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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30493 ***
+
+                         Transcriber's Note:
+
+  This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction October 1961.
+  Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
+  on this publication was renewed.
+
+
+
+                                 LION
+
+                                LOOSE
+
+
+                         By JAMES H. SCHMITZ
+
+
+     _The most dangerous of animals is not the biggest and
+      fiercest--but the one that's hardest to stop. Add
+      intelligence to that ... and you may come to a wrong
+      conclusion as to what the worst menace is...._
+
+
+                     _Illustrated by Schoenherr_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+For twelve years at a point where three major shipping routes of the
+Federation of the Hub crossed within a few hours' flight of one
+another, the Seventh Star Hotel had floated in space, a great golden
+sphere, gleaming softly in the void through its translucent shells of
+battle plastic. The Star had been designed to be much more than a
+convenient transfer station for travelers and freight; for some years
+after it was opened to the public, it retained a high rating among
+the more exotic pleasure resorts of the Hub. The Seventh Star Hotel
+was the place to have been that season, and the celebrities and fat
+cats converged on it with their pals and hangers-on. The Star blazed
+with life, excitement, interstellar scandals, tinkled with streams of
+credits dancing in from a thousand worlds. In short, it had started
+out as a paying proposition.
+
+But gradually things changed. The Star's entertainment remained as
+delightfully outrageous as ever, the cuisine as excellent; the
+accommodations and service were still above reproach. The fleecing, in
+general, became no less expertly painless. But one had _been_ there.
+By its eighth year, the Star was dated. Now, in its twelfth, it lived
+soberly off the liner and freighter trade, four fifths of the guest
+suites shut down, the remainder irregularly occupied between ship
+departures.
+
+And in another seven hours, if the plans of certain men went through,
+the Seventh Star Hotel would abruptly wink out of existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some fifty or sixty early diners were scattered about the tables on
+the garden terraces of Phalagon House, the Seventh Star Hotel's most
+exclusive eatery. One of them had just finished his meal, sat smoking
+and regarding a spiraling flow of exquisitely indicated female figures
+across the garden's skyscape with an air of friendly approval. He was
+a large and muscular young man, deeply tanned, with shoulders of
+impressive thickness, an aquiline nose, and dark, reflective eyes.
+
+After a minute or two, he yawned comfortably, put out the cigarette,
+and pushed his chair back from the table. As he came to his feet,
+there was a soft bell-note from the table ComWeb. He hesitated, said,
+"Go ahead."
+
+"Is intrusion permitted?" the ComWeb inquired.
+
+"Depends," the guest said. "Who's calling?"
+
+"The name is Reetal Destone."
+
+He grinned, appeared pleasantly surprised. "Put the lady through."
+
+There was a brief silence. Then a woman's voice inquired softly,
+"Quillan?"
+
+"Right here, doll! Where--"
+
+"Seal the ComWeb, Quillan."
+
+He reached down to the instrument, tapped the seal button, said, "All
+right. We're private."
+
+"Probably," the woman's voice said. "But better scramble this, too. I
+want to be very sure no one's listening."
+
+Quillan grunted, slid his left hand into an inner coat pocket, briefly
+fingered a device of the approximate size and shape of a cigarette,
+drew his hand out again. "Scrambling!" he announced. "Now, what--"
+
+"Mayday, Quillan," the soft voice said. "Can you come immediately?"
+
+Quillan's face went expressionless. "Of course. Is it urgent?"
+
+"I'm in no present danger. But we'd better waste no time."
+
+"Is it going to take real hardware? I'm carrying a finger gun at the
+moment."
+
+"Then go to your rooms and pick up something useful," Reetal said.
+"This should take real hardware, all right."
+
+"All right. Then where do I go?"
+
+"I'll meet you at your door. I know where it is."
+
+When Quillan arrived, she was standing before the door to his suite, a
+tall blonde in a sleeveless black and gold sheath; a beautiful body, a
+warm, lovely, humorous face. The warmth and humor were real, but
+masked a mind as impersonally efficient as a computer, and a taste for
+high and dangerous living. When Quillan had last met Reetal Destone, a
+year and a half before, the taste was being satisfied in industrial
+espionage. He hadn't heard of her activities since then.
+
+She smiled thoughtfully at him as he came up. "I'll wait outside," she
+said. "We're not talking here."
+
+Quillan nodded, went on into his living room, selected a gun belt and
+holstered gun from a suitcase, fastened the belt around his waist
+under the coat, and came out. "Now what?"
+
+"First a little portal-hopping--"
+
+He followed her across the corridor and into a tube portal, watched as
+she tapped out a setting. The exit light flashed a moment later; they
+stepped out into a vacant lounge elsewhere in the same building,
+crossed it, entered another portal. After three more shifts, they
+emerged into a long hall, dimly lit, heavily carpeted. There was no
+one in sight.
