chip on the shoulder," the Port Security Officer said.
"Won't you Earthmen ever learn?" The splay-tongued reptile-humanoids of
Irwadi always spoke Interstellar _Coine_ with a pronounced lisp which
Ramsey found annoying, especially since it went so well with the
officious and underhanded behavior for which the Irwadians were famous
the galaxy over.

"Get to the point," Ramsey said harshly. "I have a ship to take through
hyper-space."

"No. You have no ship."

"No? Then what's this?" His irritation mounting, Ramsey pulled out the
Interstellar Transfer Service authorization form and showed it to the
Security Officer. "A tip-sheet for the weightless races at Fomalhaut
VI?"

The Security Officer said: "Ha, ha, ha." He could not laugh; he merely
uttered the phonetic equivalent of laughter. On harsh Irwadi, laughter
would have been a cultural anomaly. "You make joketh. Well,
nevertheleth, you have no ship." He expanded his scaly green barrel
chest and declaimed: "At 0400 hours thith morning, the government of
Irwadi hath planetarithed the Irwadi Tranthfer Thervith."

* * * * *

"Planetarized the Transfer Service!" gasped Ramsey in surprise. He knew
the Irwadians had been contemplating the move in theory for many years,
but he also knew that transferring a starship from normal space through
hyper-space back to normal space again was a tremendously difficult and
technical task. He doubted if half a dozen Irwadians had mastered it,
yet the Irwadi branch of Interstellar Transfer Service was made up of
seventy-five hyper-space pilots of divers planetalities.

"Ecthactly," said the Security Officer, as amused as an Irwadian could
be by the amazement in Ramsey's frank green eyes. "Tho if you will
kindly thurrender your permit?"

"Let's see it in writing, huh?"

The Security Officer complied. Ramsey read the official document,
scowled, and handed over his Irwadi pilot license. "What about the
_Polaris_?" he wanted to know. The _Polaris_ was a Centaurian ship he'd
been scheduled to take through hyper-space on the run from Irwadi to
Centauri III.

"Temporarily grounded, captain. Or should I thay, ecth-captain?"

"Temporarily my foot," said Ramsey. "It'll be months before you
Irwadians can get even a fraction of the ships into hyper. You must be
out of your minds."

"Our problem, captain. Not yourth."

That was true enough. Ramsey shrugged.

"Your problem," the Security Officer went on b