Slowly, Braun opened his eyes. "All right," he said. "You guys wanted it this way. I say it's a bomb." He stared at us for a moment more—and then, all at once, the Timkin bearing burst. Words poured out of it. "Now you guys do something, do your job like I did mine—get my wife and kids out of there—empty the city—do something, do something!"
Anderton was already grabbing for the phone. "You're right, Mr. Braun. If it isn't already too late—"
Cheyney shot out a hand and caught Anderton's telephone arm by the wrist. "Wait a minute," he said.
"What d'you mean, 'wait a minute'? Haven't you already shot enough time?"
Cheyney did not let go; instead, he looked inquiringly at Joan and said, "One minute, Joan. You might as well go ahead."
She nodded and spoke into the mike. "Monig, unscrew the cap."
"Unscrew the cap?" the audio squawked. "But Dr. Hadamard, if that sets it off—"
"It won't go off. That's the one thing you can be sure it won't do."
"What is this?" Anderton demanded. "And what's this deadline stuff, anyhow?"
"The cap's off," Monig reported. "We're getting plenty of radiation now. Just a minute— Yeah. Dr. Hadamard, it's a bomb, all right. But it hasn't got a fuse. Now how could they have made a fool mistake like that?"