“We were wondering about this slickem stuff,” the tall one said. “Oh, sure, slickem,” Dale said. “It's kind of neat stuff, actually. It's a long-chain polymer, kind of a gooey plastic. It's injected into the line at Pump One and”—she looked at Toni—”Pump Two? Anyway, it kind of gums up the oil, not much, just enough to slow the turbulent flow so it doesn't ball up inside the line, and instead uses its energy to push itself down the pipeline to Valdez..."