"Sure. 'Reactors, Limited'-he's chairman of the board. Say, did you see the fireworks out at the field?"
"You mean the ship that crashed?"
"What else? Quite a show, wasn't it?"
Matt could feel himself coining to a slow boil. "Do you mean to stand there and tell me," he said quietly, "that you regard the deaths of eleven human beings as 'quite a show'?"
Burke stared at him. Then he laughed. "I'm sorry, old fellow. I apologize. But it actually didn't occur to me that you. didn't know."
"Didn't know what?"
"But you weren't supposed to know, of course. Relax, son-no one was killed. You were framed."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Burke sat down and laughed until he had tears. Matt grabbed him by the shoulder. "Cut that out and talk."
The other candidate stopped and looked up. "Honest, I rather like you, Dodson-you're such a perfect country cousin. How do you feel about Santa Claus and the Stork? Talk!"