"What?" "That's his station. Come on. Let's look at a map of the area." Scotty turned and led the way to their barracks. One thing about the robbery was a major puzzle to Rick. He could see that a rocket shoot might provide the opportunity to commit the theft, and he could see how use of a radar van might get the stolen goods off the base. But the thief had carefully emptied cartons, leaving the cartons as camouflage. That took more time than any thief would have. He considered various ways in which it might have been done and rejected them all. Tacked up in the entryway of their barracks was a large-scale map. Scarlet Lake was marked with crayon. The boys studied the area, looking for Careless Mesa. Finally Scotty found it, almost due north of the base. "About twenty miles. Only one road to the mesa, but two roads lead away from it. Let's see where they go." The first road from Careless Mesa ended at a point in the mountains marked "_Dry Spring_." The second road led to the town marked "_Steamboat_," where the road forked again. One branch eventually joined other roads in Pahrump Valley, the other led to Death Valley. The boys looked at each other triumphantly. Rick said, "So you can get from Careless Mesa to state highways without returning to the base." Scotty scratched his chin. "Any idea what's at Careless Mesa?" "Not the slightest." "Neither do I. Maybe we'd better have a look." That was fine with Rick. "When?" "How about tomorrow?" "I'll have to check. Suppose I wander over to the project? If Dick Earle is there, I can sound him out." "Okay, and I'll check with my people." The boys parted, and Rick walked to the Pegasus shed. Dick Earle and Dr. Bond were in the cubicle where the project paper work was done. The marmoset was with them, perched on top of the file safe. As Rick entered, the little spacemonk jumped to his shoulder and caressed his cheek. "Come in, Rick," Dr. Bond said. "We're just having a gloom session." "Gloom? What about?" Rick petted the marmoset, then put him back on his file-safe perch. "Is something wrong?" "Transistors," Dick Earle stated flatly. "No transistors left on the base. That means we come to a grinding halt until we get supplies." "The whole project?" Rick asked in astonishment. He hadn't realized a few parts would mean so much. "Not all of it. Just our part. The air frame and propulsion people can keep on, because they don't use the gadgets. But we'll be tied up for a few days until a supply can get here." Dr. Bond added, "An order has been placed, Rick. By telephone. But the supplier can't possibly make delivery until after the Orion shoot." Dick Earle nodded. "Correct. So you might as well plan to loaf for a day or so, Rick." The trip to Careless Mesa would be no problem now, Rick thought. He wouldn't even need to ask permission. "Strange that anyone would steal a whole supply of transistors," he commented.