The Once and Future Spy Read Online Free

the Weeder called back. “Your wine needs work. Your prices too.” To the physicist he said, “Why are
     you counting hydrogen atoms?”
    “If there are more than three to every cubic yard of space, the universe will eventually fall back on itself. When things
     get denseenough, there will be another big bang and history will start all over again. If there are less than three, the universe will
     expand forever. Distant galaxies will flicker out like spent candles. If some poor son of a bitch is still here to observe
     all this, he will be adrift on this life raft of a planet, alone in a dead universe.”
    The Weeder said with emotion, “Some people are already adrift on this life raft of a planet. But that’s another story.”
    The physicist spotted the traces of fettucini sauce on his sunflower. He moistened the tip of his napkin in a glass of water
     and dabbed at the stain. “When you phoned,” he said, “you mentioned something about wanting to pick my brain.”
    “I almost forgot,” the Weeder said. He fished some three-by-five index cards from the breast pocket of his sport jacket and
     offered them to Early. “I came across a batch of notes that don’t make much sense to me. I thought they might to you.”
    The physicist glanced at the first card, then shuffled it to the back of the pack and read the next one. “Well, U-239 is definitely
     not a German U-boat, if that’s any help.” Early looked up. The Weeder, so casual a moment ago, was hanging on his words. “It’s
     uranium, and the other 239 is plutonium. The chemical notations mean that U-239 loses two electrons and converts two neutrons
     into protons to become Pu-239. Given the context, ‘rods’ obviously refers to uranium rods. They are sealed in aluminum cylinders
     and inserted in graphite. You slow down a chain reaction by removing rods. You speed it up by adding rods.”
    “What about ‘hair triggers’?”
    “The thing that makes uranium and plutonium stand out in Mendeleyev’s crowd is that, atomically speaking, they have hair triggers—they
     can be made to explode relatively easily. How can I explain it? Look, Silas, say you are operating an atomic pile, either
     with uranium or with plutonium. You are removing or adding rods to slow down or speed up the chain reaction, right? The size
     of the rods and their spacing are very delicate—get one wrong and you wind up with an uncontrolled chain reaction, otherwise
     known as an atomic explosion.”
    The physicist shuffled the top card to the back of the pack and read the next one. “ ‘Wedges’ refers to the way early uranium
     or plutonium bombs were constructed. Wedges of uranium in the case of the Hiroshima bomb, wedges of plutonium in the Nagasaki
     bomb, werearranged in circles—maybe we should call them vicious circles—and imploded by a ring of conventional dynamite placed around
     the perimeter. The implosion packed the wedges into a critical mass which, in turn, resulted in a chain reaction and an atomic
     explosion. The thing to remember when configuring wedges of uranium or plutonium into bombs is this: for any given shape there
     is a critical weight, and the stuff explodes instantly when it reaches that weight. So you’d better have your calculations
     down pat before you start to configure.”
    Early handed the index cards back to the Weeder. “The documents you came across are obviously old hat. Whoever wrote this
     was worrying about the various ways that someone going through the motions of constructing a primitive atomic device might
     bring on an accidental atomic explosion.” Early smiled across the table. “Has what I said helped you any?”
    The Weeder had a faraway look in his eyes as he murmured, “I’m not sure.”

5

    For starters, I’ll do my man Nate:
    I N MY MIND’S EYE I SEE HIM STILL dancing leaf in the rebellion’s gusts. His hair, cut short because of lice during the siege of Boston, would have grown long
     enough for him to wear it