"Mostly neutrons and alpha-particles. I talked to Fred Hausinger, the
maintenance boss; he doesn't like it, either."

"Well, I'm no nuclear physicist," Melroy disclaimed, "but all that alpha
stuff looks like a big chunk of Pu-239 left inside. What's Fred doing
about it?"

"Oh, poking around inside the reactor with telemetered scanners and
remote-control equipment. When I left, he had a gang pulling out
graphite blocks with RC-tongs. We probably won't get a chance to work on
it much before thirteen-hundred tomorrow." He unzipped a bulky brief
case he had brought in under his arm and dumped papers onto his desk. "I
still have this stuff to get straightened out, too."

"Had anything to eat? Then call the cafeteria and have them send up
three dinners. Dr. Rives is eating here, too. Find out what she wants; I
want pork chops."

"Uh-huh; Li'l Abner Melroy; po'k chops unless otherwise specified."
Keating got up and went out into the middle office. As he opened the
door. Melroy could hear a recording of somebody being given a
word-association test.

Half an hour later, when the food arrived, they spread their table on a
relatively clear desk in the middle office. Doris Rives had finished
evaluating the completed tests; after dinner, she intended going over
the written portions of the uncompleted tests.

"How'd the finishe