"How should we know? We're only innocent bystanders now, like you.
Remember, we all left the Project over six months ago, except Avery,
and last month they let him go."
Neill had rearranged his cards now and he looked at them instead of
Rothman as he spoke. "There's nothing to worry about. Your calculations
were wrong. The test is not going to get out of control--if and when
they make it. But they don't tell us things any more."
"Since they fired you," said Rothman.
"That's right, since they fired us," Neill said. The creased corner of
a card suddenly broke off in his fingers.
"If you didn't believe in my calculations, why did you back me up? I
didn't ask you to. If you didn't believe in the danger, why didn't you
stay out of the argument and keep your jobs? It wasn't your fight. You
could have kept out of it--or attacked me, like Avery."
"All we did was insist that even if you had made a mistake in your
calculations, that didn't necessarily prove you were crazy," said
Neill. "We didn't know whether you were right or not. We couldn't argue
about the math. Avery tore that to pieces and the boys at Columbia and
Harvard backed him up. MacPherson and I aren't competent to check your
math. To us, you didn't seem any crazier than the people who sent you
here. But after you'd scared them silly, they had to do something to
stop your scaring other people."
* * * * *
He turned to pick up his cards again, but stopped at the sight of
Avery. Avery was standing and crumpling a card spasmodically, his lips
were moving without sound, and he was breathing rapidly.
"Look here," said MacPherson. "You'd better change the subject. If
little Joe passes by the door and hears us talking about the Project,
he'll have our visiting privileges revoked before you can say nuclear
fission, and they'll stay revoked forever."
"How long is forever?" asked Rothman.
Avery threw down his cards and walked to the window. Through the bars,
there was nothing to be seen but the expanse of sand, glinting in the
morning sun, and a cactus plant casting a stubby shadow. He whirled to
face the others.
"Look, MacPherson," he burst out. "I'm fed up with this game. Snookums
Rothman mustn't think about the Project any more, so we mustn't say the
naughty word. But we were all in it together at the beginning and there
was a while when we were all every bit as scared as he was. Why not
tell him we came this morning in case--just in case--he'd heard about
the test and was worrying? What's the harm in telling him what the
whole university knows? That zero hour is today, this morning, now!"
"Shut up, you fool!" said MacPherson.
But Rothman glanced at his cards again, then looked up. "When does it
begin? What time is it now?"
"Don't answer!" shouted MacPherson. "Are you trying to knock him off
balance again?"
"I will answer!" said Avery. "I'm going to tell him. He scared us silly
with his calculations; now let us scare him with some cold facts. It'll
do him good. Maybe when the test is over, if he finds--I mean _when_ he
finds--he was wrong, he'll be cured."
"Yes, and maybe he'll really be crazy."
Grabbing Avery fiercely by the arm, MacPherson tried to drag him to the
door, but Avery broke away.
"Listen, Rothman!" Avery's breath was coming quick and shallow. "Today
is the day! Zero hour is eleven o'clock this morning!"
* * * * *
MacPherson sagged. No one spoke or moved as they all watched Rothman.