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himself the boss. Applenu marveled at the pride Hearn expressed in his designs. Everything he did was done with excellence.
    Hearn said, “I don’t know if and when I’ll be able to come down to the factory. I need to stay here to keep suspicion off me. Actually, I don’t ever need to be down there, do I? You are the man at the factory. It’s in your hands now. That’s the way I planned it.”
    “What’s happening with the investigation of the other guy?” Applenu asked Hearn, referring to Austin.
    “DOE in-house security and DOD security is investigating. They somehow kept the FBI out of it up to now, but I know they are discussing when to bring them in.”
    “Have any investigators been to see the other guy?”
    “They are concentrating the investigation in Tennessee and New Mexico, but two of them came to see him. They wanted to know how the computerized system works. One of them asked what happened to our super-secure system. I told them DOE computers were just one of many throughout the world that were hit. Although the computer that controls the transportation system in New Mexico failed, ours here at Washington didn’t. I said we are looking into why the New Mexico computer failed. Of course, I didn’t tell them I designed the entire system.”
    “So what happens if they zero in on you?”
    “I’ve got plans for that. I’ve got explanations for everything. Eventually, when the time is right, I’ll resign, saying I’m partly to blame because my computerized system failed. Oh, I’ve got plans. Don’t worry about me.”
    “We succeeded with the hardest part of this project,” Applenu said. “Maybe we should just end it here and walk away, just disappear.”
    “No way. Besides, you know you can’t do that. You’ve got family involved. Buck up, old chap. Hey, I wish you were here, because I’m going out and celebrate. If you were here, you could call Patty and get laid.” He laughed. “You miss getting laid regularly, now that you know what it’s all about? We’ve got a lot to celebrate. And much bigger things are coming.”
    - - - - -
    The morning after Hearn’s celebration, Sherbani made one of his rare phone calls to Applenu in his hotel room in Miami. “Our colleague, Doctor Hearn is dead,” he said solemnly.
    “Dead? I talked to him last night.”
    “It was an automobile accident in his new Porsche. He was going too fast and lost control. The car exploded. His body was burned beyond recognition.”
    Applenu dropped into the chair behind the table he was standing at, his mind assessing the meaning of the news and it’s effect on the project. Maybe this was the break he needed. He said, “We’ve got to cancel the project. We can’t do it without him.”
    “We carry on just as before. Doctor Hearn served us well. He gave us some magnificent designs in phase one, engineered phase two, most ingeniously, and now phase three, the manufacture of the product, is up to you.”
    “He was our computer expert,” Applenu protested. “We needed him to write programs for precision machining the product. He also made himself the chemistry expert on processing the fluoride solution to a solid.”
    “Why did Doctor Hearn send you and Lormes to Miami?” Sherbani asked and then answered his own question. “To recruit backup for the computerized machining, correct?”
    “Yes, but…”
    “And Doctor Hearn gave Mr. Lormes instructions on recruiting a backup chemist, correct? Doctor Hearn planned for all contingencies. He prepared documents on the chemistry and machining and gave them to you and Dr. Drafton. His plan all along was to have you run phase three without significant input from him. So we are right on schedule.”
    Applenu sighed with resignation as Sherbani continued in a soft voice. “When you make a long journey, your vehicle can break down. That does not mean you abandon your journey. There are other vehicles, some not as good as the one you started with and some better.