"Let's go up."
"Why not?"
We went in and got the room number from the clerk and went on up. We
knocked. Dalrymple opened the door. He hadn't changed a bit. There was
a sneer on his face, hostility in his voice when he said, "Ha--the
police force. What happened? Somebody steal your squad car?".
He turned around before we could answer and went back into the room. We
followed him and stood there looking at the layout. He had a big table
in the middle of the floor and there was a huge sheet of paper on it.
The sheet was almost completely covered with the funny symbols he'd
used in solving the bar poisoning. Or had he solved it?
Anyhow, he went back to his work as though we hadn't even come--adding
more symbols along one edge--and finally Donovan asked, "What in the
hell are you doing?"
Dalrymple looked up as though annoyed at being disturbed. "I'm
arranging to stay on your planet. I like it here."
"But what's all that got to do with staying?"
"I have to have money. The way things are done here, money is vitally
necessary."
"How are you going to get it?"