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Mooney was quick to correct him. "We prefer to think of ourselves as a research facility."
"Of course. Anyway, we're making spot checks."
"You must understand, our work here is highly classified."
"The design of nuclear rocketry and third-generation nuclear weapons whose power is focused into narrow radiation beams that travel at the speed of light and can destroy targets deep in space."
Mooney looked at Hagen queerly. "You're very well informed."
Hagen shrugged it off. "A very general description given to me by my superior. I'm an accountant, Doctor, not a physicist. My mind can't function in the abstract. I flunked high school calculus. Your secrets are safe. My job is to help see the taxpayer gets his money's worth out of government-funded programs."
"How can I help you?"
"I'd like to talk to your controller and administration officials. Also, the staff that handles the financial records. My auditing team will arrive from Washington in two weeks. I'd appreciate it if we could set up someplace out of your way, preferably close to where the records are kept."
"You'll have our fullest cooperation. Naturally, I must have security clearances for you and your team."
"Naturally."
"I'll take you around personally and introduce you to our controller and accounting staff."
"One more thing," said Hagen. "Do you permit after-hours work?"
Mooney smiled. "Unlike nine-to-five office people, physicists and engineers have no set hours. Many of us work around the clock. I've often put in thirty hours at a stretch. It also helps to stagger the time on our computers."
"Would it be possible for me to do a little preliminary checking from now until, say, about ten o'clock this evening?"
"I don't see why not," Mooney said agreeably. "We have an all night cafeteria on the lower level if you want to grab a bite. And a security guard is always nearby to point out directions."
"And keep me out of the secret areas." Hagen laughed.
"I'm sure you're familiar with facility security."
"True," Hagen admitted. "I'd be a rich man if I had a dime for every hour I put in auditing different departments of the Pentagon."
"If you'll come this way," said Mooney, heading for the door.
"Just out of curiosity," Hagen said, remaining in his chair. "I've heard of Harvey Pattenden. He worked with Robert Goddard, I believe."
"Yes, Dr. Pattenden invented several of our early rocket engines."
"But Leonard Hudson is unfamiliar to me."
"A pretty bright guy," said Mooney. "He paved the way by design engineering most of our spacecraft years before they were actually built and sent aloft. If he hadn't died in his prime, there's no telling what he might have achieved."
"How did he die?"
"Light-plane crash. He was flying to a seminar in Seattle with Dr. Gunnar Eriksen when their plane exploded in midair and dropped into the Columbia River."
"Who was Eriksen?"
"A heavy thinker. Perhaps the most brilliant astrophysicist the country ever produced."
A tiny alarm went off in Hagen's mind. "Did he have any particular pursuit?"
"Yes, it was geolunar synoptic morphology for industrialized peoplement."
"Could you translate?"
