She swallowed hard and her hands shook. If her supposition was correct, her work here really could help win the war. But the human cost for the other side… Oh, my God. What have I signed on for? She struggled to take in a deep breath. Don’t panic. Focus on the job.

She gazed again at the calutron, then followed Del to the center of the building, where the control panel was located. She examined its many meters, knobs, and gauges. She reminded herself that the principles for operating this machine and others like it were exactly the same as the unit she knew, and she was fully qualified not only to operate the machine, but to teach her girls to operate it successfully too.

Her girls. She already thought of them as that and she hadn’t even met them yet. In fact, she wasn’t even sure how many of them had been hired to date. Was she allowed to ask that? Did the question violate secrecy codes? If she was going to supervise them, didn’t she need to know how many of them there were?

She made a note to ask about the parameters of her job. But who should she ask? She realized she didn’t even know for whom she worked. Who was her boss? What were her hours? Where was her office? Did she have one?

Del introduced her to several of his colleagues from the Berkeley Lab, all of whom apparently were on loan to the Tennessee Eastman Corporation, which seemed to be in charge of what everyone called, The Plant, or Y-12.

The names, like the building numbering system, made no sense to Nora, and maybe that was the point. If they didn’t make any sense to her, they certainly wouldn’t make any sense to the enemy.

She blinked and tuned back into the conversation a few of the fellows were having while tweaking the knobs and levers on the machine.

“What’s Tubealloy?”

Suddenly, all conversation ceased. Del took her aside and whispered, “Tubealloy is code for uranium. We’re never to use the real name. Never. Do you understand?”

Nora nodded. The intensity of his expression frightened her a little bit. “Understood.”

“Good.”

“What else do I need to know?”

“You’ll know what you need to know when you need to know it.”

Nora wanted to scream. How was she supposed to work under these circumstances?

Her irritation must’ve shown, because Del added, “Hey. I know that a lot of this seems cryptic and vague. We all feel the same way. Focus on what you’re told to do and whatever goals they ask you to meet. Don’t worry about the endgame. That’s not ours.”

“Okay.”

“Sit down and take a crack at it.” He indicated the stool in front of the control panel prototype. “Make room for Dr. Lindstrom, boys. She’s a Columbia girl.”