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Anyway, a quarter of a million is a lot of money, and even at two hundred bucks each the transistors would make quite a bundle. The Earthman would have to hide them, and then get them off the base. And I'll tell you one thing: If Big Mac stole them, he didn't take them off the base in his own car." "How do you know?" Rick challenged. "He's got a Porsche.
Bud pointed to a small electronic chassis on the workbench, studded with a tangle of transistors, diodes, and condensers. "It's a density-control device," Tom explained. "A substitute for ballast tanks, you might say. It'll enable us to rise or sink to any depth at will, simply by varying our underwater density."
There would be plenty of room in the truck. Only he doesn't take it into town, remember?" "Would he need to? He could drop the transistors somewhere to be picked up later." "Careless Mesa." "What?" "That's his station. Come on. Let's look at a map of the area." Scotty turned and led the way to their barracks. One thing about the robbery was a major puzzle to Rick.
Transistors missing?" Jimmy found his voice. "Yes, Colonel. At first I thought it was a mistake a few empties put back on the shelf by accident. But they were all empty, sir. All of them! There isn't a transistor in the warehouse!" Preston nodded. "Take over, Hank. Shake the place down. Get one of the boys with a kit and check for fingerprints on the stacks and empty cartons. Jimmy, come with me.
One of them might have been able to sabotage a rocket, although I doubt it, but how could they take advantage of the confusion to steal the transistors when they're not even on the base?" Scotty finished his coke and banged the bottle on the table for emphasis. "Okay. They couldn't. But why are you so sure they couldn't sabotage a rocket?" "I'm not sure," Rick replied.
But after learning to deal with electron holes in transistors, this was elementary study for Hanson. The second half of the book dealt with the use of the true name. That, of course, was the perfect symbol, and hence the true whole. There was the simple ritual of giving a secret name.
"All transistors. And not the cheap kind, either. Just a minute and I'll have them for you." He vanished behind the tiers of shelves. Rick waited. The wait grew longer and the boy fidgeted. Couldn't the clerk find them? Rick hoped the base hadn't run out, because that would mean a delay on his project.
He toyed with the idea that the stolen transistors might simply have been destroyed or hidden by the Earthman in order to hold up work at the base. That didn't seem likely. The facts of time and distance certainly eliminated Mac and Pancho. During the shoots they were miles away. They had little or no opportunity to get close to the rockets.
Also, I think I know how the transistors and servos were taken out." Rick stared. "Honest?" "I think so. Ever notice how the cleaning men work? They have carts. Big ones, made of metal. At one end is a kind of well, for brooms, mops, and the vacuum cleaner wand and tubes. But most of the cart is just a metal box. The sides open. They carry rags, soap, that sawdust stuff for the floor, and so on.
He picked up a stone, tested it for weight, then reconsidered and put the sling back. "I remember. Big Mac and Pancho. Mac said he must have stuck it in his pocket absent-mindedly while repairing his equipment." "That's what he said," Rick agreed. "Only transistors aren't like radio tubes. They don't need replacing often." "Meaning?" "He might have been telling the truth or he might not."
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