Ted said he was embarrassed to mention it but thought the Swifts should know about it. “A man named Hampshire phoned me. He said he was a lawyer and claimed he could get a lot more money for Mother and me, in connection with my father’s accident, even though Swift Enterprises had made a large financial settlement.
“You understand,” Ted went on, “that we are well satisfied with everything.
You folks have treated my mother very generously. But I felt I’d better tell you what Mr. Hampshire said.”
“You’re absolutely right, Ted. I’m glad you mentioned it,” Mr. Swift replied.
“What else did this fellow Hampshire say?”
Ted frowned. “That’s the funny part of it. He said he wanted no fee for handling the case, just some information in return. Of course I wasn’t 10 SPACE SOLARTRON
interested, so I put him off. But since then I’ve been worried that he might be up to something underhanded.”
“I think we should check on him,” Tom said firmly.
“I agree, son.” Mr. Swift nodded gravely. “Why not call Ames at the plant security office and see if he can trace this Mr. Hampshire?”
“Right, Dad.”
Tom made the call after dinner. Harlan Ames, the chief of Enterprises’
security department, promised to follow up the matter at once.
“I’ll have an answer for you by the time you get back from the Citadel.”
The next morning, a sleek cargo jet was rolled out of its hangar and readied for takeoff on one of the Enterprises airstrips. Tom checked off the various pieces of equipment as they were placed aboard. Included among these were all the parts for the first working model of his matter maker.
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