The Andromeda Strain (Page 74)

A: You’d have to ask the Russians about that.

Q: I see that Jeremy Stone is on the list of the investigative committee. How did you happen to include a bacteriologist?

A: Professor Stone has served on many scientific advisory councils in the past. We value his opinion on a broad range of subjects.

Q: What will this delay do to the Mars-landing target date?

A: It will certainly set the scheduling back.

Q: Jack, how far?

A: I’ll tell you frankly, it’s something that all of us here would like to know. We regard the failure of Andros V as a scientific error, a breakdown in systems technology, and not as a specifically human error. The scientists are going over the problem now, and we’ll have to wait for their findings. The decision is really out of our hands.

Q: Jack, would you repeat that?

A: The decision is out of our hands.