"O.K., Jesse," he said. "Thanks. Drop everything else and get to work on a toxic agent that'll destroy the alien amoebas inside the fort."
"Right."
The screen went dead.
Matt realized that Lynn was regarding him in dismay. He grinned at her suddenly. "You win. We'll have to smash those women tomorrow." He turned to Willie Shaw. "Get the engineers to help you design any equipment you need. The fort will have to be sealed from top to bottom, windows and all. What about the basements?"
"We can seal them from the inside."
"And the dome over the roof?"
"Build it up of plastic plates welded together. We'll need an airlock, of course, and all the water will have to pass through the boilers. But how are you going to handle the quantity of material that it'll take? And we don't have a tenth enough workmen."
Matt frowned. "We'll have to put one of the factories in Louisville back into operation, I suppose. But as for workmen...." He paused, running his hand through his crisp black hair. "Why, we'll all have to drop everything else and go to work on this—and that includes those Amazons we captured!"
"But, Matt, how can you make them work?" Lynn's eyes were enormous.
"Did you ever hear of chain gangs?" he asked savagely. "Of slave labor and overseers with blacksnake whips?"