on, changed and
shuffled. I painfully traced each one to its source. Many times the
source was a forgery. Some changes seemed to be unexplainable, until I
noticed the officers in question had a temporary secretary while their
normal assistants were ill. All the girls had food poisoning, a regular
epidemic it seemed. Each of them in turn had been replaced by the same
girl. She stayed just long enough in each position to see that the
battleship plan moved forward one more notch.

This girl was obviously the assistant to the Mastermind who originated
the scheme. He sat in the center of the plot, like a spider on its web,
pulling the strings that set things into motion. My first thought that a
gang was involved proved wrong. All my secondary suspects turned out to
be simple forgeries, not individuals. In the few cases where forgery
wasn't adequate, my mysterious _X_ had apparently hired himself to do
the job. _X_ himself had the permanent job of Assistant Engineering
Designer. One by one the untangled threads ran to this office. He also
had a secretary whose "illnesses" coincided with her employment in other
offices.

When I straightened up from my desk the ache in my back stabbed like a
hot wire. I swallowed a painkiller and looked around at my drooping,
sack-eyed assistants who had shared the sleepless seventy-two hour task.
They sat or slumped against the furniture, waiting for my conclusions.
Even President Ferraro was there, his hair looking scraggly where he had
pulled out handfuls.

"You've found them, the criminal ring?" he asked, his fingers groping
over his scalp for a fresh hold.

"I have found them, yes," I said hoarsely. "But not a criminal ring. An
inspired master criminal--who apparently has more executive ability in
one ear lobe than all your bribe-bloated bureaucrats--and his female
assistant. They pulled the entire job by themselves. His name, or
undoubtedly pseudoname, is Pepe Nero. The girl is called Angelina...."

"Arrest them at once! Guards ... guards--" Ferraro's voice died away as
he ran out of the room. I talked to his vanishing back.

"That is just what we intend to do, but it's a little difficult at the
moment since they are the ones who not only built the battleship, but
undoubtedly stole it as well. It was fully automated so no crew is
necessary."

"What do you plan to do?" one of the clerks asked.

"I shall do nothing," I told him, with the snapped precision of an old
space dog. "Th