+
+"Last stop," Reetal said. She glanced up at his face. "We're on the
+other side of the Star now, in one of the sections they've closed up.
+I've established a kind of emergency headquarters here. The Star's
+nearly broke, did you know?"
+
+"I'd heard of it."
+
+"That appears to be part of the reason for what's going on."
+
+Quillan said, "What's going on?"
+
+Reetal slid her arm through his, said, "Come on. That's my, hm-m-m,
+unregistered suite over there. Big boy, it's very, very selfish of me,
+but I was extremely glad to detect your name on the list of newly
+arrived guests just now! As to what's going on ... the _Camelot_
+berths here at midnight, you know."
+
+Quillan nodded. "I've some business with one of her passengers."
+
+Reetal bent to unlock the entrance door to the indicated suite. "The
+way it looks now," she remarked, "the odds are pretty high that you're
+not going to keep that appointment."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because shortly after the _Camelot_ docks and something's been
+unloaded from her, the _Camelot_ and the Seventh Star Hotel are
+scheduled to go _poof!_ together. Along with you, me, and some twelve
+thousand other people. And, so far, I haven't been able to think of a
+good way to keep it from happening."
+
+Quillan was silent a moment. "Who's scheduling the poof?" he asked.
+
+"Some old acquaintances of ours are among them. Come on in. What
+they're doing comes under the heading of destroying the evidence."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She locked the door behind them, said, "Just a moment," went over to
+the paneled wall, turned down a tiny silver switch. "Room portal," she
+said, nodding at the wall. "It might come in handy. I keep it turned
+off most of the time."
+
+"Why are you turning it on now?" Quillan asked.
+
+"One of the Star's stewards is working on this with me. He'll be along
+as soon as he can get away. Now I'll give you the whole thing as
+briefly as I can. The old acquaintances I mentioned are some boys of
+the Brotherhood of Beldon. Movaine's here; he's got Marras Cooms and
+Fluel with him, and around thirty of the Brotherhood's top guns. Nome
+Lancion's coming in on the _Camelot_ in person tonight to take charge.
+Obviously, with all that brass on the job, they're after something
+very big. Just what it is, I don't yet know. I've got one clue, but a
+rather puzzling one. Tell you about that later. Do you know Velladon?"
+
+"The commodore here?" Quillan nodded. "I've never met him but I know
+who he is."
+
+Reetal said, "He's been manager of the Seventh Star Hotel for the past
+nine years. He's involved in the Beldon outfit's operation. So is the
+chief of the Star's private security force--his name's Ryter--and half
+a dozen other Star executives. They've got plenty of firepower, too;
+close to half the entire security force, I understand, including all
+the officers. That would come to nearly seventy men. There's reason to
+believe the rest of the force was disarmed and murdered by them in the
+subspace section of the Star about twelve hours ago. They haven't been
+seen since then.
+
+"Now, Velladon, aside from his share in whatever they're after, has
+another reason for wanting to wipe out the Star in an unexplained
+blowup. There I have definite information. Did you know the Mooley
+brothers owned the Star?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I've been working for the Mooleys the past eight months," Reetal
+said, "checking up on employees at Velladon's level for indications of
+graft. And it appears the commodore had been robbing them blind here
+for at least several years."
+
+"Sort of risky thing to try with the Mooleys, from what I hear,"
+Quillan remarked.
+
+"Yes. Very. Velladon had reason to be getting a little desperate about
+that. Two men were planted here a month ago. One of them is Sher
+Heraga, the steward I told you about. The other man came in as a
+bookkeeper. Two weeks ago, Heraga got word out that the bookkeeper had
+disappeared. Velladon and Ryter apparently got wise to what he was
+trying to do. So the Mooleys sent me here to find out exactly what was
+going on before they took action. I arrived four days ago."
+
+She gave a regretful little headshake. "I waited almost a day before
+contacting Heraga. It seemed advisable to move very cautiously in the
+matter. But that made it a little too late to do anything. Quillan,
+for the past three days, the Seventh Star Hotel has been locked up
+like a bank vault. And except for ourselves, only the people who are
+in on the plot are aware of it."
+
+"The message transmitters are inoperative?" he asked.
+
+Reetal nodded. "The story is that a gravitic storm center in the area
+has disrupted transmissions completely for the time being."
+
+"What about incoming ships?"
+
+"Yours was the only one scheduled before the _Camelot_ arrives. It
+left again eight hours ago. Nobody here had been let on board. The
+guests who wanted to apply for outgoing berths were told there were
+none open, that they'd have to wait for the _Camelot_."
