Twistor by Gene; John; Wolfe Cramer Page A

bit stunned. Losing all that work and hardware, I mean.' That sounds a bit lame, Saxon thought.
    'What exactly happened? Can anything be salvaged? What caused it?' Saxon recalled the optimism he'd expressed just yesterday to his NSF contract monitor and considered the obstacles, without new results to show, that he would face in obtaining more funding for the project.
    'I'm afraid that the hardware near the chamber is a total loss. We aren't sure what happened. We were doing preliminary tests. I was just about to start the coil calibrations late last night when there was an implosion. We're still trying to reconstruct the sequence of events, so I can't tell you much yet. The only thing we're sure of is that we're going to have to start over, almost from scratch. Maybe half the hardware is still OK . . . the power supplies, regulators, and control circuits. The control computer is fine, too. But all that machine-shop work that you pulled strings to get done in a hurry will have to be done over, no question.'
    There was the odor here of a cock-and-bull story, Saxon thought. 'David, I don't understand. What imploded? How could it destroy that big hunk of stainless steel? It sounds crazy!'
    'It is crazy, Allan! That's what I'm trying to tell you. It's completely insane. We don't know what imploded. All we know is that all the hardware in the center of the rig is gone.'
    He was covering something up; Saxon was sure of it. Had he done something stupid that he was hiding? The bloody incompetent! 'Gone! What do you mean, "gone"! Vacuum chambers and cryopumps don't vanish into thin air! There must at least be some pieces you can analyze to figure out what happened.'
    There are no pieces, Allan. Everything within about a meter of chamber center is gone. Vanished.'
    There was silence for a moment. Theft! He must have stolen the equipment. The bastard! An eruption followed. 'Goddammit, Harrison, when I get back I'm going to kick your ass into orbit! This story of yours is the most ridiculous fabrication that it has ever been my misfortune to hear. You expect me to believe that fifty thousand dollars' worth of hardware just vanished into thin air! I'll find out where you're hiding it, or who you've sold it to! You'll go to jail! I'll have you blacklisted! You'll never be able to get a job even sweeping out a physics building. You're not going to rob my laboratory and get away with it!' Saxon could feel the back of his scalp tingling, the usual sign that his blood pressure had risen too high.
    'Allan, please calm down,' said David in a soothing voice. 'Nobody is trying to rob you of anything. Nobody is trying to put anything over on you. We have a problem, and we need your help. We're doing some checks now, to try to get some more information. You can look things over when you get back and decide for yourself. I wanted to bring you up to date now, so you can be thinking about it. We don't understand what happened. I thought perhaps you might have some ideas.'
    'I have a very good idea what happened,' said Allan, then paused and cleared his throat. There was nothing to be done from here, he realized. Better not to burn any bridges. 'But I will certainly examine all the evidence when I return, and I expect all the evidence to be there. Don't throw anything away or change anything. I'll come to my own conclusions and determine what course of action to take.' He paused a moment. What would others in the department think? Better to keep the lid on. 'And be careful to whom you talk. Don't mention this to anyone! I, at least, have a reputation to consider.' He took a deep breath. 'I'll be flying back tomorrow afternoon. I'll see you and Vickie in my office at seven tomorrow evening and hear your report. And it had better be damned good, Harrison. Goddamned good! Now goodbye!'
    He slammed the receiver into the cradle and took several deep breaths. He shouldn't lose control like that, he thought. It gave jackasses like Harrison the opportunity to