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fast enough,” Sambit muttered.
    “Did you add boron to the coolant?” Lyrica asked.
    Sambit shook his head. “We didn’t even have power when we got here. Getting the generators online and the pumps working again were our first priorities.”
    “As they should have been. Okay, Derek, is it?” Derek nodded. “What can that gadget of yours do?”
    “Anything you want it to,” Derek said, “except climb straight up and survive an explosion. It has some heat shielding, but not extensive since it’s a prototype. I can add that kind of shielding, but it will decrease the mobility.”
    “I’ve got containers of boron that need to be added to the coolant mix,” Lyrica said, “and the radiation readings from your little friend there suggest it wouldn’t be safe for us to do it manually.”
    Derek looked at Sambit for confirmation. He liked Lyrica’s no-nonsense attitude, but he didn’t know her well enough to trust her. For some reason, though, he trusted Sambit. Sambit nodded.
    “Tell me where they are.”
    “What about the depressurization system?” Sambit asked before Lyrica could reply. “Is it worth trying to let a little pressure out now to buy us time to get the boron solution into the core?”
    “That’s against protocol!” Tucker protested. “We have no idea what kind of radiation levels are inside the core at the moment, and if the secondary containment structure is compromised, you could be releasing dangerous levels of radiation into the air.”
    “Shut up, Tucker,” Derek said. “They’re professionals. They know the risks.”
    “The risk is minimal,” Lyrica said. “The vents open into the wetwell. It might be flooded, but it’s underground so it shouldn’t have been damaged by the tornado or hurricane winds. It’s certainly less of a risk than a core meltdown or breach would be.”
    “Tell me where to go,” Derek said, turning his back on Turner.
    Lyrica gave him directions to the ADS override, not even bothering to see if the computerized system would work. Derek followed her instructions to the letter.
    “It’s working,” Sambit said from the main computer station. “The pressure is going down in the core.”
    “Good,” Lyrica said. “Let’s leave it for another minute, and then we’ll turn it back off. We don’t know the condition of the wetwell, and until we do, we shouldn’t put too much stress on the system.”
    They waited out the allotted time, and Derek guided Number Five to shut the valves again.
    “This is all highly unusual,” Tucker said again.
    “Mr. Tucker,” Sambit said from the computer, “it occurs to me that we’ve all focused on this reactor because we knew it was damaged, but no one has checked on units one and two. Perhaps you should take a couple of people and make sure they shut down correctly and that the backup systems are dealing with the decay heat appropriately. It would be a shame to work so hard over here only to have a disaster over there because we didn’t realize there was a problem.”
    Tucker blanched and bustled out of the room, calling names for people to accompany him.
    “Thank God,” Lyrica said when Tucker was out of earshot. “Now if we can just keep him out of our hair.”
    “I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Derek said. “Sam, I think she’s okay.”
    “Sambit,” Sambit corrected, but his smile was indulgent. “Welcome to the team, Lyrica.”
    “I think I’m the one who should be welcoming you,” Lyrica countered, “but either way, it’s good to work with people who can think on their feet. Okay, let’s get the boron in the coolant and see where we are. I don’t suppose you have a second one of those robots stashed away somewhere?”
    “No,” Derek said. “It’s a prototype. I plan to patent it eventually, but I’m not done tweaking it yet.”
    “Damn. Well, I guess we’ll just have to make do with one, then.”
    “If we have another robot of any kind, I can make adjustments to it,”