An inventory commission is scheduled to visit Captain McNaught's spaceship. Before the inspection arrives, the best option is to check everything yourself, since the shortage of standard equipment is a serious matter. And in the list of equipment, as luck would have it, there is an item called “capes”. Nobody knows what it is, but you have to report to your superiors, because for the possible loss of this capes, you are threatened with a severe reprimand and a ruined career. And the captain comes up with an idea...

The story “Abracadabra (Alamagusa)” received a Hugo Award in 1955.