The ringing continued.
“Max, it’s not the air-to-shore phone, it’s your shoe,” 99 said.
“Oh.”
Max hung up, then took off his shoe.
Max: Agent 86 here. Is that you, Chief?
Chief: Max! Where are you? I just got a call from Hymie and he told me you’d gone off on a wild goose chase!
Max: That just goes to show how much he knows about it, Chief. It was a wild barge chase. Right now, 99 and I are directly over the harbor.
Chief: Max, get out of there. Our weather section tells me there’s some strange activity going on in that area. You won’t believe it, but they tell it’s been-
Max: I know. . raining wristwatches.
Chief: Then it’s true? You saw it?
Max: We not only saw it, Chief, but 99 had the presence of mind to leave a window open. I’m saving a 17-jewel, self-winding, water-proofer for you.
Operator: And what do you have in your old kit bag for a devoted fan, Maxie?
Max: Operator, for you, I have one word: glubble, glubble, glubble.
Operator (wildly): This means war!
Chief: Operator, will you get off the line, please. This is official business.
Operator: He started it, Chief! You heard him: glubble, glubble, glubble!
Chief: He probably meant it as a compliment. Max. . are you still there? I want to know what you’re doing over the harbor when you’re supposed to be with Hymie. I told you to follow his orders. Yet, he tells me that you insisted on following some silly hunch of your own.
Max: Hymie is a little mixed up, Chief. He’s the one who insisted on following a silly hunch. I was motivated by my know-how and my many years of experience. And I think it’s unfair of you to make a judgment before all the votes are in. The proof of the pudding will be when Number One is found. Where was Hymie calling from?
Chief: From the Krunchy Knutt Candy Company.
Max: There you are, Chief. It’s Hymie who’s chasing wild geese. Considering the fact that Number One was loaded onto a barge and taken out to sea, isn’t it a little ridiculous for Hymie to be hanging around a candy factory? What was his excuse?
Chief: He’s found Number One.
Max (somewhat subdued): In a candy factory?
Chief: That’s right, Max.
Max (suspiciously): With or without almonds?
Operator: Boy, if this is going to be a war of brains, I can hire the hall for my victory celebration right now.
Max: Chief, answer me this: has Hymie actually made contact with Number One?
Chief: No, not exactly. He’s waiting for you and 99. But he knows she’s in there. He heard her ticking.
Max: Mmmmm. . heard her ticking, eh? Take my word for it, Chief, that’s not too reliable. He might have been hearing five-hundred-thousand wristwatches.
Chief: Max, that’s ridiculous. I want you and 99 to join Hymie at the Krunchy Knutt Candy factory as quickly as possible. And Max. . on the way. . don’t do any thinking for yourself. Just follow orders!
Max: All right, all right-blow the case! See if I care!
Max hung up, then told 99 what he had learned from the Chief.
“A candy factory?” she said. “Then KAOS must have transferred Number One to that other truck. Apparently, Hymie was right.”
“I’d expect that from somebody like that telephone operator,” Max said, wounded, turning the helicopter back toward the airport. “But I thought you’d be loyal to me, 99. As I mentioned before, you’re my own kind.”
“Isn’t the telephone operator, Max?”
“In this day and age? She’s automated. She’s probably nuts and bolts and transformers, just like Hymie.”
“Still, Max, the fact remains: Hymie was right, and you were wrong.”
“Or so it seems,” Max said huffily.
“What do you mean, Max?”
“Hymie heard a ticking. That could be anything. He could have been listening to a clock.”
“Well. .”
“Or a mattress.”
“A mattress, Max?”
“A mattress has ticking, 99. A mattress is full of ticking.”
“But in a candy factory?”
“You’re right-it was probably a clock he heard.”
“Max, try to be nice to Hymie,” 99 said. “It isn’t his fault that he’s in charge of this case. He didn’t ask for it. You can’t even blame the Chief. It was HIM’s idea. Be big about it, Max. Nobody likes a sorehead.”
“Who’s a sorehead?” Max protested. “I just happen to be better qualified to be in charge, that’s all. Hymie is only a machine. I happen to be a human being, and human intelligence is superior to machine intelligence. That’s a known fact, that’s all.”
“Max. . why are we flying around in circles?”
“Because somebody moved the airport,” Max replied. “I can’t find it.”
“Use the air-to-shore telephone. Ask for directions.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Max replied. “I’ll just switch to the automatic pilot. It’ll take us straight home.”
99 smiled. “You mean you, a human, are going to depend on a machine, Max?”
“Right. And it proves my point.”
“How, Max?”
“Without an intelligent human being around to turn it on, that automatic pilot wouldn’t be worth the nuts and bolts and transformers it’s made of,” Max explained.
3
As soon as the helicopter had delivered Max and 99 safely to the Control secret airport, they got back into Max’s car and drove toward the industrial district, where the Krunchy Knutt Candy factory was located. They left the car about a block from the site, then proceeded on foot.
“The Chief wasn’t very specific about where we’ll find Hymie,” Max complained. “I hope we don’t have to make an intensive search for him. Robots aren’t like humans, they don’t have a natural sense of direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were lost.”
“Max. . when are we going to reach the factory?” 99 asked.
“Very soon. We left the car only a block away.”
“We’ve walked three blocks already, Max.”
Max halted, wet a finger, held it in the air, then said, “Mmmmm. . by some quirk of circumstance, 99, we’ve been walking in the wrong direction. The candy factory is back the other way.”
They turned and began retracing their steps. Four blocks later, they reached the factory. Hymie was standing near the entrance with an ear pressed to the building. Max and 99 hurried up to him.
“Why aren’t you in hiding!” Max scolded. “If this is a KAOS secret installation-which I doubt-they’ll spot you as a Control agent. Who else would go around listening to bricks?”
“They might think I’m an exterminator, listening for termites,” Hymie said.
“Ridiculous. But, I don’t suppose it really matters. My knowledge of the KAOS mind tells me they’d never pick a place like a candy factory as a hideout.”
“Number One is in there,” Hymie insisted. He put his ear to the building again. “Listen. .”
Max hesitated a moment, then shrugged and placed his own ear against the bricks. He listened intently, frowning. “I do hear something,” he said, surprised. “It’s a sort of crunching sound.”
“That’s the termites,” Hymie informed him. “They’re not used to bricks.”
Max nodded. “And I think they’re chewing with their mouths open, too.”
“It’s that other sound I’m talking about,” Hymie said. “Hear it?”
“No,” Max replied, taking his ear from the building.
“But Hymie has super-sensitive hearing, remember, Max,” 99 said. She turned to Hymie. “What does it sound like?” she asked.