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I could follow them back if need be. In the distance I heard Devin’s voice, talking with the Stratoma guys. Closer by were sounds I couldn’t identify, a sort of rustling and a scraping, scratching noise.
    Moving slowly, careful not to let my claws pop against the carpet, I closed in on the noise. It was coming from behind a stack of crates marked Food-O. I stalked up to the corner and poked my head around it.
    Centimeters from my face was a creature almost as big as me, covered in gray fur with a pointy nose, beady black eyes, and big, yellow, buck teeth that it had apparently been using to break into one of the Food-O crates. It stared at me.
    â€œGot any cheese straws?” it said in a thin, creaky voice.
    I jumped and hissed. The thing ran, kicking up scrapings from the crate as it went. By the time I had pulled myself together to follow it, it had disappeared down another aisle. I looked after it, but it was long gone and I didn’t want to get lost chasing it around. I had a job to do. Chasing gray monster mice wasn’t it.
    I retraced my steps, pausing to sniff at the spot where the thing had been trying to break into a crate. It smelled vaguely like the mouse smell I remembered from holos, but there was something different about it. I’d have to look it up later.
    Meanwhile, Devin and the other guys were shouting back and forth overhead. I made my way back to Stratoma’s bay, which was now empty. I walked out into the bare square of carpet, looking up to see if I could tell what was going on. I heard Devin’s pager going off, my cue to be ready.
    A little more talk, then I saw a net-bundled mass of crates drift out slowly overhead, emerging from behind a tall stack of crates in a neighboring bay to eclipse the green glow of the control console light. To one side I noticed the stack Devin had moved out, hooked to another shipment’s net, just before the new shipment obscured it.
    â€œOK, give her a shove,” said the fish-faced guy’s voice.
    The net of crates lurched toward me. I was in the middle of the bay where it was headed. I ran, or rather, scuttled hastily, my claws popping with every step.
    â€œNot so damn fast, Vinnie! You’ll crush the ones on the bottom!”
    The crates were still coming. I wasn’t going to make it.
    In desperation I pushed off with my hind legs, sailing toward the cargo in the next bay. I grabbed at the net, scrabbling for a hold to keep from bouncing back out. With a mighty, wheezy, crackly sound, the Stratoma cargo thudded against the ground where I’d been a moment before, and started to rebound.
    More shouting. I should have been paying attention to what they were saying, but I was a little out of it. Terror does that to you.
    When my pulse had subsided a bit and I was able to make myself let go of the netting one paw at a time I started climbing. I needed to get closer to the Stratoma guys so I could hear what they were saying.
    Their cargo slowed to a stop, then started drifting down again, more sedately this time. Fish-face was chewing out his crew.
    â€œYou’re damn lucky the warehouse guy didn’t see that!”
    â€œSorry, Lou.”
    â€œAnd damn luckier we didn’t have fragiles in this shipment!”
    Fragiles? Could that mean the contraband enhancers?
    â€œSorry, Lou. I forgot. I haven’t done this before.”
    Inexperienced crew. Why? Maybe there was something going on inside Stratoma. I’d have to do some checking.
    â€œYou’d better straighten out. We can’t afford any mistakes. Got it?”
    â€œRight.”
    There was some more grumbling, nothing that seemed important. I got a good look at them all as they left, fish-face and his two grunts, heading back to the airlock.
    I was alone. With a jolt of fear I realized I was stranded by Stratoma’s cargo bay. I had two choices for getting back to Devin’s console: I could push off and float across the vast, empty