" he sighed, "that's the way it
has to be. Let's get with it. Where does the plastic go?"

[Illustration]

"Better check that out with Barton in the main rig," the monitor chief
replied. "He's got the prints and he can show you the exact spot on
one of the spare pumps. Oh, and Mr. Hall," he paused, "you'd better
hurry it up. She's leaking a little of the pressure down there but
not nearly enough. I'd make a quick guess and say that we've got less
than two hours to either shut that pile down or relieve the pressure.
And if she's tipped, the time in getting it back up and checking out
damage on the pump system is going to take too long and it might not
be repairable. The best bet is to blow her."

Hall nodded and with Harbrace and the junior engineers in his wake
went to the central pump section vehicle.

Walking to the other vehicle, Alec looked at the water with stricken
eyes. "God in Heaven," he said aloud, "I never thought it would end
this way."

Harbrace broke stride and took Patterson gently by the arm.

"None of us did, Alec," he said. "This isn't your fault. You had a
fine idea and it worked. What happened afterwards is no worse than the
original quake that caused the damage. If this thing blows out, we
won't be out any more water than we would have been if you hadn't come
up with the idea in the first place."

"That's not what I meant," Alec said in a shaken voice. "If this does
blow out, not only do we lose the water but we're going to contaminate
this aquifer with radioactivity from here to the mouth of the
Columbia."

"I know that, too," Harbrace replied softly. "It's still not your
fault, son. And we're not licked yet. Come on."

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later, a double strand of durasteel cable stretched
across the three-hundred-foot wide current, suspended between the
raised crane towers of four of the mammoth crane carriers and passing
twenty feet above the churn of the bore hole.

Hall and a half dozen of his section chiefs stood at the base of one
of the makeshift towers. The chief hydraulic engineer had a headset
clamped on for contact with all the working units.

He turned to one of the men standing by. "Get me a pressure reading on
that hole," he ordered. "I want to know how much weight it's going to
take to get down through that mess."

"Why not just shut the other three down while we go down into the
hole?" the assistant asked.

"Calculated risk,"