What's the Big ldea? ・ / e went intO orbit around Planet Dangle. Moments later ground control sent us a ・ / hO - , 人 re - You. That in itself was pretty unusual. Usually an orbital relay station handles that kind of red tape. lt takes t00 long t0 respond t0 problems from planetside. But according t0 the background materi- al l'd been boning up on on your way here, there were only five space stations gle, and all of them were research platforms belong- ing tO the Gravas Foundation. There wasn't a single public station for orbital traffic control. Giant space stations are different from dinky lit- tle satellites. There's a limit tO hOW many you can have in orbit; five is about the 1 れ ax. Seeing hOW planet state Dangle was under the de factO control of the Gravas Foundation, I don't suppose they had any chOice about giving Gravas exclusive rights tO statlon constructlon. 7

ladies are here at the invitation Of the Foundation. "Mr. Merutonan, ” replied Bayleaf stiffly. "lt's true the Gravas Foundation virtually controls Dangle. Even so, I don't think it would be wise to make enemies Of the Central Police. ” "Say what you like," retorted Merutonan brusque- ly. "On my legitimate authority, I intend to take these tWO ladies with 1 沿 e. ” "You do, do you!" exclaimed BayIeaf, crumbling in the face Of Merutonan s resolve. "Then dO as you please! ” Bayleaf reluctantly left the lobby, his twenty un- derlings in tOW. "NOW then, ” said Merutonan, turning to face us. He still spoke crisply from the previous argument, and his splendid bald dome gleamed with sweat. "l'm terribly sorry to have been so late. We'II go straight tO Gravas Heavy lndustries headquarters. We were promptly bundled into a big black air- car limouslne waiting outside the spaceport termi- nal. The limousine lifted 0 and moments later we were barreling down the highway, due south.

tion s own intelligence apparatus, the police are in- nocent. "lntelligence apparatus! ” I cried out despite myself at Merutonan s words. Yuri made a show of covering her ears. Just go j ump in a lake, Yuri! "Your intelligence apparatus!" I said. "A private organization as big as the Gravas Foundation must have dozens Of investigative operations ln several senses Of the word, right? Just now you mentioned one Of their reports. "Yes," agreed Merutonan, tilting his head quizzi- cally. "That's quite routine. "SO let me just ask you one thing. According to the rumor mills, at least, the information gather- ing capabilities Of the Gravas Foundation s intelli- gence apparatus easily outstrips that Of the United Galactica Space Force lntelligence Bureau Second Section. ls that really true? ” "l can't speak with absolute confidence, but gener- ally speaking, that's true," acknowledged Meruto- nan readily. especially strong economics. "WeIl, then. You petitioned the WWWA after your intelligence apparatus had already done its work. So, what are you really after?" The overwhelming majority of the cases brought before the WWWA are initiated by national 49

teach you a lesson you'll never forget!" "Very funny! Try it and see how far you get! ” "By God, I will! ” Sparks flew between us. Touch and go, we were only an inch away from a battle royal. lt had gone beyond words. But just at that moment.. "Wh-what's going on here! ” A man burst flurriedly into the lobby. He was a short, dignified looking gentleman of 55 or 56 , clearly a top executive type. "Damnation! ” lnspector Bayleaf grounded his teeth at the sight of him. "There were so many checkpoints along the way I was afraid something was going on , ” the man chat- tered at Bayleaf. "And sure enough, just 100k at you! lnspector, what is the meaning Of this?! ” see for yourself, Mr. Merutonan, re- plied Bayleaf in chagrin. The 01d gent was none other than our client, managing director Meruto- nan 0f the Gravas Foundation. "A spaceship has crashed, and I was just at the point Of requesting some important witnesses tO voluntarily accompa- ny me tO headquarters. "You seem to be stretching things a bit, ” snapped Merutonan. speak for the Gravas Foundation in turning down your request. These tWO young 44

Dangle, like almost every planet inhabited by mankind ー is a beautiful blue sphere mottled with floating white clouds. The ratio of sea to land is just about 50-50, and there are tWO continents sepa- rated by ocean. Almost all the land surface is con- centrated on these continents ー - Eruka and Tanst. Eruka is located near the equator in the north- ern hemisphere, while Tanst is near the equator in the southern hemisphere on the opposite side of the globe. Eruka is larger than Tanst, but both are equally blessed with absolutely the most marvelous climate. Count on the Gravas Foundation ーー with the most capital in all the galaxy ー to pick a winner. Lovely Angel was bound for Tanst's southern hemisphere. That's where our client, Gravas Heavy lndustries , one Of the industrial divisions of the Gra- vas Foundation, has its headquarters. That's right. Those guys. The kings of heavy industry, they who proudly bo ast that there isn't a job they can 't tackle ; frOI れ starshipbuilding to erecting entire cities. Gra- vas Heavy lndustries has both a business headquar- ters and a production headquarters. The one on Dangle is the production headquarters, responsible for operations research. Our designated landing site was Kurutomi space Port, smack dab in the middle of the Tanst conti- nent. To be perfectly honest, we both of us prefer 16

inspector of the Dangle Central Police. ” Eeek! I let 100Se a silent scream. For a 1 れ 01 れ ent 1 れ y whole body went rigid. Talk about things that don't get along! lt's a rare combination that can get along any worse than us and the local cops. I wildly cursed my hunch. lt had, as usual, been right on target ・ "Criminal trouble consultants Kay and Yuri," ln- spector Bayleaf continued. "NO, let's dispense with the formalities. We'll just call you the Dirty Pair. ” ・生 were stunned speechless. Pressing his advan- tage, Bayleaf became even 1 沿 ore overbearing. Blast! If you want t0 keep things short, our official code name is Lovely Angel! "Dirty pair!" his voice grew even sharper. "The rea- son we ve come tO this spaceport tOday is tO send you packing! "The explosion and fire at Gravas Heavy lndus- tries that you've been asked tO investigate falls un- der 1 沿 y jurisdiction. l've determined that it was an accident. Of course, I conducted a thorough inves- tigation. My conclusion is based on that investiga- tion. NO matter what angle you pursue, there is no room for doubt. “ But those fools at the Gravas Foundation ! I don't know what got intO them, but they went and peti- tioned the ・ー / 乙人 tO reopen the investigation. 39

