"I'll have my eye on you," he said, "so walk softly. As for the women, that's to be decided at the general assembly—tonight. Now get the hell out of here!"
At three o'clock, Willie Shaw dropped in at Matt's office, nodded at Lynn who was transcribing notes, and sat down in front of the desk. Willie Shaw was a small dark woman of thirty-five, the expedition's chemist. She was living with Alex Gist, the astro-physicist.
Matt said, "Hello, Willie. How's the work coming?"
"It's done," the woman replied. "That's what I came to see you about."
"Good."
"Not so good as you might think." She tucked a stray black curl into place and sighed. "We've developed a plastic that can be sprayed on in the molten state. When it cools it grows almost as hard as diamond. But...."
"Go on," said Matt. "What's the trouble?"
"We don't have the raw materials."
Matt said, "Oh. What's needed?"
"Aluminum, principally. If we could get trucks through to Louisville, we could get all we need. There were several aluminum plants there before the plague."