. I leaned over
his shoulder and pointed out the interesting parts.

"Notice--if the engine room specs are changed slightly to include this
cargo hold, there is plenty of room for the brutes needed. This
superstructure--obviously just tacked onto the plans--gets thrown away,
and turrets take its place. The hulls are identical. A change here, a
shift there, and the stodgy freighter becomes the fast battlewagon.
These changes could be made during construction, then plans filed. By
the time anyone in the League found out what was being built the ship
would be finished and launched. Of course, this could all be
coincidence--the plans of a newly built ship agreeing to six places with
those of a ship built a thousand years ago. But if you think so, I will
give you hundred-to-one odds you are wrong, any size bet you name."

I wasn't winning any sucker bets that night. Inskipp had led just as
crooked a youth as I had, and needed no help in smelling a fishy deal.
While he pulled on his clothes he shot questions at me.

"And the name of the peace-loving planet that is building this bad
memory from the past?"

"Cittanuvo. Second planet of a B star in Corona Borealis. No other
colonized planets in the system."

"Never heard of it," Inskipp said as we took the private drop chute to
his office. "Which may be a good or a bad sign. Wouldn't be the first
time trouble came from some out-of-the-way spot I never even knew
existed."

With the automatic disregard for others of the truly dedicated, he
pressed the scramble button on his desk. Very quickly sleepy-eyed clerks
and assistants were bringing files and records. We went through them
together.

Modesty prevented me from speaking first, but I had a very short wait
before Inskipp reached the same conclusion I had. He hurled a folder the
length of the room and scowled out at the harsh dawn light.

"The more I look at this thing," he said, "the fishier it gets. This
planet seems to have no possible motive or use for a battleship. But
they are building one--_that_ I will swear on a stack of one thousand
credit notes as high as this building. Yet what will they do with it
when they have it built? They have an expanding culture, no
unemployment, a surplus of heavy metals and ready markets for all they
produce. No hereditary enemies, feuds or the like. If it wasn't for this
battleship thing, I would call them an ideal League planet. I have to
know more about them."

"I've already c