+
+She went over to a desk, unlocked a drawer, took out a sheaf of
+papers, and handed one of them to Quillan. "That's the layout of the
+Star," she said. "This five-level building over by the shell is the
+Executive Block. The Brotherhood and the commodore's men moved in
+there this morning. The Block is the Star's defense center. It's
+raid-proofed, contains the control officers and the transmitter and
+armament rooms. About the standard arrangement. While they hold the
+Executive Block, they have absolute control of the Star."
+
+"If it's the defense center, it should be practically impossible to do
+anything about them there," Quillan agreed. "They could close it up,
+and dump the air out of the rest of the Star in a minute, if they had
+to. But there must be ... well, what about the lifeboats in the
+subspace section--and our pals must have a getaway ship stashed away
+somewhere?"
+
+"They have two ships," Reetal said. "A souped-up armed freighter the
+Brotherhood came in on, and a large armed yacht which seems to be the
+commodore's personal property. Unfortunately, they're both in subspace
+locks."
+
+"Why unfortunately?"
+
+"Because they've sealed off subspace. Try portaling down there, and
+you'll find yourself looking at a battle-plastic bulkhead. There's no
+way of getting either to those ships or to the lifeboats."
+
+Quillan lifted his eyebrows. "And _that_ hasn't caused any comment?
+What about the maintenance crews, the warehouse men, the--"
+
+"All the work crews were hauled out of subspace this morning," Reetal
+said. "On the quiet, the Star's employees have been told that a gang
+of raiders was spotted in the warehouse area, and is at present
+cornered there. Naturally, the matter isn't to be mentioned to the
+guests, to avoid arousing unnecessary concern. And that explains
+everything very neatly. The absence of the security men, and why
+subspace is sealed off. Why the Executive Block is under guard, and
+can't be entered--and why the technical and office personnel in there
+don't come out, and don't communicate out. They've been put on
+emergency status, officially."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Yunk," Quillan said disgustedly after a moment. "This begins to look
+like a hopeless situation, doll!"
+
+"True."
+
+"Let's see now--"
+
+Reetal interrupted, "There is one portal still open to subspace.
+That's in the Executive Block, of course, and Heraga reports it's
+heavily guarded."
+
+"How does he know?"
+
+"The Block's getting its meals from Phalagon House. He floated a diner
+in there a few hours ago."
+
+"Well," Quillan said, brightening, "perhaps a deft flavoring of
+poison--"
+
+Reetal shook her head. "I checked over the hospital stocks. Not a
+thing there that wouldn't be spotted at once. Unless we can clobber
+them thoroughly, we can't afford to make them suspicious with a trick
+like that."
+
+"Poison would be a bit rough on the office help, too," Quillan
+conceded. "They wouldn't be in on the deal."
+
+"No, they're not. They're working under guard."
+
+"Gas ... no, I suppose not. It would take too long to whip up
+something that could turn the trick." Quillan glanced at his watch.
+"If the _Camelot_ docks at midnight, we've around six and a half hours
+left, doll! And I don't find myself coming up with any brilliant
+ideas. What have you thought of?"
+
+Reetal hesitated a moment. "Nothing very brilliant either," she said
+then. "But there are two things we might try as a last resort."
+
+"Let's hear them."
+
+"I know a number of people registered in the Star at present who'd be
+carrying personal weapons. If they were told the facts, I could
+probably line up around twenty who'd be willing to make a try to get
+into the Executive Block, and take over either the control offices or
+the transmitter room. If we got a warning out to the _Camelot_, that
+would break up the plot. Of course, it wouldn't necessarily save the
+Star."
+
+"No," Quillan said, "but it's worth trying if we can't think of
+something better. How would you get them inside?"
+
+"We could crowd twenty men into one of those diner trucks, and Heraga
+could take us in."
+
+"What kind of people are your pals?"
+
+"A few smugglers and confidence men I've had connections with. Fairly
+good boys for this sort of thing. Then there's an old millionaire
+sportsman, with a party of six, waiting to transfer to the _Camelot_
+for a safari on Jontarou. Old Philmarron isn't all there, in my
+opinion, but he's dead game and loves any kind of a ruckus. We can
+count on him and his friends, if they're not too drunk at the moment.
+Still ... that's not too many to set against something less than a
+hundred professional guns, even though some of them must be down on
+the two ships."
+
+"No, not enough." Quillan looked thoughtful. "What's the other idea?"
+
+"Let the cat out of the bag generally. Tell the guests and the
+employees out here what's going on, and see if somebody can think of
+something that might be done."
+
+He shook his head. "What you'd set off with that would be anywhere
+between a riot and a panic. The boys in the Executive Block would
+simply give us the breathless treatment. Apparently, they prefer to
+have everything looking quiet and normal when the _Camelot_ gets
+here--"
+
+"But they don't have to play it that way," Reetal agreed. "We might be
+dead for hours before the liner docks. If they keep the landing lock
+closed until what they want has been unloaded, nobody on the _Camelot_
+would realize what had happened before it was too late."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a moment's silence. Then Quillan said, "You mentioned you'd
+picked up a clue to what they're after. What was that?"
