Roysland nodded and gripped the proffered hand in his own great paw. "Glad to know you. I want to get on that ship."
The inspector shook his head. "'Fraid not ... not without a special pass. We've got to make damage estimates."
"That ship is equipped with aJ projectors," Roysland said. "My gang designed and built them from the ground up; I know more about them than you do. I want to see them—and the rest of the ship. I haven't got time to go gallivanting all over this base getting signatures on a blasted pass."
The inspector started to say something, but Roysland cut him off. "You can check with Eckisster, if you want; but hurry it up."
Gowlan looked up into Roysland's eyes, hesitated, then spoke into his wrist phone.
Less than two minutes later, Roysland was inside the ship.
The Killiver was in almost perfect shape. The aJ guns appeared to be in perfect operating condition, and the meters showed that three of them had tracked and fired at something that had passed the upper starboard quadrant of the vessel.
Roysland checked the recordings, then looked up at Gowlan, who had elected to follow him. "Any sign of the ship they were firing at?"
Gowlan shrugged. "The Space-fleet men didn't find anything. If the Killiver holed it, they would still probably be light-years away from where the ship was found."