Aleksandr, still miserable, said, "No."
"The waste will pour into the ground."
"That's right," said Aleksandr brightly, "way down, where it can do no harm."
"That's wrong," said Irina firmly, "it will do harm. The whole ground beneath us will become radioactive."
"Just a little bit, maybe," said Aleksandr optimistically.
"Enough to kill us all unless we abandon all our work here and go to—"
"Sh-h-h! Don't say that name — not even to me!" cried Aleksandr. "You could die for knowing it."
Dugan almost fell out of the tree as he flapped his ears, trying to catch the echo of a thought. If Irina had said the name, that would have given him the lead on the second Soviet atomic research site. But Irina sighed a loud plain sigh, and said:
"Don't let me fight you, darling."
"I won't," said Aleksandr.