+
+"Well, that's a curious thing," Reetal said. "On the trip out here, a
+young girl name of Solvey Kinmarten attached herself to me. She didn't
+want to talk much, but I gathered she was newly married, and that her
+husband was on board and was neglecting her. She's an appealing little
+thing, and she seemed so forlorn and upset that I adopted her for the
+rest of the run. After we arrived, of course, I pretty well forgot
+about the Kinmartens and their troubles.
+
+"A few hours ago, Solvey suddenly came bursting into the suite where
+I'm registered. She was shaking all over. After I calmed her down a
+bit, she spilled out her story. She and her husband, Brock Kinmarten,
+are rest wardens. With another man named Eltak, whom Solvey describes
+as 'some sort of crazy old coot,' they're assigned to escort two
+deluxe private rest cubicles to a very exclusive sanatorium on
+Mezmiali. But Brock told Solvey at the beginning of the trip that this
+was a very unusual assignment, that he didn't want her even to come
+near the cubicles. That wouldn't have bothered her so much, she says,
+but on the way here Brock became increasingly irritable and
+absent-minded. She knew he was worrying about the cubicles, and she
+began to wonder whether they weren't involved in something illegal.
+The pay was very high; they're both getting almost twice the regular
+warden fee for the job. One day, she found an opportunity to do a
+little investigating.
+
+"The cubicles are registered respectively to a Lady Pendrake and a
+Major Pendrake. Lady Pendrake appears to be genuine; the cubicle is
+unusually large and constructed somewhat differently from the ones
+with which Solvey was familiar, but it was clear that it had an
+occupant. However, the life indicator on 'Major Pendrake's cubicle
+registered zero when she switched it on. If there was something inside
+it, it wasn't a living human being.
+
+"That was all she learned at the time, because she was afraid Brock
+might catch her in the cubicle room. Here in the Star, the cubicles
+were taken to a suite reserved for Lady Pendrake. The other man,
+Eltak, stayed in the suite with the cubicles, while the Kinmartens
+were given other quarters. However, Brock was still acting oddly and
+spending most of his time in the Pendrake suite. So this morning,
+Solvey swiped his key to the suite and slipped in when she knew the
+two men had left it."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"She'd barely got there when she heard Brock and Eltak at the door
+again. She ran into the next room, and hid in a closet. Suddenly there
+was a commotion in the front room, and Solvey realized that men from
+the Star's security force had arrived and were arresting Brock and
+Eltak. They hauled both of them away, then floated the cubicles out
+and on a carrier and took them off too, locking the suite behind them.
+
+"Solvey was in a complete panic, sure that she and Brock had become
+involved in some serious breach of the Warden Code. She waited a few
+minutes, then slipped out of the Pendrake suite, and looked me up to
+see if I couldn't help them. I had Heraga check, and he reported that
+the Kinmarten suite was under observation. Evidently, they wanted to
+pick up the girl, too. So I tucked her away in one of the suites in
+this section, and gave her something to put her to sleep. She's there
+now."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan said, "And where are the prisoners and the cubicles?"
+
+"In the Executive Block."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+Reetal smiled briefly. "The Duke of Fluel told me."
+
+"Huh? The Brotherhood knows you're here?"
+
+"Relax," Reetal said. "Nobody but Heraga knows I'm working for the
+Mooleys. I told the Duke I had a big con deal set up when the
+_Camelot_ came in--I even suggested he might like to get in on it. He
+laughed, and said he had other plans. But he won't mention to anyone
+that I'm here."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because," Reetal said dryly, "what the Duke is planning to get in on
+is an hour of tender dalliance. Before the _Camelot_ arrives,
+necessarily. The cold-blooded little skunk!" She hesitated a moment;
+when she spoke again, her voice had turned harsh and nasal, wicked
+amusement sounding through it. "Sort of busy at the moment,
+sweetheart, but we might find time for a drink or two later on in the
+evening, eh?"
+
+Quillan grunted. "You're as good at the voice imitations as ever. How
+did you find out about the cubicles?"
+
+"I took a chance and fed him a Moment of Truth."
+
+"With Fluel," Quillan said thoughtfully, "that was taking a chance!"
+
+"Believe me, I was aware of it! I've run into card-carrying sadists
+before, but the Duke's the only one who scares me silly. But it did
+work. He dropped in for a about a minute and a half, and came out
+without noticing a thing. Meanwhile, I'd got the answers to a few
+questions. The bomb with which they're planning to mop up behind them
+already has been planted up here in the normspace section. Fluel
+didn't know where; armaments experts took care of it. It's armed now.