p. 16 p. 17 p. 18 136 sighed ため息をついた 21 as if on cue 待っていたかの 21 re-entry clearance 進入許可 23 retorted やり返した 24 unforgiving 執念深い 24 the way she had treated me ュリのあたしへの仕打ち 26 lost altitude せん 27 spiral 螺旋 高度を下げた 1 inhabited by ~ が居住している 2 sphere mottled with floating white clouds 白い雲が斑に浮く球 3 ratio 比率 4 continents 大陸 7 the equator 赤道 9 hemisphere 半球 9 the globe その天体 11 blessed with ~ に恵 まれている 12 Count on the Gravas Foundation さすがは グラノヾース財団 13 to pick a winner 一級品の惑星に目を つける 15 client 依頼主 16 divisions 部門 17 head- quarters 本部 19 proudly boast 豪語している 19 tackle 手がける 20 erecting 建設する 24 operation and 代 - search 操業と研究 25 site 場所 26 smack dab ちょうど 2 a crummy 0 旧 land-locked みすばらしい内陸の 4 So what's a girl to do? やむを得ない 5 for the fun of it 遊ぶために 8 was swathed 覆われていた 10 scattered with cue balls 白玉 ( ビリャードの ) を転がした 11 terra- forming 惑星改造 13 But I wouldn't put it past them, not the boys from Gravas. グラバース財団なら、そのくらいのこ とはやりかねない 14 Quite apart from ~ は別として 15 whatever incidents there'd been in pulling it off こんな ことをやってのけた経過は別として 16 givecredit これだけ は誉められる 18 incredible 信しられないほどの 19 was entranced 見とれた 23 snapped 鋭く言った 23 crisp テキパキとした 24 Emergency! 異常事態だ ! 24 1'd stopped moping and was my 0 旧 self again いしけているの をやめて我にかえった 2 ー was activating the console's laser and missile triggers. コンソールのレーザーとミサイルの引き金を起こした 6 we were always an itty-bitty bit [ 00 prepared いつも多少この用 心が行きすぎるのだ 9 saucers 円盤機 14 conical 円錐 台形の 19 co-pilot 副操縦士 20 X-ray scan ェックス線 0

an accident," and, "These tWO little hussies", we didn't give his words a second thought. " "Mr. Merutonan, ” I said, suddenly turning to face him. "Yes? ” he asked. He had sat back down on the sofa. Now he scrambled to his feet again ・ "We want to go see Lab A -24. Please show us the way ・ "Pardon 1 れ e ~ ” "lt feels like something's about to happen!" I winked at him. "Ah, ahem, ” said Merutonan, his face reddening. "ln that case, we can leave immediately. We left the headquarters building and got into a much smaller aircar. Merutonan himself drove. Managing director though he might be, he appar- ently had little desire t0 use any 0f his subordinates. Come to think Of it, even the driver Of the limou- sine hadn't been human, but an android. The leadership 0f the Gravas Foundation must be tak- ing this incident very seriously indeed. Before long we reached the blackened expanse that had once been Lab A -24. We hopped out of the aircar. Horrifying, was the only word to describe that landscape. The laboratory had occupied such a huge tract 63

governments. schematically, the process goes like this: incident anses—cops investigate¯cops t cope—cops report tO the government¯the govern- ment petitions the 嶬ー / み A. There are some cases, however, that fOllOW this pattern. They're brought directly t0 the へ / 嶬 ' s attention by the private sector. There are times, for instance, when the claimant may be dis- satisfied with the outcome Of a case the police al- ready consider closed. That was what had happened this time with the Gravas Foundation. "What are we really after? That's a bit of an ex- aggeration, replied Merutonan serenely. "The greatest reason for our appeal was simply that the conclusions Of the police and the contents Of the final report prepared by our own intelligence peo- ple disagreed ・ " "The police concluded it was an accident"' I said. what was your conclusion?" unknown. Caught 0 仟 guard, my eyes grew round with sur- prise. Merutonan continued obliviously. "Our intelligence people investigated the incident from three angles ーー one, that it was a simple acci- dent; tWO, that it was a crime by someone inside the organization, and three' that it was a crime by 50

ln reply, I silently pointed at the wall ahead of us on our left. "So what about it?" she asked harshly. She still couldn't get the point. I helped her out. "lf the Gravas Foundation's info is correct," I ex- plained, "the inside of that wall is hollow. lt's part of the space station's skeleton. The cavities are all tangled together, and connect to anywhere and everywhere in Vulcan. "SO you re suggesting we make a hole there and get inside?" 'Bingo! Tam-ta-da-daaa! " "That's a good idea," said Yuri brightly. "l'll blast it open with my heatgun. NO sooner had she spoken than she trotted for- ward. Coming to the place l'd indicated, she care- lessly raised her heatgun and started blazing away ・ I ran after her and helped fry the wall. lt melted before our eyes, leaving a hole two meters in diameter. Just at that moment, the thud of running feet reached us through the floor. "They're coming! " "They panicked when they saw what we were up to," I said, urging Yuri on. "Go on ahead. r11 join you after I clean up here. "Okay! ” 93