"Happened pretty suddenly," Beardsley intruded. His voice was low and laden with meaning. "Almost as if it had gone berserk! And little wonder, if you ask me...."
Mandleco turned quickly. "Eh? What do you mean?"
"Well ... how would _you_ feel if you had just been handed the news, out of the blue, that someone you loved had been brutally murdered? ECAIAC reacted, is all. She must have regarded Carmack as a father--"
Arnold looked up in amazement. "Beardsley, will you stop that crazy nonsense!"
"Nonsense?" Beardsley appeared hurt. "Why--you said yourself that you wanted me and ECAIAC to become great friends!" He appealed to Mandleco. "That's what he said, sir, and he even took pains to introduce me and all, and--"
"It was in the nature of a joke, sir!" Arnold's voice rose an octave. "A private little joke, and he's trying to make it appear--"
"Stop it, stop it!" Mandleco thundered. "Arnold--you get that new unit installed on the double! Put your best men on it. That's an order! Beardsley, I'm glad you had the presence of mind to contact me. Commendable, most commendable."
Arnold scowled, hit Beardsley with an accusing look.
"Above all," said Mandleco, "not a word of this must leak! _Damn_ it, why should this have to happen _now_? Public confidence will be undermined if they think ECAIAC is--is--"
"Exactly. You hear me, Arnold? Not a word of this must get out!"
"I'm sure it won't," Arnold glared venomously at Beardsley, "if you'll just keep _him_ away from the tele-stats."
The Minister of Justice walked away, still muttering something about public confidence and political repercussions. Beardsley kept pace beside him until they were across the room. Then he spoke, timidly at first.
"Pardon me, sir, but--I'd like to ask you something." His voice was low and confidential. "If you'll just look around you...."
"Eh?" Mandleco followed Beardsley's gesture, and for the first time he seemed to see the room in total. Shards of glass lay everywhere. A great tangle of wire was strewn half the length of ECAIAC, and a bank of transistors reposed against the far wall in pitiful ruin. The techs had already started a strip-down, their tools and units across the floor adding to the general confusion.