+There's a firing switch on each of their ships, and both switches have
+to be tripped before the thing goes off. Part of what they're after is
+in those Pendrake rest cubicles--"
+
+"Part of it?" Quillan asked.
+
+"Uh-huh. An even hundred similar cubicles will be unloaded from the
+_Camelot_--the bulk of the haul; which is why Nome Lancion is
+supervising things on the liner. I started to ask what was in the
+cubicles, but I saw Fluel was beginning to lose that blank look they
+have under Truth, and switched back to light chitchat just before he
+woke up. Yaco's paying for the job--or rather, it _will_ pay for the
+stuff, on delivery, and no questions asked."
+
+"That's not very much help, is it?" Quillan said after a moment.
+"Something a big crooked industrial combine like Yaco thinks it can
+use--"
+
+"It must expect to be able to use it to extremely good advantage,"
+Reetal said. "The Brotherhood will collect thirty million credits for
+their part of the operation. The commodore's group presumably won't do
+any worse." She glanced past Quillan toward the room portal. "It's
+O.K., Heraga! Come in."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sher Heraga was a lean, dark-skinned little man with a badly bent
+nose, black curly hair, and a nervous look. He regretted, he said,
+that he hadn't been able to uncover anything which might be a lead to
+the location of the bomb. Apparently, it wasn't even being guarded.
+And, of course, a bomb of the size required here would be quite easy
+to conceal.
+
+"If they haven't placed guards over it," Reetal agreed, "it'll take
+blind luck to spot it! Unless we can get hold of one of the men who
+knows where it's planted--"
+
+There was silence for some seconds. Then Quillan said, "Well, if we
+can't work out a good plan, we'd better see what we can do with one of
+the bad ones. Are the commodore's security men wearing uniforms?"
+
+Heraga shook his head, "Not the ones I saw."
+
+"Then here's an idea," Quillan said. "As things stand, barging into
+the Executive Block with a small armed group can't accomplish much. It
+might be more interesting than sitting around and waiting to be blown
+up, but it still would be suicide. However, if we could get things
+softened up and disorganized in there first--"
+
+"Softened up and disorganized how?" Reetal asked.
+
+"We can use that notion you had of having Heraga float in another
+diner. This time, I'm on board--in a steward's uniform, in case the
+guards check."
+
+"They didn't the first time," Heraga said.
+
+"Sloppy of them. Well, they're just gun hands. Anyway, once we're
+inside I shuck off the uniform and get out. Heraga delivers his
+goodies, and leaves again--"
+
+Reetal gave him a look. "You'll get shot down the instant you're seen,
+dope!"
+
+"I think not. There're two groups in there--around a hundred men in
+all--and they haven't had time to get well acquainted yet. I'll have
+my gun in sight, and anyone who sees me should figure I belong to the
+other group, until I run into one of the Brotherhood boys who knows me
+personally."
+
+"Then that's when you get shot down. I understand the last time you
+and the Duke of Fluel met, he woke up with lumps."
+
+"The Duke doesn't love me," Quillan admitted. "But there's nothing
+personal between me and Movaine or Marras Cooms--and I'll have a
+message for Movaine."
+
+"What kind of a message?"
+
+"I'll have to play that by ear a little. It depends on how things
+look in there. But I have a few ideas, based on what you've learned of
+the operation. Now, just what I can do when I get that far, I don't
+know yet. I'll simply try to louse the deal up as much as I can. That
+may take time, and, of course, it might turn out to be impossible to
+get word out to you."
+
+"So what do we do meanwhile?" Reetal asked. "If we start lining up our
+attack group immediately, and then there's no action for another five
+or six hours, there's always the chance of a leak, with around twenty
+people in the know."
+
+"And if there's a leak," Quillan agreed, "we've probably had it. No,
+you'd better wait with that! If I'm not out, and you haven't heard
+from me before the _Camelot_'s actually due to dock, Heraga can still
+take the group--everyone but yourself--in as scheduled."
+
+"Why everyone but me?" Reetal asked.
+
+"If nothing else works, you might find some way of getting a warning
+to the liner's security force after they've docked. It isn't much of a
+possibility, but we can't afford to throw it away."
+
+"Yes, I see." Reetal looked reflective. "What do you think, Heraga?"
+
+The little man shrugged. "You told me that Mr. Quillan is not
+inexperienced in dealing with, ah, his enemies. If he feels he might
+accomplish something in the Executive Block, I'm in favor of the plan.
+The situation certainly could hardly become worse."
+
+"That's the spirit!" Quillan approved. "The positive outlook--that's
+what a think like this mainly takes. Can you arrange for the diner and
+the uniform?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Heraga said, "I've had myself put in charge of that detail,
+naturally."
