“Now, then,” Reilly continued, “what do you know about the corporations themselves, particularly their interrelation with each other?”

“Mr. Reilly,” Hosato smiled to hide his annoyance, “you asked once what I knew about the corporations in question, and I told you. Now, why don’t you just tell me whatever you feel is important, instead of playing Twenty Questions?” Reilly took the rebuff smoothly. “Sorry,” he apologized. “My basic background is in marketing and sales—you know, 'get the customer involved'. Guess I’ve never really gotten over it.

“Well, to keep a long story short, the two corporations hate each other with a passion. Now, don’t mistake this for an ordinary business rivalry. That’s there, too, but it’s only part of the story. Originally they were all one company, IR. AM, a partnership. The two partners had a falling-out, and they split the company, forming two separate corporations. The main drive of each of the two has been to put the other out of business. So far, though, they’re about even.”

“What does all this have to do with me?” Hosato asked.

“We at Ravensteel want you to penetrate the Mc. Crae complex and sabotage their works shut 'em down. We’re ready to pay ten thousand credits for the attempt, and an additional ten thousand for every month Mc. Crae is inoperative, to a maximum total of a hundred thousand credits. Are you interested?”

Hosato stared thoughtfully at the wall for several minutes before answering. There was no denying a hundred thousand credits was tempting. Still.

“What’s the law like?” he asked abruptly.

“The law?”

“The police. What kind of opposition would I be up against?”

“No police,” Reilly assured him. “Grunbecker’s Planet is a corporation world. There are no inhabitants other than corporation employees. Each of the two corporations makes and enforces its own laws.”