“Is that all there is to it?” Houghton blurted incredulously. Orz could imagine the man's mind tallying and totaling, and deciding that no matter what his overhead, Ratman charged too much. “This is outrageous! I'll have nothing to do with such nonsense! We're being hoodwinked!”
Somebody doesn't want me in his warehouse, Orz thought and was about to say something when Rabb beat him to it.
“The League has already retained Ratman, Malcomb, and we voted to use the treasury to do so…remember? So you have, in effect, already paid for his services, and it would be foolish of you not to take advantage of them.”
Houghton paused, considering Rabb's words, then he glanced at the cage and shrugged. “I guess I don't have much choice,” he said sullenly and turned toward his car. “Let me know when you get around to my places.”
IT WAS LATE in the day when they finally did get around to Houghton's warehouses, but Orz had preferred it that way. He had his suspicions and wanted to see as many of the other warehouses as possible before confronting Houghton. There had been nothing suspect in the others, although Lesno's computer setups had been somewhat larger than most, but nowhere near big enough to house a subspace radio.
Houghton met them outside.
“I've only got a few cages left,” Orz told him, “so we'll do as many as we can and I'll get the rest tomorrow after I collect the cages I've set out today.”
“Might as well start with the main house,” Houghton replied and led them toward the largest building of his complex. The doors slid open to reveal a huge expanse of concrete floor with crates and boxes stacked almost to the ceiling. Huge cranes-controlled by a computer that knew the exact location of every item in storage-swung from above. Looming against the far wall was a large, metal-paneled structure.
Orz pointed to it. “Is that your computer?”
“Yes,” the bearded man replied absently, “now let's get on with this…I haven't got all day.”
“Mind if I take a look at it?” Orz asked and started walking toward it. This was what he had been looking for; it was big enough to house two subspace transmitters. “Rats love to nest in those things, you know.”
“I assure you there are no rats in there so stay away from it!” Houghton almost shouted. He began to follow Orz, and Lesno and Rabb trailed along.
Orz went to the nearest inspection plate and began loosening the screws which held it in place.
“Get away from there!” Houghton yelled as he came up. “You don't know what you're doing. You could mess up my whole operation!”
“Look, if I'm going to do my job right, I've got to check this out!” The inspection plate came off in his hands then and he stuck his head inside. Nothing unusual. He replaced it and went to the next plate with the same result. Four more inspection plates later he was sure there was no subspace transmitter hidden within.
Houghton was standing behind him and tugging angrily on his beard as Orz replaced the last screw. “Are you quite through, Ratman?”
Orz stood and faced him. “Awful big computer you've got there, Mr. Houghton,” he said matter-of-factly. He was chagrined, but refused to show it.
“That's the computer for my whole operation. I found it easier to centralize the system: Instead of installing new units all the time, I just add to the central unit and feed it into the new buildings as they are built. It's much more convenient.”
“More economical, too, I'll bet,” Orz added laconically.
“Why, yes,” Houghton replied. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess.”
JESSICA WAS WAITING for him back at the ship. “Don't bother telling me you didn't find anything,” she said as he collapsed in a chair. “That look on your face tells me the whole story.”
“I was so sure it was Houghton! The way he objected to the League retaining me, the way he tried to rake me over the coals at the meeting last night, the way he blew up this morning, I was sure he had something to hide. Turns out he's only a cheapskate with a centralized computer.”
“What makes you so sure he hasn't got it stashed somewhere else?” Jessica asked, coming over and handing him a drink.
He accepted it gratefully and took a long slow swallow before answering. “I'm not sure of anything right now. But, if that transmitter's here-and we know it is-it's got to be in one of those warehouses. Which reminds me…” He got to his feet slowly and trudged to the rat room.
Jessica didn't follow, but glanced out into the corridor when she heard the clang of cage doors. Furry gray and brown shapes were scurrying toward the hatch.
“What are you up to?” she asked as Orz reappeared.
“I had a brainstorm on my way back to the ship. We'll find out if it worked tomorrow.”
ORZ NOTICED JESSICA IN THE CROWD outside Rabb's main warehouse. She smiled and winked mischievously, knowing he couldn't acknowledge her. The crowd was waiting to see if Ratman could live up to his claims and watched intently as he and Rabb disappeared inside. An uncertain cheer began and died as he reappeared dragging-with little help from Rabb-a cageful of clawing, squealing, snarling, snapping space rats. Having retreated to what it considered a safer distance, the crowd applauded.
Lesno strode forward, beaming. “Well, Ratman, I knew you could do it. But what are you going to do with the little monsters now that you've caught them?”
“Most of them will have to be gassed and killed, but I'll save a few of the best for breeding purposes…I like to keep my working stock as strong as possible.”
They completed the rounds of Rabb's buildings, then moved on to Lesno's. The novelty had worn off and the crowd was beginning to thin by the time they got around to Lesno's third warehouse, but interest was renewed at the sound of Orz's voice calling from within.
“Mr. Lesno! There's something you ought to see in here.”
Lesno went in. Rabb, Houghton, and some of the braver members of the crowd-Jessica among them-followed him.
It looked as if a bomb had gone off inside. Every crate, every package had been torn open. Even some of the computer paneling had been torn away.
“What happened?” Lesno cried, staggered by the destruction.
Orz shrugged and pointed to the full cage. “I don't know. There's your community, caged and ready to go. But I've never seen anything like this before.”
Houghton was looking over the ravaged computer. “Never seen a computer that looked like this,” he muttered. “Is this some new model, Aaron?” he asked Lesno.
Rabb came up. “Looks like part of a subspace radio!”
“Ridiculous!” Lesno sputtered. “What would I be doing with-”
“You're a spy!” Houghton declared. “A Federation spy!”
A blaster suddenly appeared in Lesno's hand. “Don't insult me by linking me to the Federation!”
Houghton shrugged. “So you're a Restructurist spy, then. Just as bad. You get twenty years either way.”
“I'm not going to argue with you, Malcomb. Just stay where you are.”
“You can't escape, Aaron!” Rabb warned.
Lesno smiled. “Of course I can,” he said and pointed the blaster at Orz. “Ratman is going to volunteer the use of his ship. He's even going to come along for the ride to make sure no one gets trigger-happy.”
Orz caught Jessica's eye. She was readying to make a move, but he shook his head. They had succeeded in destroying Lesno's effectiveness as a spy. It didn't matter if he escaped. And so, with a blaster at the back of his head, Orz preceded the little man to the truck.
“You work for the Federation, don't you?” Lesno said as Orz drove them toward the spaceport.
“I'm afraid I don't have time to work for anyone other than Sam Orzechowski.”