Late that night, in Harvey Flanders' house, a long discussion went on among Harvey, Brace, Dr. Lurie, and the Schweitzer twins.
"I went over it in detail with some of the old-timers here," Harvey said. "I also did some personal scouting, and everything they said seems to be true. Here's the setup:
"Our idea of raiding the commissary for a lot of oxygen tanks is out. They don't keep any stock; there's never more than a single day's supply for the settlement. Of course, we can't make off with that, unless we want to kill off everybody else.
"The oxygen plant itself is right up there on the hill, next to Baker's house. That's the key to his control, and he keeps it right under his thumb. Nobody—I mean nobody—except Carsing ever goes up there. They've got an endless belt system for taking up the empty tanks and sending back the full ones to the commissary."
"That makes the whole thing simple," Red Brace said impatiently. "We go up there, knock off Baker and Carsing, and take over the oxygen factory."
"It's not that simple," Harvey said. "I imagine the old boy has a way of keeping strangers out. The story I get is that he's got some sort of electronic telescope, and he sits up there all day watching everything that's going on. You're not going to sneak up on him, exactly."
Brace stood up. "The longer we sit and talk, the more time he has to get set for us. Anybody coming with me?" He looked around. "Frankly, I don't give a damn if anybody comes or not. You'd only be in the way, anyway."
He headed for the doorway.
"Red, you can't go off half-cocked like this," Harvey pleaded.
"So long," said Brace and went out into the cloudy night.