+
+"Then what can you tell me about the Executive Block's layout?"
+
+Reetal stood up. "Come over to the desk," she said. "We've got
+diagrams."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The five levels, as you see," Heraga was explaining a few moments
+later, "are built directly into the curve of the Star's shells. Level
+Five, on the top, is therefore quite small. The other levels are
+fairly extensive. Two, Three, and Four could each accommodate a
+hundred men comfortably. These levels contain mainly living quarters,
+private offices, and the like. The Brotherhood men appear to be
+occupying the fourth level, Velladon's group the second. The third may
+be reserved for meetings between representatives of the two groups.
+All three of these levels are connected by single-exit portals to the
+large entrance area on the ground level.
+
+"The portals stood open when I went in earlier today, and there were
+about twenty armed men lounging about the entrance hall. I recognized
+approximately half of them as being members of the Star's security
+force. The others were unfamiliar." Heraga cleared his throat. "There
+is a possibility that the two groups do not entirely trust each
+other."
+
+Quillan nodded. "If they're playing around with something like sixty
+million CR, anybody would have to be crazy to trust the Brotherhood of
+Beldon. The transmitter room and the control officers are guarded,
+too?"
+
+"Yes, but not heavily," Heraga said. "There seem to be only a few men
+stationed at each of those points. Ostensibly, they're there as a
+safe-guard--in case the imaginary raiders attempt to break out of the
+subspace section."
+
+"What's the arrangement of the ordinary walk-in tube portals in the
+Executive Block?"
+
+"There is one which interconnects the five levels. On each of the
+lower levels, there are, in addition, several portals which lead out
+to various points in the Seventh Star Hotel. On the fifth level, there
+is only one portal of this kind. Except for the portal which operates
+between the different levels in the Executive Block, all of them have
+been rendered unusable at present."
+
+"Unusable in what way?"
+
+"They have been sealed off on the Executive Block side."
+
+"Can you get me a diagram of the entry and exit systems those outgoing
+portals connect with?" Quillan asked. "I might turn one of them usable
+again."
+
+"Yes, I can do that."
+
+"How about the communication possibilities?"
+
+"The ComWeb system is functioning normally on the second, third, and
+fourth levels. It has been shut off on the first level--to avoid the
+spread of 'alarming rumors' by office personnel. There is no ComWeb on
+the fifth level."
+
+Reetal said, "We'll shift our operating headquarters back to my
+registered suite then. The ComWebs are turned off in these vacant
+sections. I'll stay in the other suite in case you find a chance to
+signal in."
+
+Heraga left a few minutes later to make his arrangements. Reetal
+smiled at Quillan, a little dubiously.
+
+"Good luck, guy," she said. "Anything else to settle before you start
+off?"
+
+Quillan nodded. "Couple of details. If you're going to be in your
+regular suite, and Fluel finds himself with some idle time on hand, he
+might show up for the dalliance you mentioned."
+
+Reetal's smile changed slightly. Her left hand fluffed the hair at the
+back of her head, flicked down again. There was a tiny click, and
+Quillan looked at a small jeweled hair-clasp in her palm, its needle
+beak pointing at him.
+
+"It hasn't got much range," Reetal said, "but within ten feet it will
+scramble the Duke's brains just as thoroughly as they need to be
+scrambled."
+
+"Good enough," Quillan said. "Just don't give that boy the ghost of a
+chance, doll. He has a rep for playing very unnice games with the
+ladies."
+
+"I know his reputation." Reetal replaced the tiny gun in her hair.
+"Anything else?"
+
+"Yes. Let's look in on the Kinmarten chick for a moment. If she's
+awake, she may have remembered something or other by now that she
+didn't think to tell you."
+
+They found Solvey Kinmarten awake, and tearfully glad to see Reetal.
+Quillan was introduced as a member of the legal profession who would
+do what he could for Solvey and her husband. Solvey frowned prettily,
+trying very hard to remember anything that might be of use. But it
+appeared that she had told Reetal all she knew.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The blue and white Phalagon House diner, driven by Heraga, was
+admitted without comment into the Executive Block. It floated on
+unchallenged through the big entry hall and into a corridor.
+Immediately behind the first turn of the corridor, the diner paused a
+few seconds. Its side door opened and closed. The diner moved on.
+
+Quillan, coatless and with the well-worn butt of a big Miam Devil
+Special protruding from the holster on his right hip, came briskly
+back along the corridor. Between fifteen and twenty men, their guns
+also conspicuously in evidence, were scattered about the entrance
+hall, expressions and attitudes indicating a curious mixture of
+boredom and uneasy tension. The eyes of about half of them swiveled
+around to Quillan when he came into the hall; then, with one
+exception, they looked indifferently away again.
