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Weeks was no fool He knew enough about salvage to know Pitt was conning hiht"

"We can't bring up the saturation chamber in less than twelve"

"You'd ood merchant in a Turkish bazaar, Mr Pitt" Weeks' s you begin counting after lunch"

Weeks threw up his hands "My God, you never give up All right, after lunch it is"

"Now that's settled, Commander Weeks," said Heidi, "if you'll follow me, I'll show you the operation"

Accompanied by two of his ship's officers, Weeks trailed Heidi down a stairway to the work platform inside the center well Pitt and Gunn turned and slowly made their way to the control room

"Why the VIP treat us out of the park?" Gunn asked irritably

"I bought ten hours," Pitt said in a low voice "And I'uys beloorking on the wreck"

Gunn stopped and looked at hi the project?"

"Hell yes," said Pitt earnestly

"You're nuts" Gunn shook his head in wonder "We need at least two h to Shields' cabin You don't stand a prayer of stalling that long"

Pitt s to try"

Through the heavy veil of sleep, Moon felt so him He had remained in his office around the clock since the Ocean Venturer hadhours were forgotten and he took to catching up on his sleep with short catnaps When he finally opened his eyes he found therim features of the White House communications director He yawned and sat up "What's the latest?"

The communications director handed him a sheet of paper "Read it and weep"

Moon studied the wording Then he looked up "Where's the President?"