t shortly after I began speaking, the local blue-ribbon
grand jury issued a summons for Chief Delaney to appear before them,
with all his records. Unfortunately, the summons could not be served;
Chief Delaney had just boarded a strato-rocket from Tom Dewey Field
for Buenos Aires." He cocked an eye at the audience. "I know Irish is
going to have a nice time, down there in the springtime of the
Southern Hemisphere. And, incidentally, the Argentine is one of the
few major powers which never signed the World Extradition Convention
of 2087." He raised his hand to his audience. "And now, until tomorrow
at breakfast, sincerely yours for Cardon's Black Bottle, Elliot C.
Mongery."

"Well, whattaya know; that guy was plugging for you!" Ray said. "And
see how he managed to slide in that bit about corruption, right before
his stooge handed him that bulletin?"

"I guess every Literate has his price," Chester Pelton said. "I wonder
how much of my money that cost. I always wondered why Frank Cardon
sponsored Mongery. Now I know. Mongery can be had."

"Uh, beg your pardon, Mr. Pelton," a voice from the hall broke in.

He turned. Olaf Olafsson, the 'copter driver, was standing at the
entrance to the breakfast nook, a smudge of oil on his cheek and his
straw-colored hair in disorder. "How do I go about startin' this new
'copter?"

"What?" Olaf had been his driver for ten years. He would have been
less surprised had the ceiling fallen in. "You don't know how to start
it?"

"No, sir. The controls is all different from on the summer model.
Every time I try to raise it, it backs up; if I try to raise it much
more, we won't have no wall left on the landing stage."

"Well, isn't there a book?"

"There ain't no pictures in it; nothing but print. It's a Literate
book," Olaf said in disgust, as though at something obscene. "An'
there ain't nothin' on the instrument board but letters."

"That's right," Ray agreed. "I saw the book; no pictures in it at
all."

"Well, of all the quarter-witted stupidity! The confounded imbeciles
at that agency--"

Pelton started to his feet. Claire unlocked the table and slid it out
of his way. Ray, on a run, started for the lift and vanished.

"I think some confounded Literate at the Rolls-Cadipac agency did
that," he fumed. "Thought it would be a joke to send me a Literate
instruction book along with a 'copter with a Literate instrument
board. Ah, I get it! So I'd have to call in a Literate to show