Second man: "Okay, so they haven't reported it. But why not?" Bancroft: "You know why. They don't want the government mixing into this any more than we do." Woman: "Well, then, are they just going to sit and take it? No, they'll find some way to--" "HELLO, THERE, MISTER!!!" Dalgetty jumped and whirled around. His heart began to race, until he felt his ribs tremble and he cursed his own tension. "WHY, WHAT'S THE MATTER, MISTER? YOU LOOK--" Effort again, forcing the volume down, grasping the thunderous heart in fingers of command and dragging it toward rest. He focussed his eyes on the girl who had entered. It was the rec girl, the one he had asked for because he had to sit in this booth. Her voice was speaking on an endurable level now. Another pretty little bit of fluff. He smiled shakily. "Sit down, sweet. I'm sorry. My nerves are shot. What'll you have?" "A daiquiri, please." She smiled and placed herself beside him. He dialed on the dispenser--the cocktail for her, a scotch and soda for himself. "You're new here," she said. "Have you just been hired or are you a visitor?" Again the smile. "My name's Glenna." "Call me Joe," said Dalgetty. His first name was actually Simon. "No, I'll only be here a short while." "Where you from?" she asked. "I'm clear from New Jersey myself." "Proving that nobody is ever born in California." He grinned. The control was asserting itself, his racing emotions were checked and he could think clearly again. "I'm--uh--just a floater. Don't have any real address right now." The dispenser ejected the drinks on a tray and flashed the charge--$20. Not bad, considering everything. He gave the machine a fifty and it made change, a five-buck coin and a bill. "Well," said Glenna, "here's to you." "And you." He touched glasses, wondering how to say what he had to say. Damn it, he couldn't sit here just talking or necking, he'd come to listen but.... A sardonic montage of all the detective shows he had ever seen winked through his mind. The amateur who rushes in and solves the case, _heigh-ho_. He had never appreciated all the detail involved till now. * * * * * There was hesitation in him. He decided that a straightforward approach was his best bet. Deliberately then he created a cool confidence. Subconsciously he feared this girl, alien as she was to his class. All right, force the reaction to the surface, recognize it, suppress it. Under the table his hands moved in the intricate symbolic pattern which aided such emotion-harnessing. "Glenna," he said, "I'm afraid I'll be rather dull company. The fact is I'm doing some research in psychology, learning how to concentrate under different conditions. I wanted to try it in a place like this, you understand." He slipped out a 2-C bill and laid it before her. "If you'd just sit here quietly it won't be for more than an hour I guess."