"We must have spilled some of it," he said a little thickly.

"There's another bottle in the drawer," Kincaid grunted. "They were for the Project party next week, but that's all off now."

Norris opened the other bottle and generously refilled their glasses. He sat down beside Kincaid, who was looking broodingly from the window at the distant atomic power plant. Despite the warm physical glow he felt, Doug Norris was unhappier than before. A new, poignant sorrow had risen in him.

"You know, Mart, it isn't only what Hurriman's doing to the Project that's got me down," he said sorrowfully. "It's what happened to old M-Fifty today."

"M-Fifty?" Kincaid inquired. "You mean that Proxy you lost this afternoon?"

"Yes, he was my special Proxy for all these months," Doug Norris said. "I got to know him. He was always dependable, never jumped his control beam, never acted cranky in a tight place." His voice choked a little. "I loved that Proxy like a brother. And I let him down. I let those Raddies wreck him."

"They'll fix him up, Doug," said Kincaid, a rich sympathy in his slightly thickened voice. "They'll make him as good as new when they get him back up to Base."

"Yes, but what good will that do if I'm not here to operate him?" cried Norris. "I tell you, that Proxy was sensitive. He knew my touch on the controls. That Proxy would have died for me."

"Sure he would." Kincaid nodded with owlish understanding. "Here, have another drink, Doug."

"I've had enough," Norris said gloomily, refilling their glasses as he spoke. "But as I was saying, that Proxy won't run for a bunch of politicians and their ham-handed operators like he ran for me. He'll know that I'm gone, and he won't be the same. He'll pine."

"That's the way it goes, Doug," Kincaid said sadly. "You lose your best friend—I mean, your best Proxy—and I lose my Project, just because we can't furnish enough uranium for power over there."

He gestured bitterly toward the distant stacks of New York Power Station that soared like towers of light in the distant darkness.

"You know, I've got an idea in my mind about that," Kincaid added slowly, as he stared at those towers.

Doug Norris nodded 

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