+
+The exception, leaning against the wall near the three open portals to
+the upper levels, continued to stare as Quillan came toward him,
+forehead creased in a deep scowl as if he were painfully ransacking
+his mind for something. Quillan stopped in front of him.
+
+"Chum," he asked, "any idea where Movaine is at the moment? They just
+give me this message for him--"
+
+Still scowling, the other scratched his chin and blinked. "Uh ...
+dunno for sure," he said after a moment. "He oughta be in the third
+level conference room with the rest of 'em. Uh ... dunno you oughta
+barge in there right now, pal! The commodore's _reee-lly_ hot about
+somethin'!"
+
+Quillan looked worried. "Gotta chance it, I guess! Message is pretty
+important, they say--" He turned, went through the center portal of
+the three, abruptly found himself walking along a wide, well-lit hall.
+
+Nobody in sight here, or in the first intersecting passage he came to.
+When he reached the next passage, he heard voices on the right, turned
+toward them, went by a string of closed doors on both sides until,
+forty feet on, the passage angled again and opened into a long,
+high-ceilinged room. The voices came through an open door on the right
+side of the room. Standing against the wall beside the door were two
+men whose heads turned sharply toward Quillan as he appeared in the
+passage. The short, chunky one scowled. The big man next to him, the
+top of whose head had been permanently seared clear of hair years
+before by a near miss from a blaster, dropped his jaw slowly. His eyes
+popped.
+
+"My God!" he said.
+
+"Movaine in there, Baldy?" Quillan inquired, coming up.
+
+"Movaine! He ... you ... how--"
+
+The chunky man took out his gun, waved it negligently at Quillan.
+"Tell the ape to blow, Perk. He isn't wanted here."
+
+"Ape?" Quillan asked softly. His right hand moved, had the gun by the
+barrel, twisted, reversed the gun, jammed it back with some violence
+into the chunky man's stomach. "Ape?" he repeated. The chunky man went
+white.
+
+"Bad News--" Baldy Perk breathed. "Take it easy! That's Orca. He's the
+commodore's torpedo. How--"
+
+"Where's Movaine?"
+
+"Movaine ... he ... uh--"
+
+"All right, he's not here. And Lancion can't have arrived yet. Is
+Cooms in there?"
+
+"Yeah," Baldy Perk said weakly. "Cooms is in there, Quillan."
+
+"Let's go in." Quillan withdrew the gun, slid it into a pocket, smiled
+down at Orca. "Get it back from your boss, slob. Be seeing you!"
+
+Orca's voice was a husky whisper.
+
+"You will, friend! You will!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The conference room was big and sparsely furnished. Four men sat at
+the long table in its center. Quillan knew two of them--Marras Cooms,
+second in command of the Beldon Brotherhood's detachment here, and the
+Duke of Fluel, Movaine's personal gun. Going by Heraga's
+descriptions, the big, florid-faced man with white hair and flowing
+white mustaches who was doing the talking was Velladon, the commodore;
+while the fourth man, younger, wiry, with thinning black hair
+plastered back across his skull, would be Ryter, chief of the Star's
+security force.
+
+"What I object to primarily is that the attempt was made without
+obtaining my consent, and secretly," Velladon was saying, with a
+toothy grin but in a voice that shook with open fury. "And now it's
+been made and bungled, you have a nerve asking for our help. The
+problem is yours--and you better take care of it fast! I can't spare
+Ryter. If--"
+
+"Cooms," Baldy Perk broke in desperately from the door, "Bad News
+Quillan's here an'--"
+
+The heads of the four men at the table came around simultaneously. The
+eyes of two of them widened for an instant. Then Marras Cooms began
+laughing softly.
+
+"Now everything's happened!" he said.
+
+"Cooms," the commodore said testily, "I prefer not to be interrupted.
+Now--"
+
+"Can't be helped, commodore," Quillan said, moving forward, Perk
+shuffling along unhappily beside him. "I've got news for Movaine, and
+the news can't wait."
+
+"Movaine?" the commodore repeated, blue eyes bulging at Quillan.
+"Movaine! Cooms, who _is_ this man?"
+
+"You're looking at Bad News Quillan," Cooms said. "A highjacking
+specialist, with somewhat numerous sidelines. But the point right now
+is that he isn't a member of the Brotherhood."
+
+"_What!"_ Velladon's big fist smashed down on the table. "_Now_ what
+kind of a game ... how did he get _in_ here?"
+
+"Well," Quillan said mildly, "I oozed in through the north wall about
+a minute ago. I--"
+
+He checked, conscious of having created some kind of sensation. The
+four men at the table were staring up at him without moving. Baldy
+Perk appeared to be holding his breath. Then the commodore coughed,
+cleared his throat, drummed his fingers on the table.
