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"I think I can live with those odds"

"I'll leave you to your sandwich"

If Pitt felt pessimistic he didn't show it He put on a confident face and threw a lazy wave "Hang loose, Ades is bound to catch up"

Sandecker watched as Pitt's figure faded from the screen Then he rose from his chair and left the projection roohts of stairs to the coh security

In a glass-enclosed roo machines a man in a white lab coat studied a stack of colasses as the admiral approached

"Good afternoon, doc," greeted Sandecker

Dr Ra up a pencil He had a light-skinned narrow, gloo jaw and barbed-wire eyebrows-the kind of face that e of expression

Doc King could afford a sour countenance He was the creative genius behind the develop

"Everything functioning s to make conversation

"The probe is functioning perfectly," answered King "Just as it did yesterday, the day before that and the previous teeks If our baby develops teething problems, you'll be the first to be notified"

"I'd prefer good news to no news"

King laid aside the printout sheets and faced Sandecker "You're not only de the moon but the stars as well Why continue this risky expedition? The Doodlebug is a qualified success It penetrates deeper than we had any right to expect The doors of discovery it throws open stagger the e and make its existence known"

"No!" Sandecker snapped back "Not until I damn well have to"

"What are you trying to prove?" King persisted

"I want to prove that it's hfalutin dowser"