At about 26:30 o'clock, according to Toal, we crawled under the
electric wires across the road and reached the walls of Joetropolis.
The Young Farmer School had refused to open its gates because of six
different Ordinances.
Most of the clouds had cleared away, but the dark nebula hung dim and
threatening overhead. While Toal searched for a signal button, I--a
collapsing hulk of cuts, bruises, tatters, and disgust--sat in the
road. With one foot, the Hog had wrecked ten x-tops, three coupons
worth of robotic. I had been unable to find the hisser. The only whole
pieces of equipment that we recovered were the light, a water pump, the
sniffer, one can of S-rations, and a tube of pellets.
Lights suddenly spotted us. A man loudly intoned, "Why break Ordinance
921?"
"This is Recessive Betty Toal and Alien Hunter Ube Kinlock," Toal said.
"Open the gate!"