Gris has a cunning plan, you see: get to work before everyone else and raid the clerks' supply of "jolt." He uses some sort of magnet to pick the locks, nearly scalds himself on the... already hot beverage. Hmm. No mention of him preparing it, so I guess the "jolt" sits on a heater all night? Gris even hits the jackpot: there's an uneaten bun crust sitting in the break room. Carbohydrates!
Now, at this point it is very reasonable to ask: why didn't he do this before, when he was starving the first time? And I don't have an answer for you, nor does Gris explain how he could think of this now but not earlier. Hubbard didn't include anything in Gris' narration like "why didn't I think of this before?" to call attention to the fact that the character is an idiot, so I don't think this oversight was intentional.
Having gone all Mission Impossible on the employee lounge, Gris decides to look into those records Heller asked about yesterday, to prove that he's been working. Because Gris is suddenly concerned about what Heller thinks about his work ethic. Anyway, the computer is SORree to say that all the records have been deleted. Gris asks about copies of the deleted files, and the computer gets positively zen: How can you give a nothing to show a nothing is?
Zen in the sense that it takes a bit of thought to work out the sentence's meaning, and you suspect that it might not have been translated properly.
Gris asks who scrapped the files, and is surprised when the computer admits it was Lombar Hisst. So he prints out a copy of the deletion order and plans to give it to Heller to show that he at least tried to get those Earth records. In other words, he's giving a potential enemy evidence that the Apparatus has an unhealthy interest in Earth, decades' worth of records on the planet predating Mission Earth, and has been covering its tracks about something. This is a trained intelligence agent, mind you, someone who's naturally suspicious bordering on paranoia, intimately acquainted with blackmail, and knows how to dispose of incriminating evidence.
I'm sure there won't be any repercussions from this decision.
On the way out of his office Gris overhears Bawtch and Too-Too having a pep talk - the lisping pretty boy is sobbing about his eminent "infiltration" of Lord Endow's bedroom, while Bawtch gives him a cover story involving dummy information and being smitten with the slobbering old man-chaser after seeing him in a parade. Too-Too is crying so hard he's ruining his powdered make-up.
Finally Too-Too said, "But I hear he is too big!"
"Yes, I know, you poor thing. Here is some grease. Now run along before that unspeakable (bleepard) thinks up something even worse!"
So, another riddle: is this supposed to make us laugh or throw up? Should we be snickering at Too-Too's predicament involving a certain orifice of his, or should we be retching at the perversity of these sexual deviants? Is one of these options better than the other, or is the correct response to either "What the hell, Hubbard?"
Well hey, now we know why Gris had that sudden idea of breaking in early - so he could overhear a conversation about buttsecks, and we could giggle/gag at it.
The chapter, and Part, ends with Bawtch freaking out about the ransacked jolt bar and threatening an internal investigation. Meanwhile Gris gives us some ominous narration as he heads out to the hangars, on his way to a "grim appointment" and that "Time had run out for me. Completely."
What's he talking about? I'll give you a hint - Heller mentioned it over three weeks ago. And you thought this Part was stupid.
Back to Part Seven, Chapter Seven
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