nt as a
damned halibut must be of the works and thoughts of man.

And often the E was unable to resolve the co-ordinate system--which was
simply a euphemistic way of saying that he didn't come back. And without
him, man could go no farther. An E, therefore, was the rarest and most
valuable piece of property in the universe. Whatever else man might be,
he will go to any lengths to protect the value of his property.

All right, Bill, perhaps a part of that is true. But give the scientists
their full due. They'd work with a will once they grew aware of the need
of it, because they were just as concerned as anybody else with what
might have happened to those colonists.

But first they would argue.

His secretary interrupted his thought by coming in from her own office.
She had an inch-thick stack of midgit-idgit cards in her hand.

"Here's that batch of scientists who worked on the original Eden
survey," she said.

"So many?" Hayes asked ruefully. "Maybe I'd better send an all-points
bulletin."

"You're the boss," she said easily. "But if I know scientists, they
don't read bulletins."

"Yeah, sure," he agreed. "You made sure this is everybody? Nobody is
slighted? They'll scream like stuck pigs when I ask them, but they'll be
even worse if I slight anybody by not asking."

"Double checked with Personnel's own midgit-idgit," she replied. "The
machine says if anybody is left out, it's not its fault, that it would
only be because we stupid humans forgot to inform it in the first
place."

"Sometimes I think that machine complains more than people do," he
answered. "Certainly it is a lot more insolent."

"Gets more work done, though," she said comfortably. "You want anything
more?"

"Not right now."

"Buzz if you do. The idgit is working out the supply list for that new
exploration ship, and it wants service, too," she reminded him. "It's
worse than you are," she added.

He looked up at her familiarity with a twinkle.

"It can't fire you," he said softly.

"Oh?" she asked. "You think not? Just let me feed it a few wrong data
and watch what happens to your li'l ol' lovin' secretary." She winked at
him, laughed, and went back to her office.

Sector Chief Hayes sighed, and pulled the stack of cards toward him.
First he must sort them out according to protocol because his diplomacy
wouldn't be worth the breath used in it if he called the wrong man
first. At a glance he saw that the idgit had already sorted them