Get Smart 8 - Max Smart Loses Control Read Online Free PDF

telephone operator,” Max said, wounded, turning the helicopter back toward the airport. “But I thought you’d be loyal to me, 99. As I mentioned before, you’re my own kind.”
    “Isn’t the telephone operator, Max?”
    “In this day and age? She’s automated. She’s probably nuts and bolts and transformers, just like Hymie.”
    “Still, Max, the fact remains: Hymie was right, and you were wrong.”
    “Or so it seems,” Max said huffily.
    “What do you mean, Max?”
    “Hymie heard a ticking. That could be anything. He could have been listening to a clock.”
    “Well . . .”
    “Or a mattress.”
    “A mattress, Max?”
    “A mattress has ticking, 99. A mattress is full of ticking.”
    “But in a candy factory?”
    “You’re right—it was probably a clock he heard.”
    “Max, try to be nice to Hymie,” 99 said. “It isn’t his fault that he’s in charge of this case. He didn’t ask for it. You can’t even blame the Chief. It was HIM’s idea. Be big about it, Max. Nobody likes a sorehead.”
    “Who’s a sorehead?” Max protested. “I just happen to be better qualified to be in charge, that’s all. Hymie is only a machine. I happen to be a human being, and human intelligence is superior to machine intelligence. That’s a known fact, that’s all.”
    “Max . . . why are we flying around in circles?”
    “Because somebody moved the airport,” Max replied. “I can’t find it.”
    “Use the air-to-shore telephone. Ask for directions.”
    “That won’t be necessary,” Max replied. “I’ll just switch to the automatic pilot. It’ll take us straight home.”
    99 smiled. “You mean you, a human, are going to depend on a machine, Max?”
    “Right. And it proves my point.”
    “How, Max?”
    “Without an intelligent human being around to turn it on, that automatic pilot wouldn’t be worth the nuts and bolts and transformers it’s made of,” Max explained.

3.
    A S SOON AS the helicopter had delivered Max and 99 safely to the Control secret airport, they got back into Max’s car and drove toward the industrial district, where the Krunchy Knutt Candy factory was located. They left the car about a block from the site, then proceeded on foot.
    “The Chief wasn’t very specific about where we’ll find Hymie,” Max complained. “I hope we don’t have to make an intensive search for him. Robots aren’t like humans, they don’t have a natural sense of direction. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were lost.”
    “Max . . . when are we going to reach the factory?” 99 asked.
    “Very soon. We left the car only a block away.”
    “We’ve walked three blocks already, Max.”
    Max halted, wet a finger, held it in the air, then said, “Mmmmm . . . by some quirk of circumstance, 99, we’ve been walking in the wrong direction. The candy factory is back the other way.”
    They turned and began retracing their steps. Four blocks later, they reached the factory. Hymie was standing near the entrance with an ear pressed to the building. Max and 99 hurried up to him.
    “Why aren’t you in hiding!” Max scolded. “If this is a KAOS secret installation—which I doubt—they’ll spot you as a Control agent. Who else would go around listening to bricks?”
    “They might think I’m an exterminator, listening for termites,” Hymie said.
    “Ridiculous. But, I don’t suppose it really matters. My knowledge of the KAOS mind tells me they’d never pick a place like a candy factory as a hideout.”
    “Number One is in there,” Hymie insisted. He put his ear to the building again. “Listen . . .”
    Max hesitated a moment, then shrugged and placed his own ear against the bricks. He listened intently, frowning. “I do hear something,” he said, surprised. “It’s a sort of crunching sound.”
    “That’s the termites,” Hymie informed him. “They’re not used to bricks.”
    Max nodded. “And I think they’re chewing with their mouths open, too.”
    “It’s that other sound I’m