Smoke

known while it was going on, either.'

'True,' Heimhocker said, and Loomis said, 'But that was wartime,' and Heimhocker said, 'It may merely be too hard a story for the press to explain to the great unwashed,' and Loomis said, 'True.'

'But the project does actually exist,' Mordon said, 'and it is doing something with DNA chains—'

'Mapping,' Heimhocker said. 'As your friend Merrill said. And it is finding disease tendencies. But this is a government project, you know, it's not something you can sneak around inside, or influence, or co-opt.'

'But now, already this morning,' Loomis said, with a hint of a wail in his voice, 'we received a hand-delivered letter from this Merrill Fullerton, with a covering letter from Dr. Archer Amory, informing us our melanoma researches are finished! Just like that!'

'Unfortunate,' Mordon murmured.

'And we were so close!' Loomis cried.

Heimhocker said, more calmly, 'Whether we were close or not, we were always, in the company's eyes obviously, no more than window dressing. They have no more use for that false face, so they're throwing it away.'

'We feel so used!' Loomis cried.

'And we also feel,' Heimhocker said, 'frustrated. We're told in the letter that our research facility will be permitted to continue on as before, but only with a restructuring of goals, and that our goals are now in the area of genetic enhancement of tobacco safety.'

'How do you like that for a euphemism?' Loomis demanded.

'I think it's rather wonderful,' Mordon admitted.

'But,' Heimhocker said, 'how are we going to do this? Even if we find the invisible man—'

'We will,' Barney said.

'Yes, no doubt.' Heimhocker sneered at him, and spoke to Mordon again, saying, 'But even if we find him, and even if we convince him to work with us, and even if he manages to pussyfoot around government laboratories without getting caught, or implicating us—'

'I've never wanted to commit a federal crime,' Loomis confessed.

'Exactly,' Heimhocker said. 'So, Mr. Leethe, I realize you represent the other side in this matter, but it seemed to me you were as appalled as we were in that limo, listening to that man—'

'Not really,' Mordon said. 'I've listened to businessmen dream before. But what you want to know is, how are you going to continue to live off NAABOR if NAABOR insists on you doing something illegal.'

'Impossible is the word I had in mind,' Heimhocker said, and Loomis said, 'Impossible and illegal, and unethical, and immoral.'

Mordon nodded. 'Everything but fattening. Gentlemen, I want you to understand this suggestion is not coming from me, but don't you think you could work on this new project for some time to come without having any actual finalized data to report? I mean, how often do you report progress on your melanoma research?'

'Never, in fact,' Heimhocker admitted, but Loomis said, 'That isn't precisely true, Peter. We do prepare an annual report for the stockholders' brochure, restating our goals and so on, indicating areas we've concentrated on during the previous fiscal year.'

'Other than that,' Mordon said.

'Other than that, nothing,' Heimhocker said, and Loomis said, 'But we were just about to, we were on the verge of a breakthrough, we're convinced of that, that's why we were so eager to test one of the formulae on that burglar.'

'Speaking of whom,' Barney said, 'do you mind if we do?'

'Please,' Heimhocker said, patting the air to calm Barney down (which, of course, would do just the reverse), 'let me just finish this other matter first.' To Mordon, he said, 'What you're suggesting, without the suggestion coming from you, we understand that, is that we simply go along with Merrill Fullerton's ideas, as best we can, without getting ourselves into trouble with the law. Not protest, not argue.'

'If you protest or argue,' Mordon told him, 'you'll be replaced. There are a lot of researchers out there who'd like a lab of their very own. If you make waves right now, you'll lose your funding. You'll probably lose this building.'

Loomis said, 'But what about our melanoma research?'

Mordon shrugged. 'Continue it. Call it something else in your financial statements. The accountants who pay your expenses have no idea what you're doing anyway.'

Heimhocker and Loomis looked at one another. At last, Heimhocker said, 'We could probably give him little bits of information from time to time.'

'Not enough,' Loomis said, 'for him to do any real damage.'

'Of course,' Mordon said.

Heimhocker gave Mordon a hunted look. 'It's a frightening way to live, though,' he said.

'All ways to live are frightening,' Mordon consoled him. 'Imagine living like Barney here, for instance, who has been very patient, and who wants to talk about Fredric Noon now. Go ahead, Barney.'

Barney frowned at Mordon's profile. 'What's wrong with the way I live?'

'Nothing. You seem very content in it. Talk to the doctors about Noon.'

Barney thought it over, and decided to move forward. Turning to the doctors, he said, 'Has Noon been in touch with you two yet?'

'No,' Heimhocker said, and Loomis said, 'We wish he would!'

Barney beetled brows at them. 'You sure about that? Not even one little phone call?'

'Of course not,' Heimhocker said, looking insulted, while Loomis looked astonished, crying, 'Every time the phone rings, we hope it's him! For heaven's sake!'

'Because he will,' Barney said, and glanced at Mordon. 'Right, Counselor?'

'His invisibility doesn't seem to be ending,' Mordon told the doctors. 'So far as we can tell, he's still absolutely unseeable.'

'Well, of course,' Loomis said, and Heimhocker said, 'That's what we expected.'

Mordon raised an eyebrow. 'You expected it? That he'd still be invisible? Unharmed by your potion, but invisible?'

'Absolutely,' Heimhocker said, and Loomis said, 'There isn't the shadow of a doubt. Or a shadow of Noon, come to think of it.'

Barney said, 'And that's why he's gonna call you. One of these days, one of these nights, he's gonna have piled up all the cash he wants, he's gonna want to get visible again so he can live like a normal guy, and he's gonna call you two and try and make a deal.'

'That,' Loomis said, 'is what we've been praying for.'

'When it happens,' Barney said, 'we want to know. Mr. Leethe here, and me, we both want to know, right away.'

'That depends,' said Heimhocker.

'The hell it does,' said Barney, and Mordon held Barney's arm a moment, saying, 'Easy, Barney, let me explain it to them.' Back to the doctors. 'Here's the situation. At this moment, you're worried about your funding, you're worried about the future of your legitimate and no doubt very useful research here in this facility. You know you can't go forward without NAABOR. I am in a position to make life easier for you at NAABOR, or to make life impossible for you there. You have my assurance that no one, none of us, not Barney, not me, not even Merrill Fullerton, has any intention of harming Fredric Noon. We all want to make use of him, true, but so do you. You will be given every opportunity to continue your experiments on him—'

'Observations,' corrected Heimhocker.

'Observations. There is no reason for you not to work with us, and therefore I have no reason to make trouble for you at NAABOR. Do we understand one another?'

'I'm afraid we do,' Heimhocker said.

'So when Mr. Noon calls,' Mordon said, 'you'll make arrangements with him—'

'You won't lose him,' Barney said.

'Exactly,' Mordon agreed. 'You'll keep your contact with him, and you'll inform us at once. Yes?'

Both doctors sighed. Both nodded. Heimhocker said, 'Yes.'