Heather thought of something she'd once heard about never trusting engineers' time estimates.

"I have a revised time estimate for the arrival of the Lizard," she said.

They'll call you when they're coming, and give you a time estimate.

This is one source of variation in the time estimates.

"If your time estimate is accurate, we will be able to escape them, once again."

My time estimate is accurate-no more than fifteen minutes to clear security.

And if the past is any judge, both cost and time estimates are just starting points.

If anything, the Pentagon's time estimate struck him as optimistic.

"The time estimate came in last night," the Fed Chairman was saying now.

"And how do you think they were able to make that close a time estimate?"