The leady stood unmoving, still holding the metal. Soldiers appeared in the chamber. They surrounded the leady and ran a counter across it carefully.
"Okay, sir," one of them said to Franks. "It's as cold as a long winter evening."
"Good. I was sure, but I didn't want to take any chances."
"You see," Moss said to Taylor, "this leady isn't hot at all. Yet it came directly from the surface, without even being bathed."
"But what does it mean?" Taylor asked blankly.
"It may be an accident," Franks said. "There's always the possibility that a given object might escape being exposed above. But this is the second time it's happened that we know of. There may be others."
"The second time?"
"The previous interview was when we noticed it. The leady was not hot. It was cold, too, like this one."
Moss took back the metal plate from the leady's hands. He pressed the surface carefully and returned it to the stiff, unprotesting fingers.
"We shorted it out with this, so we could get close enough for a thorough check. It'll come back on in a second now. We had better get behind the wall again."