d by the oxidation of the surface
that they had been cut a long time before the leads on this side of the
Converter. But both had been carefully fused by a torch.

"Nothing on the safe," said one of the officers. "No prints, at any
rate. Micros might show glove or cloth traces, but--" He shrugged.

"Would you mind opening the safe, Mr. Bending?" Sergeant Ketzel asked.

"Certainly," Bending said. He wondered if the safe _had_ been robbed. In
the certainty that it was only the Converter that the burglars had been
after, he hadn't even thought about the safe.

Bending touched the handle, turned it a trifle, and the door swung open
easily in his hand. "It wasn't even locked," Bending said, almost to
himself.

He looked inside. The safe had been thoroughly gone through, but as far
as Bending could see, there were no papers missing.

"Don't touch anything in there, Mr. Bending," said Ketzel, "Just tell us
as much as you can by looking at it."

"The papers have been disturbed," Bending said carefully, "but I don't
think anything is missing, except the petty cash box."

"Uh-huh," Ketzel grunted significantly. "Petty cash box. About how much
was in it, Mr. Bending?"

"Three or four thousand, I imagine: you'll have to ask Jim Luckman, my
business manager. He keeps track of things like that."

"Three or four _thousand_ in petty cash?" Ketzel asked, as though he'd
prefer Bending to correct the figure to "two or three hundred."

"About that. Sometimes we have to order equipment of one kind or another
in a hurry, and we can usually expedite matters if we can promise cash.
You know how it is."

Sergeant Ketzel nodded sourly. He evidently knew only too well how it
was. Even the most respectable businessmen were doing occasional
business with the black market in technological devices. But he didn't
say anything to Bending.

"What did the cash box look like?" he asked.

Bending held out his hands to measure off a distance. "About so
long--ten inches, I guess; maybe six inches wide and four deep. Thin
sheet steel, with a gray crackle finish. There was a lock on it, but it
wasn't much of one; since it was kept in the safe, there was no need for
a strong lock."

Sergeant Ketzel nodded. "In other words, an ordinary office cash box. No
distinguishing marks at all?"

"It had 'Bending Consultants' on the top. And underneath that, the word
'Lab'. In black paint. That 'Lab' was to distinguish it from the petty
cash box in the