infinitesimal--so close to zero that it would
be utterly impossible to measure it. Someone had dubbed the hypothetical
stuff Instantanium 512.

Whether Instantanium 512 had any real existence is an argument for
philosophers only. The results, in any case, were catastrophic. The
whole conglomeration came apart in a grand splatter of neutrons,
protons, negatrons, positrons, electrons, neutrinos--a whole slew of
Greek-lettered mesons of various charges and masses, and a fine
collection of strange and ultrastrange particles. Energy? Just oodles
and gobs.

Peter de Hooch had heard about the results. He had no desire to
experience them first hand. Fortunately, the reaction that led up to
them took time. It could be stopped at any time up to the Fm-256 stage.
According to the instruments, that wouldn't be for another six hours
yet, so there was nothing at all to worry about. Even after that it
could be stopped, provided one had a way to get rid of the violently
fissioning fermium.

"Connections O.K.?" Willows asked. His voice came over the earphones
inside the ponderous helmet of the radiation suit.

"Fine," said de Hooch. He adjusted the double periscope so that his
vision was clear. "Perfect."

He tested the controls, moving his arms and legs to see if the suit
responded. The suit was so heavy that, without powered joints,
controlled by servomechanisms, he would have been unable to move, even
under Lunar gravity. With the power on, though, it was no harder than
walking underwater in a diving suit. "All's well, Puss," he said.

"I'll keep an eye on you," said Willows.

"Fine. Well, here goes Colossus de Hooch." He began walking toward the
door that led into the corridor which connected the reactor anteroom to
the control room.

* * * * *

It took time to drag the two inert figures out of the anteroom. All de
Hooch could do was grab them under the armpits, apply power, and drag
them out. He went out the same way he had come in, traversing the
separate chambers in reverse order. First came the decontamination
chamber, where the radioactive dust that might have settled on the suits
was sluiced off by the detergent sprays. When the radiation detectors
registered low enough, de Hooch dragged Ferguson into the outer chamber,
then went back and got Metty and put him through the same process. Then
he dragged them on into the control room so that Willows could get them
out of the heavy suits.