"Well, like I said, it's this way," Lt. Chandler resumed. "I told him we needed about a pint. Maybe a quart. But this stuff you have to mix up. He only had these drums. There's two parts to it, and you have to combine them in just the right proportion. He told me to take a little scale—"
"A little scale?" asked Capt. Wilkins, rolling his eyes at the dome.
"That's what I told him. We don't have any little scale."
"Yeah," said Captain Lawler, "and he looked at us with that mute, surprised look, like everybody, everywhere has dozens of little scales."
"Well, anyway," Lt. Chandler continued, "he told us just to mix up the whole fifty-five gallon drum. There's a little bucket of stuff that goes in, and it's measured just right. We can throw away what we don't need."
"Somehow, that sounds like him," Major Winship said.
"He had five or six of them."
"Jesus!" said Capt. Wilkins. "That must be three thousand pounds of calking compound. Those people are insane."
"The question is," Capt. Lawler said, "'How are we going to mix it?' It's supposed to be mixed thoroughly."
They thought over the problem for a while.