Zhora wisely left out the fact that he did not investigate the scene of the accident until an hour after the alarm had gone off.

Arkady Arkadievich Azarov, the director of the institute, a doctor of physics and mathematics, and an active member of the Academy of Sciences, fifty — eight, Russian, married, not subject to the draft, and a member of the CPSU, corroborated the fact that he recognized the features of the body shown to him at the scene of the accident by Investigator Onisimov, M.A., as belonging to Valentin Vasilyevich Krivoshein, acting director of the New Systems Laboratory, and besides that, with the scientific objectivity characteristic of an academician noted that he “had been amazed by the abnormal emaciation of the deceased, the abnormal physical state which did not correspond to his usual appearance.”

At 10:30 in the morning Onisimov returned to headquarters and his office on the first floor, where his windows, hatched with the vertical bars, opened onto Marx Prospect, which was busy at almost any hour of day or night. Matvei Apollonovich gave a brief account of the events to Major Rabinovich, sent a test tube with the liquid to the medical examiner, and called up the emergency room to find out the condition of the only eyewitness. They replied that the lab assistant felt fine and asked to be released.

“Fine, go ahead, I'll send a car for him,” Onisimov said.

No sooner had he arranged for the car than Zubato, the medical examiner, rushed into his office. He was a red — blooded, loud man with hairy arms.

“Matvei, what did you bring me?” He sank into a chair with emphatic disgust. “Some practical joke! How am I supposed to determine the cause of death on a skeleton?”

“I brought you what was left,” Onisimov explained, shrugging. “I'm glad you showed up. I want to know, off the top of your head, how does a body turn into a skeleton?”

“Off the top of my head, as a result of the deterioration of tissues, which under normal circumstances takes weeks and even months. That's all that the body can do about it.”