innards and surround it all with glass. And how do you get the
air out? No problem, boy, there wasn't any air in there to begin with.

At any rate, there I was at Atronics City. That was as far as _Demeter_
would take me. Now, while the ship went on to Ludlum City and Chemisant
City and the other asteroid business towns, my two suitcases and I
dribbled down the elevator to my hostelry on level four.

* * *

Have you ever taken an elevator ride when the gravity is practically
non-existent? Well, don't. You see, the elevator manages to sink faster
than you do. It isn't being _lowered_ down to level four, it's being
_pulled_ down.

What this means is that the suitcases have to be lashed down with the
straps provided, and you and the operator have to hold on tight to the
hand-grips placed here and there around the wall. Otherwise, you'd clonk
your head on the ceiling.

But we got to level four at last, and off I went with my suitcases and
the operator's directions. The suitcases weighed about half an ounce
each out here, and I felt as though I weighed the same. Every time I
raised a foot, I was sure I was about to go sailing into a wall. Local
citizens eased by me, their feet occasionally touching the iron pavement
as they soared along, and I gave them all dirty looks.

Level four was nothing but walls and windows. The iron floor went among
these walls and windows in a straight straight line, bisecting other
"streets" at perfect right angles, and the iron ceiling sixteen feet up
was lined with a double row of fluorescent tubes. I was beginning to
feel claustrophobic already.

The Chalmers Hotel--named for an Atronics vice-president--had received
my advance registration, which was nice. I was shown to a second-floor
room--nothing on level four had more than two stories--and was left to
unpack my suitcases as best I may.

I had decided to spend a day or two at Atronics City before taking a
scooter out to Ab Karpin's claim. Atronics City had been Karpin's and
McCann's home base. All of McCann's premium payments had been mailed
from here, and the normal mailing address for both of them was GPO
Atronics City.

I wanted to know as much as possible about Ab Karpin before I went out
to see him. And Atronics City seemed like the best place to get my
information.

But not today. Today, my stomach was very unhappy, and my head was on
sympathy strike. Today, I was going to spend my time exclusively in be