"Still a game, Grant?" laughed Garrard. "A game where every throw of the dice is forecast is no game." "What am I?" chuckled Jack Grant. "Just the baaaaad boy of the decontamination squadron? Sure it's a game--the whole thing is a game. And whether you're playing your brother for marbles or playing the devil for fame, you play to win." "I say--" started Garrard. Grant out-talked him. "_I_ say that I am the master of my fate. And if anybody calls me Invictus Grant I shall cut his throat. Or her throat," he added, turning to Jenna with a grin. * * * * * The door opened again and Lacy entered. "Quite a conference," he said. "Well, Ralph, where is it and what's to be done?" Lindsay brought him up to date. Then they ran off the recording of Jim Roberts' unhappy attempt. "You may just be overcautious," said Lacy when the recording had finished. "It may have been a circumstance." "Unlikely. The thing is ... has too many facets. Jenna herself claims that a new item was expectable. Haynes had his statisticians at work, and their findings were that the quantity of late has been diminishing, which from past experience means that something new is due." Jack Grant looked at Lindsay. "You don't suppose they're after the decontamination squadron?" "If they were gunning for us," said Harris in a voice that shook with hatred, "they'd do it this way!" Then he settled back again. "But would they waste mercurite on us?" "As a means of keeping production open, we're worth mercurite," responded Lindsay. "And it might take something more than the ordinary to go out and eliminate men who have made a business of defusing the things. Assassination is almost impossible. "And," he said reflectively, "we may be barking up the wrong tree. All I know is that we've a brand new type, and as usual I've called the entire group in to get the initial factors all complete. Are we a bunch of persecution-complexes that we think they're after us?" "No," grinned Jack Grant, "but remind me to tell that idea to Ordnance. Eliminating the decontamination squadron is like poisoning a city by shutting off its sewage system, perhaps, but it is effective!" "We'll forget the personal angle until we get this one solved," said Ralph Lindsay. "Well, let's go," said Grant eagerly. "We'll take this easily," objected Lindsay. "No gambling instinct?" queried Grant with an amused smile. "That's why he's boss," said Garrard dryly. "Lindsay has neither an ax to grind nor an ego to build up." "Huh?" asked Grant. "Admitted ... and I'm sorry, Tom," said Garrard to Lacy, "that Lacy has his ax to grind. You, Jack, apparently get an egotistical lift out of this 'game.' Lindsay has neither." "O.K., boss man," smiled Grant. "What do we do?" "All the radiation meters we can pack into the battle buggy. Also we set up a radiating system near it. Then come back and we'll run through the spectrum to see. Now--" "It's still in my district," reminded Grant.