Harry Roy had just clocked in at the Ferriss Moto-Man Company. The assembly lines were running smoothly: that meant four Big Lugs were rolling onto the loading dock every hour. He nodded. Excellent. He was about to sign off on the night shift's report when his office was invaded by an Air Safety Officer and a small robot... of an unknown model, he saw. Interesting.
But Harry didn't have a chance to wonder about that. Officer da Cunha jerked her chin toward Rusty and showed Harry her news slate: its lead story was speculating about the missing Big Lugs. "This robot seems to know something about your lost Lugs," she said. Rusty nodded.
There was a map on the wall on which all of the Ferriss factories and dealerships were marked by pins. Rusty charged over to it and jabbed a finger at a spot in the Great Plains. He looked expectantly at the two people.
"All of them?" asked Harry. "There are about a hundred missing." Rusty glared at him and nodded again, this time very slowly, as though Harry might be a bit on the dim side.
Harry frowned at the Officer. "Is there anybody besides this robot who can verify that?"
"At the moment," said Officer da Cunha, "there's just me. And.... " she scrolled through her slate. "... your seventeen unpaid parking tickets."
Harry picked up the phone. "Also, hon," Maria said sweetly, "you can get me some coffee.
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