"Impossible," Harker said. "The word has gone out. If we nix it, the public will never believe a further word we say. Uh-uh." "What then?" "Don't worry about it. First thing is to prepare a release saying that the early announcement was premature, that Mitchison and Klaus are no longer connected with this organization--" "Klaus has a contract." "The contract has a clause in it about insubordination or else it isn't worth a damn. Have somebody send a special-delivery letter to Klaus informing him that his contract is voided. Keep a couple of carbons. Send a letter of dismissal to Mitchison, too." Harker paused to wipe sweat from his face. In the small room, the air conditioners had little effect. He went on, "Next thing: I'll draft a release confirming the fact that you've developed this technique, and I'll sign my name to it. When I'm done, have it mimeographed and distributed to everybody out there. That cancels out Mitchison's poop, anyway. After that"--he frowned--"do you have any human cadavers around the place? Revivable ones, I mean?" Raymond shook his head. "Too bad. Find one. We'll give a demonstration of the technique to any of the pressmen who have strong enough stomachs to want to watch. And then--" "Don't you think that's a little risky?" Lurie asked mildly. "What? The demonstration?" Lurie nodded, grinning foolishly. "Well, I mean, something might go wrong--" "Like what?" "There are flaws in the process," Raymond cut in. "We haven't fully perfected it. I was meaning to talk about them to you, but of course, this thing coming up makes it impossible to iron the bugs out in time, and--" "Hold it," Harker said. He felt a chill start to rise up his back. In a flat voice he said, "You gave me the impression that this process worked all the time. That if the body was in good enough shape to live, and hadn't started to decay, you could revive it. Suppose you tell me about these so-called 'bugs'--right here and now." * * * * * There was a brief, ominous silence in the room. Harker saw Raymond glare sourly at Lurie, who cowered; the other staff researcher looked uneasy, and Barchet nibbled at his nails. At last Raymond said, "Jim, I'm sorry. We didn't play it square with you." "Go on. Bare your soul to me now, Raymond. I want to know everything." "Well--ah--the process _doesn't_ always work. About one out of twenty times, we can't bring the patient back to life." "Understandable. If that's the whole trouble--" "It isn't. Jim, you have to understand that death is a tremendous shock to the nervous system--the biggest shock there is. That goes without saying. Sometimes the shock is so great that it short-circuits the brain, so to speak. And so even though we can achieve physiological reanimation, the mind--ah--the mind is not always reanimated with the body."