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first run as principal investigator, the safety shortcut, the smashing of the
Core Element, the sphere--all linked, bringing her to this.
"I'm principal investigator on this research grant and I set policy,"
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COSM
she said, hearing a wobble in her voice. Be .firm. This guy is just a graduate
student, after all. But her throat wasn't working right.
Zak came to her rescue. "We were thinking this through, didn't want to look
stupid, making a big deal out of nothing."
Not really, Alicia thought, but okay--that element was there, too.
She nodded.
Brad shook his head, a not-having-any expression hardening his face.
Zak persisted, keeping his voice light and casual, "Hell, we thought it was a
fresh steel bubble."
Again, not really, but she could live with that. "Our working hypothesis, yes.
,An interesting solid-state effect. No big deal."
"Then why not just toss it?" Brad eyed her defiantly.
"We had to move it out of there anyway. It's heavy, hard to get a grip on. The
magnet seemed a good way to handle it, keep it isolated.''
The logic sounded weak even to her, but her voice was firming up now.
Brad looked skeptical. "Hum. So... what is it?"
She shrugged. "Nothing about it makes sense."
"It's not iron, though," Zak said. "We did a spectral reflection analysis
using the gas laser."
"So what is it?" Brad's tone was still flat, no-nonsense.
"Nothing clear. No lines for any metal I know." Zak bobbed his head, a gesture
she recognized as mild modesty, one he must have picked up to conceal his own
confidence in his ability. She recognized something of herself in that small
nod, a nominal bow.
Brad's mouth twisted with frustration. "What if it's dangerous?"
She allowed herself a small smile. "Why would it be?"
"It blew open the beam line, didn't it?"
"Perhaps. Maybe this sphere wasn't the cause but a side effect."
"Of what?" Brad shot back.
She shrugged. "We don't know. It's important not to jump to conclusions when
you haven't a clue what's going on."
"But caution--"
"Research is when you don't know what you're doing." Alicia
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GREGORY BENFORD ·
took refuge from his intent gaze in an ancient cliche.
Zak said, "It's probably no big deal. Plenty of things turn up that are hard
to explain but not exotic."
"Were there any others?" Brad asked and Alicia saw that he was stalling for
time, trying to figure out where he should go with this.
"No," Zak said.
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"You looked?"
"Hey, it was right at the focus of the Core Element, where the beams
intersect."
"So?"
Alicia said crisply, "Occam's razor--prefer the least hypothesis.
At the focus, because that's where the energy was to drive the formation
process. We'd seen a drop in collisions for more than an hour before we
finally shut down and went to look. Probably the sphere formed and blocked
most of the beam flux. One sphere alone explains that. Plus, with people
checking everything out on BRAHMS, they'd have noticed another even if we
didn't."
Brad twisted his mouth again, as if taking distasteful medicine. "I
still think you should've told the rest of them."
"That's a policy decision. I make those."
Brad sat on an assembly table and shook his head. Time for some
I
rrot. Stick won't do it alone, she thought. "Zak, thanks for your help.
I handle it.
.,, "Huh? Oh." Zak had been shuffling uncomfortably from one foot to another
and now looked relieved at a plain invitation to be missing.
He left by the side door.
"Brad, I wanted to clarify the problem before I took up your time with it,"
she said mildly.
"I suppose I can understand that," he said guardedly.
"As well, you are vitally important in rebuilding the Core Element.''
"Yeah, but it's, well, getting kind of boring."
"Tedium goes with the territory."
"Well, there's more interesting stuff..."
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