your work shows a grasp of commercial operations, I shall so recommend."
"Thanks," said Channing dryly. "May I buy you a drink?"
"I never drink. And I do not believe in it. If it were mine to say, I'd prohibit liquor from the premises. Venus Equilateral would be better off without it."
Don Channing snapped the communicator. "Miss Westland, will you come in?"
She entered, puzzlement on her face.
"This is Mr. Burbank. His position places him in control of this office. You will, in the future, report to him directly. The report on the operations, engineering projects, and so on that I was to send in to the Commission this morning will, therefore, be placed in Mr. Burbank's hands as soon as possible."
"Yes, Dr. Channing." Her eyes held a twinkle, but there was concern and sympathy in them, too. "Shall I get them immediately?"
"They are ready?"
"I was about to put them on the tape when you called."
"Then give them to Mr. Burbank." Channing turned to Burbank. "Miss Westland will hand you the reports I mentioned. They are complete and precise. A perusal of them will put you in grasp of the situation here at Venus Equilateral better than will an all-afternoon conference. I'll have Miss Westland haul my junk out of here. You may consider this as your office, it having been used by Dr. Peters. And, in the meantime, I've got to check up on some experiments on the ninth level." Channing paused. "You'll excuse me?"
"Yes, if Miss Westland knows where to find you."
"She will. I'll inform her of my whereabouts."
"I may want to consult you after I read the reports."
"That will be all right. The autocall can find me anywhere on Venus Equilateral, if I'm not at the place Miss Westland calls."
Don Channing stopped at Arden's desk. "I'm booted," he told her.
"Leaving Venus Equilateral?" she asked with concern.
"No, blond and beautiful, I'm just shunted back to my own office."
"Can't I go with you?" pleaded the girl.
"Nope. You are to stay here and be a nice, good-looking Mata Hari. This bird seems to think that he can run Venus Equilateral like a bus or a factory. I know the type, and the first thing he'll do is to run the place into a snarl. Keep me informed of anything complicated, will you?"
"Sure. And where are you going now?"
"I'm going down and get Walt Franks. We're going to inspect the transparency of a new type of glass."
"I didn't know that optical investigations come under your jurisdiction."
"This investigation will consist of a visit to the ninth level.""Can't you take me along?"
"Not today," he grinned. "Your new boss does not believe in the evils of looking through the bottom of a glass. We must behave with decor. We must forget fun. We are now operating under a man who will commercialize electronics to a fine art."
"Don't get stewed. He may want to know 

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