I went back to the lab and returned with a kit of small tools. My fingers were calm and sure now. My trembling was gone. I took the front panel off the first computer near the door. The short wires from the dialectric mix to the tube bank were in plain view, easily accessible.
I stood there studying them, considering and discarding a dozen plans for shielding them so they could be quickly unshielded again.
Finally I decided on a procedure that was as foolproof as any I could possibly devise. Rubber pads, with aluminum plates to be put over the rubber.
After that it was merely a matter of carrying out the routine. I built the rubber shields and the aluminum ones. I fitted them carefully over the wires on the first machine, then as carefully took them off. Nothing had happened.
I did the same to the second machine.
I was on the fifth machine when the storeroom door opened and my two assistants announced they were leaving for the day. I glanced at my watch. It was five-thirty.
"Okay," I answered. "See you in the morning."
They closed the door. I started taking off the panel of the sixth computer.
It was getting a little stuffy in the storeroom. I set the panel down carefully and opened the lab door and a window. Then I placed the rubber shield on the wires.
I picked up the aluminum shield plates and started to cover the rubber shielding with them. Instead, I laid them down again. I would go across the street to the cafe and have something to eat before going ahead.