"I can't tell you much, Allen. That's where Security does apply. Isaacson is a Martian colonist, you've probably guessed that already. Jessup lost his hand in a--a fight with some enemies once. The Dufreres had a son who was killed in the Moroccan incident." Lancaster remembered that that affair had involved American power used to crush a French spy ring centered in North Africa. Sovereignty had been brushed aside. But damn it, you had to preserve the status quo, for your own survival if nothing else. "Hwang had to go into exile when the Chinese government changed hands a few years back. I--" "Yes?" he asked when her voice faded out. "Oh, I might as well tell you. My husband and I lived in America after our marriage. He was a good biotechnician and had a job with one of the big pharmaceutical companies. Only he--went to camp. Later he died or was shot, I don't know which." Her words were flat. "That's a shame," he said inadequately. "The funny part of it is, he wasn't engaged in treason at all. He was quite satisfied with things as they were--oh, he talked a little, but so does everybody. I imagine some rival or enemy put the finger on him." "Those things happen," said Lancaster. "It's too bad, but they happen." "They're bound to occur in a police state," she said. "Sorry. We weren't going to argue politics, were we?" "I never said the world was perfect, Karen. Far from it. Only what alternative have we got? Any change is likely to be so dangerous that--well, man can't afford mistakes." "No, he can't. But I wonder if he isn't making one right now. Oh, well. Give me another beer." They talked on indifferent subjects till Karen said it was her bedtime. Lancaster escorted her to her apartment. She looked at him curiously as he said good night, and then went inside and closed the door. Lancaster had trouble getting to sleep. * * * * * The corrected equations provided an adequate theory of super-dielectricity--a theory with tantalizing hints about still other phenomena--and gave the research team a precise idea of what they wanted in the way of crystal structure. Actually, the substance to be formed was only semi-crystalline, with plastic features as well, all interwoven with a grid of carbon-linked atoms. Now the trick was to produce that stuff. Calculation revealed what elements would be needed, and what spatial arrangement--only how did you get the atoms to assume the required configuration and hook up in the right way? Theory would get you only so far, thereafter it was cut and try. Lancaster rolled up his sleeves with the rest and let Karen take over the leadership--she was the best experimenter. He spent some glorious and all but sleepless weeks, greasy, dirty, living in a jungle of haywired apparatus with a restless slide rule. There were plenty of failures, a lot of heartbreak and profanity, an occasional injury--but they kept going, and they got there.