much hogwash; yet it was
surprising how much he had counted on it.

He tore the envelope from Security into tiny shreds, too small for
Mother Corey to make sense of, and went out to mail the letter, feeling
the few bills in his pocket. As usual, less than a hundred credits.

He passed a sound truck blatting out a campaign speech by candidate
Nolan, filled with too-obvious facts about the present administration,
together with hints that Wayne had paid to have Nolan assassinated.
Gordon saw a crowd around it and was surprised, until he recognized them
as Rafters--men from the biggest of the gangs supporting Wayne. The few
citizens on the street who drifted toward the truck took a good look at
them and moved on hastily.

It seemed incredible that Wayne could be re-elected, though, even with
the power of the gangs. Nolan was probably a grafter, too; but he'd at
least be a change, and certainly the citizens were aching for that.

The next day his relief was later. Gordon waited, trying to swallow
their petty punishments, but it went against the grain. Finally, he
began making the rounds, acting as his own night man. The owners of the
joints didn't care whether they paid the second daily dole to the same
man or another, but they wouldn't pay it again that same night. He'd
managed to tap most of the places before his relief showed. He made no
comment, but dutifully filled out the proper portion of both takes for
the Voluntary Donation box. It wouldn't do his record any good with
Trench, but it should put an end to the overtime.

Trench, however, had other ideas. The overtime continued, but it was
dull after that--which made it even more tiring. But the time he took a
special release out to the spaceport was the worst. Seeing the big ship
readying for take-off back to Earth....

Then it was the day before election. The street was already bristling
with barricades around the entrances, and everything ran with a last
desperate restlessness, as if there would be no tomorrow. The operators
all swore that Wayne would be elected, but seemed to fear a miracle. On
the poorer section of the beat, there was a spiritless hope that Nolan
might come in with his reform program. Men who would normally have been
punctilious about their payments were avoiding Bruce Gordon, if in hope
that, by putting it off a day or so, they could run into a period where
no such payment would ever be asked--or a smaller one, at least. And he
was too tire