mple idea into your
head." The spring in the chair twanged as Morely came forward, to poke
his head at DeVore. "Now, get to work on it."

He jerked his head down for a quick look at the letter on his desk, then
looked up again.

"And I'll expect a report from you by tonight that you've got the matter
taken care of."

DeVore looked at his superior expressionless for a heartbeat. He had
been given peculiar orders before, and he'd always managed to work out
the problems involved. But this was the ultimate. This one seemed to be
just plain illegal. And there was no point in arguing further. There was
just the barest chance that there might be some legitimate way out. If
he challenged the Old Man on an illegal order, he just might get his
ears pinned back. He'd simply have to go back to his office and try to
hunt out a technicality. He nodded.

"Yes, sir. I'll get on it immediately."

He saluted and started to leave the office. But he didn't make it.

"And, DeVore!"

The Fiscal chief halted abruptly, and turned.

"Sir?"

"I'm getting tired of the negative thinking you people seem to have
fallen into lately. I'm sick of going into every routine detail with
you. When you got that letter, you should have immediately worked out a
method of retaining the royalties. Then, you could have come in and
presented it for my approval. That is the kind of work I want. And
that's the kind of work I mean to get in the future. Do you understand?"

Sternly, DeVore suppressed a sarcastic thought. He held his mind and
face blank and nodded with a semblance of respect.

"Yes, sir."

"Very well." Morely waved a hand. "Now get something done."

* * * * *

As DeVore walked through the corridor, he thought over the situation. Of
course, the easy way out would be to force Consolidated to continue the
payments in addition to their license fees from Central. That could be
done. There were all kinds of methods by which pressure could be brought
to bear on any company by the district leader's office. And from
Consolidated's point of view, double payments could offer a cheap means
of keeping out of difficulties. They would be able to pass most of the
cost to the consumer by a slight price increase, justified by a minor
modification of the devices.

But they wouldn't be happy about it, and there would come a day when an
auditing team from Central would be checking in the district. And that
would be the day