Waldstejn drank, choked, and gave Ortschugin a wry smile. When he could speak again, he said, "Seems to be my night for making speeches. Look, Vladimir, I'm no hero… but I took this job, and I guess I'll stick with everybody else." He shook his head. "Hell, I don't know…," he added, but he did not make his subject clear.

Business-like again, the Lieutenant continued, "I'm doing this for one simple reason, my friend. I want your cargo to be shipped from Praha, not Budweis. And I'm not giving you anantenna, I don't have any authority to alienate government property."

Ortschugin frowned, but he waited for the rest of the explanation.

"Ido have authority," the Supply Officer went on with a grin, "to hire transport in an emergency. I think we can justify the emergency-" he waved at what was left of the roof above them- "and so I'm hiring you to transport one power-beam antenna, surplus to local needs, back to Central Stores in Praha. Now, get your crew here with a wagon. I'd as soon it happened while it's still dark and the folks who might ask questions are in Headquarters."

Ortschugin whooped again. He went out the door, bawling snatches of a song which sounded bawdy even in a language Waldstejn could not guess at.

Someone cleared his throat at the inner doorway. The Lieutenant looked up. Both his subordinates stood there. Hodicky held a long coil of twenty-centimeter computer tape. "Oh," Albrecht Waldstejn said. "He'll be back-the crew of the freighter- to pick up the truck power antenna in a few minutes. Here, I'll okay it right now." He found a request form and began to fill it out, checking the unit number from the terminal display.

"We'll take care of it, sir," Hodicky said. "I've got the figures-" He waved the tape so that it rustled. "Want me to feed it to Headquarters?"

Waldstejn gave the request to Quade and took the tape. "Four bottles, Private," he said after a glance at the print-out."And a morning off if I can swing it." He looked up.