"Whoever you are, I guess I have to thank you for saving my life." He puffed over the stones. "Who are you?"
"I'm a friend of Bill Bates, the man supposedly in charge around here."
"I'm Isaac Mannheim. This project—"
"The godfather." Vance looked him over. "Bill's talked about you. MIT, right?"
“The Cyclops is my—"
"Nice to meet you. Now who in the hell are these thugs?"
"I have no idea."
"Well, we can assume they're not part of Bill's technical support team." He glanced down the hill, toward the drifting cloud of red smoke, then back at the old man. "But if you've been involved in this project, then you must know the layout here."
"I know it very well. But—"
"Good. We're going to have to keep moving, at least till it gets dark, but while we're doing that, I want you to get me up to speed on where things are. Give me the setup. And tell me how many personnel are here and where they are."