"Mitchison!" Raymond gasped. "Mitchison and Klaus--they issued a public statement about five minutes ago, telling the world all about the project! The lab is swarming with reporters! Jim, you've got to get out here at once!" He hung up. Harker let the receiver drop into its cradle. He moistened his lips. The mask of secrecy was off. From now on, they were accountable to the world for their every move. CHAPTER VIII Harker had thought Idlewild was in a state of confusion, but he realized he still had a lot to learn about ultimate chaos when he reached Litchfield, an hour later. Cars clogged the highway for a quarter of a mile on each side of the private road leading to the laboratories. He saw television cameras, sound trucks, men who looked like reporters. He ducked through the milling mob and tried to slip unobtrusively along the spruce-bordered dirt road to the administration building. But it was a foolhardy attempt; he hadn't taken more than ten steps before someone yelled: "Hey! There's Governor Harker!" A dozen of them surrounded him in a minute. Harker recognized a few of the faces from his mayoralty days--a _Times_ man, one from the _Star-Post_, one from the Hearst combine. Harker strode doggedly along, trying to ignore them, but they blocked his path. "What are _you_ doing here, Governor?" "What's your opinion on the reanimation bit? You think they're serious?" "How will the Nat-Libs react?" "Do you figure there'll be a congressional investigation?" They crowded around him, waving their minirecorders and notebooks. In a loud voice Harker said, "Hold on, all of you! Quiet down!" They quieted. "In answer to half a dozen of your questions, I'm here because I'm legal adviser to Beller Laboratories. The statement that was released to the press earlier today was an unofficial and possibly inaccurate one. I'll have an official statement for you as soon as things are under control here." "Does that mean the reanimation process doesn't actually exist?" "I repeat: I'll have an official statement later." It was the only way to handle them. He spun, pushed his way forcefully but with care between the _Times_ and Scripps-Howard-Cauldwell, and made his way up the hill. The road-block still functioned--only this time there were five guards there instead of two, and three of them held multishot rifles, the other two machine-pistols. Harker approached and said, "How come the fire-arms?" "It's the only way we can keep them back, Mr. Harker. You better go in. Dr. Raymond wants to see you." Harker nodded grimly and stepped through the cordon. He half-trotted the rest of the way. Raymond's office was crowded. Barchet was there, and Lurie, and two or three of the other researchers. Raymond, his face gray and stony, sat quietly back of his desk. "Here," he said. "Read this. It's the text of the handout Mitchison released." Harker scanned it.