"Y'know he's been pretty bitter about things," said Haney carefully. "He's been sayin' that little guys like him ought to be the spacemen. There's half a dozen other little guys been working on the Platform too. They can get in cracks an' buck rivets an' so on. Useful. He's had 'em all hopped up on the fact that the Platform coulda been finished months ago if it'd been built for them, an' they could get to the moon an' back while full-sized guys couldn't an' so on. Remember?" "I remember," said Sally. "They've all been beefin' about it," explained Haney. "People know how they feel. So today Mike went and talked to one or two of 'em. An' they started actin' mysterious, passin' messages back an' forth an' so on. Little guys, actin' important. Security guys wouldn't notice 'em much. Y'don't take a guy Mike's size serious, unless you know him. Then he's the same as anybody else. So the security guys didn't pay any attention to him. But some other guys did. Some special other guys. They saw those little fellas actin' like they were cookin' up somethin' fancy. An' they bit." "Bit?" asked Sally. "They got curious. So Mike an' his gang got confidential. An' they're going to have help sabotagin' the Platform when the next shift changes. The midgets gettin' even for bein' laughed at, see? They're pretending their plan is that when the Platform's sabotaged--not smashed, but just messed up so it can't take off--the big brass will let 'em take a ferry rocket up in a hurry, an' get it in orbit, an' use it for a Platform until the big Platform can be mended an' sent up. Once they're up there, there's no use tryin' to stop the big Platform. So it can go ahead." Joe said dubiously: "I think I see...." "Mike and his gang of little guys are bein' saps--on purpose. If anybody's goin' to pull some fast stuff, next shift change--that's the time everybody's got to! Last chance! Mike and his gang don't know what's gonna happen, but they sure know when! They're invitin' the real saboteurs to make fools of 'em. And what'll happen?" Joe said drily: "The logical thing would be to feel sorry for the big guys who think they're smarter than Mike." "Uh-huh," said Haney, deadly serious. "Mike's story is there's half a dozen rocket tubes already loaded. They're goin' to fire those rockets between shifts. The Platform gets shoved off its base an' maybe dented, and so on. Mike's gang say they got the figures to prove they can go up in a ferry rocket an' be a Platform, and the big brass won't have any choice but to let 'em." Sally said: "I don't think they know how the big brass thinks." Haney and Joe said together, "No!" and Joe added: "Mike's not crazy! He knows better! But it's a good story for somebody who doesn't know Mike."