Page:Fantastic Universe (1956-10; vol. 8, no. 3).djvu/19

36 you should have been here this afternoon?" Hugh demanded.

"Working on the modification problems of the H-62's we're going to sell the Ragalians."

"That was nice," Hugh said bitingly. "So very thoughtful of you. Only it so happens that we aren't going to sell the Ragalians any H-62's!"

George kept his silence for a moment. He'd known it all along. The deal was too good to hope for. "What happened?" he said finally. "Where was the gimmick?"

"They don't want the H-62 at all!" Hugh thundered. "They want a whole new ship! That's what we needed you for this afternoon, to try to convince Sleth Forander of that."

"I don't understand."

"He insists they want an H-62—with modifications. But the modifications consist chiefly of removing the control room from the nose to the very bottom keel plate!"

"The what—?"

"You heard me. He wants the control room moved from the nose to the tail."

"I thought that's what you said!"

Mark spoke up from his corner for the first time. "It's silly! It's absolutely the silliest, most idiotic thing I ever heard of! Controls, in the rear—"

"It's pretty nutty," George said, "but really no worse than some of the others we've done. We could rig up a system of remotes and servos to some kind of auxiliary control room down in the hull somewhere. After all, the customer is right—especially when he has to drive the rig!"

"I evidently haven't made it clear to you," the President said with patience in his voice as if talking with a little child. "Sleth Forander demands the control room be mounted directly on the keel plate. To him, that obviously puts all the rest of the works—engines, cargo space, living quarters—in the upper part of the vessel."

"He just wants an ordinary ship that flies backwards!" Mark cried in exasperation.

"I just can't quite believe you've understood the problem completely," said George seriously. "It doesn't make sense that they'd want everything in the ship turned absolutely backwards."

"We did our best," said Hugh Wilkinson. "We were terribly upset by the absence of the magnificent mind of our Chief Engineer during this afternoon's meeting!"

George grinned suddenly and stood up. "Come off it!" he said. He strode to the window and looked down at the yard. "I had the feeling in the beginning that we didn't have a chance on this contract, but this is so goofy that my confidence is returning. I am sorry I wasn't here, but you must have arranged further meetings. You didn't cut off negotiations completely?"

"No—Sleth Forander will be back. And when he does, we've got