t veridicator, to use on
some of these people who claim they saw them, it would be a big help."

"Well, I do make rather small portable veridicators for the constabulary,
but I think what you need is an instrument for detection of psychopaths,
and that's slightly beyond science at present. But if you're still
prospecting for sunstones, I have an improved micro-ray scanner I just
developed, and...."

He walked with Stenson to his shop, had a cup of tea and looked at the
scanner. From Stenson's screen, he called Max Fane. Six more people had
claimed to have seen the Fuzzies.

Within a week, the films taken at the camp had been shown so frequently on
telecast as to wear out their interest value. Baby, however, was still
available for new pictures, and in a few days a girl had to be hired to
take care of his fan mail. Once, entering a bar, Jack thought he saw Baby
sitting on a woman's head. A second look showed that it was only a
life-sized doll, held on with an elastic band. Within a week, he was
seeing Baby Fuzzy hats all over town, and shop windows were full of
life-sized Fuzzy dolls.

In the late afternoon, two weeks after the Fuzzies had vanished, Marshal
Fane dropped him at the hotel. They sat in the car for a moment, and Fane
said:

"I think this is the end of it. We're all out of cranks and exhibitionists
now."

He nodded. "That woman we were talking to. She's crazy as a bedbug."

"Yeah. In the past ten years she's confessed to every unsolved crime on
the planet. It shows you how hard up we are that I waste your time and
mine listening to her."

"Max, nobody's seen them. You think they just aren't, any more, don't
you?"

The fat man looked troubled. "Well, Jack, it isn't so much that nobody's
seen them. Nobody's seen any trace of them. There are land-prawns all
around, but nobody's found a cracked shell. And six active, playful,
inquisitive Fuzzies ought to be getting into things. They ought to be
raiding food markets, and fruit stands, getting into places and
ransacking. But there hasn't been a thing. The Company police have stopped
looking for them now."

"Well, I won't. They must be around somewhere." He shook Fane's hand, and
got out of the car. "You've been awfully helpful, Max. I want you to know
how much I thank you."

He watched the car lift away, and then looked out over the city--a vista
of treetop green, with roofs and the domes of shopping centers and
business centers and amusement centers