sub Squish
{
        my ($what) = @_;

        if ($what =~ /^\-?[0-9]+$/)
        {
                if ($what >= 0)
                {
                        if ($what <= 255)
                        {
                                return pack ("CC", 0x01, $what);
                        }
                        elsif ($what <= 65535)
                        {
                                return pack ("CS", 0x02, $what);
                        }
                        elsif ($what <= 4294967295)
                        {
                                return pack ("CL", 0x04, $what);
                        }
                }
                elsif ($what >= -128 && $what <= 127)
                {
                        return pack ("Cc", 0x09, $what);
                }
                elsif ($what >= -32768 && $what <= 32767)
                {
                        return pack ("Cs", 0x0A, $what);
                }
                elsif ($what >= 2147483648 && $what <= 2147483647)
                {
                        return pack ("Cl", 0x0B, $what);
                }
        }
        elsif ($what =~ /^\-?[0-9]+(?:\.[0-9]+)?(?:e[\+\-]\d+)?$/)
        {
                return pack ("Cd", 0x0C, $what);
        }
        elsif (length ($what) < 16)
        {
                return pack ("C", 0x0C & (length($what) << 4)).$what;
        }
        elsif (length ($what) <= 255)
        {
                return pack ("CC", 0x0D, length($what)).$what;
        }

        return pack ("CS", 0x0E, length($what)).$what;
}