"That sounds touchy," he said. "I will tell you where to go and what to do." "I'll have to know more than that." "I will tell you what to do." John Dennis left without saying good-bye. Les King stared at the inner side of the closed door. "Jesus!" he muttered. But the excitement was creeping back. 8 Brent Taber stood in front of the desk of Authority and said, "Mr. Porter, I don't think you people realize the gravity of this situation." Porter's eyes were frosty. "And just what gives you that idea?" "The fact that I'm being hamstrung at every turn. Men I assigned to search out the last android have been taken off the job, transferred away from me without notice." "You speak of being _hamstrung_." Porter pronounced the term with an inflection of disgust, as though it were a vulgarism no gentleman would use. "You say we do not realize the gravity of the situation. Perhaps we realize it far more than you do. It may be that your activities have been indirectly curtailed because you have not recognized the vital need of harmony in government." "Are you telling me Crane's ego is still smarting?" "_Senator_ Crane did, in the spirit of co-operation, mention certain leaks in your department." "What in hell are you talking about?" "I'd watch my tone if I were you, Taber. You aren't talking to one of your legmen now!" Taber's teeth came tight together. "I'm sorry. Let me repeat the question. Exactly what was the nature of the leak to which the Senator referred?" "A tape--transcribed at one of your top-secret meetings." Taber's fist closed and opened. "I guess maybe I have been lax," he said softly. Porter, grimly happy to have made his point, went on. "As to policy up above, I'll be quite frank. We have not necessarily gone along with your theory that the so-called androids were from outer space." "Then where do you think they originated?" "We have put data into the calculators on that point. So far, the results have been inconclusive." "That's too bad." "Your sarcasm is uncalled for. I am quite willing to tell you, however, that we have been proceeding in the matter. You are aware, no doubt, of the recent space shot that ended disastrously?" "Who isn't?" Still insistent upon treating Taber like a backward child, Porter said, "The missile was safely launched and made five orbits and then suffered destruction." "There was a lot of newspaper copy written on the failure; a lot of questions asked as to the cause." "The releases were entirely true," Porter said with prim severity. "There was malfunction of crucial units under stress. But another phase was not made public. The astronaut's mission--one of them, at least--was to hunt outer space for foreign bodies of any description." "What did he report?" "Nothing."