in here. They already know more about it than we do. I’m convinced that they didn’t send it, and that they’d eagerly offer a first mortgage on the Kremlin for a good description of it, with Lenin’s Tomb and the Berlin Wall thrown in for a photograph. So I am in complete agreement with Captain Meyers. I’ve heard two of you remark privately that his arrangements are thorough to the point of being ridiculous, and that’s the way it should be. We can’t be too careful.”
“Thank you, Major,” Colonel Stubbins said. “We all feel easier about it knowing that you approve. Next—”
“I’m not finished, sir. I wouldn’t say that this matter disturbs me, because I don’t think it makes any difference, but there are some intriguing inconsistencies in the security arrangements.” He paused, making certain that he had everyone’s attention. Haskins was scowling and shaking his head, but Karvel ignored him. “If the Russians did send the U.O., they’re going to be more interested in the valley below Whistler’s than they are in this hangar. They’re going to want to know the precise place the U.O. landed—”
“It’s a little difficult to place the whole countryside under guard, Major,” Captain Meyers said testily.
“—the precise place, and perhaps the precise time. Of course it’s too late to worry about that now, because their agents would have been on hand when the U.O. arrived, and left as soon as they got the information they wanted. It might be interesting to find out who the agents were, though. I point out that the personnel of a television program was visiting the base for allegedly honorable purposes, and three of the actresses were at Whistler’s last Saturday afternoon. Odd that they should turn up on that particular day, don’t I you think? I remember one of them asking exactly how far the tavern was from the base, which in retrospect seems a peculiar question. Whistler’s new bartender might be worth a casual investigation. There was a stranger who turned up at the tavern asking for directions to Highway 41, and looking for Highway 41 on Whistler’s road is a little like looking for the moon in a coal mine. It makes one wonder what he really wanted—and, of course, where he went when he left Whistler’s. And what other strangers conveniently managed to get lost about the valley on that particular afternoon. As I said, none of this disturbs me. If the Russians didn’t send the U.O., what they find in the valley won’t do a thing for them except whet their appetites to break in here. But if they did send it—”
Five minutes later Karvel managed to leave the room unnoticed in spite of his necessarily cumbersome departure and the fact that Haskins got up to help him through the door. The initial surge of argument had collapsed, and Colonel Stubbins was removing Captain Meyers’s hide, one sentence worth at a time, while the others looked on uncomfortably.
“It was your idea,” Karvel said, when they were safely away.
“I was about to thank you,” Haskins said. “If they will now concentrate on who was where last Saturday, and leave us alone somewhat, perhaps we’ll get some work done.”
“I wouldn’t say that your own guards are any improvement over the military.”
“They make it difficult to get in or out, but they don’t bother you while you’re here. Feel like having an early supper?”
“No. I’ll have Ostrander bring me something later. Have they found any wires yet?”
“In the U.O.? No, no wires. Each instrument capsule is a self-contained unit. We’re still trying to figure out a way to break into one without damaging it.”
“What about the fuel?”
“We’re working on it.”
They reached the first guard post, at the hangar door, and two men in civilian clothes searched them routinely but thoroughly. They were not halted again until they came to a gate in the tall, barbed-wire-topped fence that had been erected around the hangar. Getting
“Thank you, Major,” Colonel Stubbins said. “We all feel easier about it knowing that you approve. Next—”
“I’m not finished, sir. I wouldn’t say that this matter disturbs me, because I don’t think it makes any difference, but there are some intriguing inconsistencies in the security arrangements.” He paused, making certain that he had everyone’s attention. Haskins was scowling and shaking his head, but Karvel ignored him. “If the Russians did send the U.O., they’re going to be more interested in the valley below Whistler’s than they are in this hangar. They’re going to want to know the precise place the U.O. landed—”
“It’s a little difficult to place the whole countryside under guard, Major,” Captain Meyers said testily.
“—the precise place, and perhaps the precise time. Of course it’s too late to worry about that now, because their agents would have been on hand when the U.O. arrived, and left as soon as they got the information they wanted. It might be interesting to find out who the agents were, though. I point out that the personnel of a television program was visiting the base for allegedly honorable purposes, and three of the actresses were at Whistler’s last Saturday afternoon. Odd that they should turn up on that particular day, don’t I you think? I remember one of them asking exactly how far the tavern was from the base, which in retrospect seems a peculiar question. Whistler’s new bartender might be worth a casual investigation. There was a stranger who turned up at the tavern asking for directions to Highway 41, and looking for Highway 41 on Whistler’s road is a little like looking for the moon in a coal mine. It makes one wonder what he really wanted—and, of course, where he went when he left Whistler’s. And what other strangers conveniently managed to get lost about the valley on that particular afternoon. As I said, none of this disturbs me. If the Russians didn’t send the U.O., what they find in the valley won’t do a thing for them except whet their appetites to break in here. But if they did send it—”
Five minutes later Karvel managed to leave the room unnoticed in spite of his necessarily cumbersome departure and the fact that Haskins got up to help him through the door. The initial surge of argument had collapsed, and Colonel Stubbins was removing Captain Meyers’s hide, one sentence worth at a time, while the others looked on uncomfortably.
“It was your idea,” Karvel said, when they were safely away.
“I was about to thank you,” Haskins said. “If they will now concentrate on who was where last Saturday, and leave us alone somewhat, perhaps we’ll get some work done.”
“I wouldn’t say that your own guards are any improvement over the military.”
“They make it difficult to get in or out, but they don’t bother you while you’re here. Feel like having an early supper?”
“No. I’ll have Ostrander bring me something later. Have they found any wires yet?”
“In the U.O.? No, no wires. Each instrument capsule is a self-contained unit. We’re still trying to figure out a way to break into one without damaging it.”
“What about the fuel?”
“We’re working on it.”
They reached the first guard post, at the hangar door, and two men in civilian clothes searched them routinely but thoroughly. They were not halted again until they came to a gate in the tall, barbed-wire-topped fence that had been erected around the hangar. Getting
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