n the morning, a dozen live specimens were delivered to the lab. They actually did resemble mice.
Their reactions were puzzling. No two of them were affected by the same poison. A compound that stiffened one in a matter of minutes left the others hale and hearty, and the poison he had developed to control the omnivores was completely ineffective.
The depredations in the warehouse went on. Black mice, white ones, gray and brown, short-tailed and long-eared, or the reverse, they continued to eat the concentrates and spoil what they didn't eat.
Marin conferred with the executive, outlined the problem as he saw it and his ideas on what could be done to combat the nuisance.
"But we can't build another warehouse," argued Hafner. "Not until the atomic generator is set up, at any rate. And then we'll have other uses for the power." The executive rested his head in his hands. "I like the other solution better. Build one and see how it works."
"I was thinking of three," said the biologist.
"One," Hafner insisted. "We can't spare the equipment until we know how it works."
At that he was probably right. They had equipment, as much as three ships could bring. But the more they brought, the more was expected of the colony. The net effect was that equipment was always in short supply.