+
+He said reflectively: "He could have news--good or bad--at that! For
+all of us." He chewed on one of his mustache tips, grinned suddenly up
+at Quillan. "Well, sit down, friend! Let's talk. You can't talk to
+Movaine, you see. Movaine's um, had an accident. Passed away suddenly
+half an hour ago."
+
+"Sorry to hear it," Quillan said. "That's the sort of thing that
+happens so often in the Brotherhood." He swung a chair around, sat
+down facing the table. "You're looking well tonight, Fluel," he
+observed.
+
+The Duke of Fluel, lean and dapper in silver jacket and tight-fitting
+silver trousers, gave him a wintry smile, said nothing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Now, then, friend," Velladon inquired confidentially, "just what was
+your business with Movaine?"
+
+"Well, it will come to around twenty per cent of the take," Quillan
+informed him. "We won't argue about a half-million CR more or less.
+But around twenty per."
+
+The faces thoughtful. After some seconds, the commodore asked, "And
+who's we?"
+
+"A number of citizens," Quillan said, "who have been rather unhappy
+since discovering that you, too, are interested in Lady Pendrake and
+her pals. We'd gone to considerable expense and trouble to ... well,
+her ladyship was scheduled to show up in Mezmiali, you know. And now
+she isn't going to show up there. All right, that's business. Twenty
+per--no hard feelings. Otherwise, it won't do you a bit of good to
+blow up the Star and the liner. There'd still be loose talk--maybe
+other complications, too. You know how it goes. You wouldn't be happy,
+and neither would Yaco. Right?"
+
+The commodore's massive head turned back to Cooms. "How well do you
+know this man, Marras?"
+
+Cooms grinned dryly. "Well enough."
+
+"Is he leveling?"
+
+"He'd be nuts to be here if he wasn't. And he isn't nuts--at least,
+not that way."
+
+"There might be a question about that," Fluel observed. He looked at
+the commodore. "Why not ask him for a couple of the names that are in
+it with him?"
+
+"Hagready and Boltan," Quillan said.
+
+Velladon chewed the other mustache tip. "I know Hagready. If he--"
+
+"I know both of them," Cooms said. "Boltan works highjacking crews out
+of Orado. Quillan operates there occasionally."
+
+"Pappy Boltan's an old business associate," Quillan agreed. "Reliable
+sort of a guy. Doesn't mind taking a few chances either."
+
+Velladon's protruding blue eyes measured him a moment. "We can check
+on those two, you know--"
+
+"Check away," Quillan said.
+
+Velladon nodded. "We will." He was silent for a second or two, then
+glanced over at Cooms. "There've been no leaks on our side," he
+remarked. "And they must have known about this for weeks! Of all the
+inept, bungling--"
+
+"Ah, don't be too hard on the Brotherhood, commodore," Quillan said.
+"Leaks happen. You ought to know."
+
+"What do you mean?" Velladon snapped.
+
+"From what we heard, the Brotherhood's pulling you out of a hole here.
+You should feel rather kindly toward them."
+
+The commodore stared at him reflectively. Then he grinned. "Could be I
+should," he said, "Did you come here alone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The commodore nodded. "If you're bluffing, God help you. If you're
+not, your group's in. Twenty per. No time for haggling--we can raise
+Yaco's price to cover it." He stood up, and Ryter stood up with him.
+"Marras," the commodore went on, "tell him what's happened. If he's
+half as hot as he sounds, he's the boy to put on that job. Let him get
+in on a little of the work for the twenty per cent. Ryter, come on.
+We--"
+
+"One moment, sir," Quillan interrupted. He took Orca's gun by the
+muzzle from his pocket, held it out to Velladon. "One of your men lost
+this thing. The one outside the door. If you don't mind--he might pout
+if he doesn't get it back."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The fifth level of the Executive Block appeared to be, as Heraga had
+said, quite small. The tiny entry hall, on which two walk-in portals
+opened, led directly into the large room where the two Pendrake rest
+cubicles had been placed. One of the cubicles now stood open. To right
+and left, a narrow passage stretched away from the room, ending
+apparently in smaller rooms.
+
+Baldy Perk was perspiring profusely.
+
+"Now right here," he said in a low voice, "was where I was standing.
+Movaine was over there, on the right of the cubicle, and Cooms was
+beside him. Rubero was a little behind me, hanging on to the
+punk--that Kinmarten. An' the Duke"--he nodded back at the wide
+doorspace to the hall--"was standing back there.
+
+"All right. The punk's opened the cubicle a crack, looking like he's
+about to pass out while he's doin' it. This bearded guy, Eltak, stands
+in front of the cubicle, holding the gadget he controls the thing
+with--"
+
+"Where's the gadget now?" Quillan asked.
+
+"Marras Cooms' got it."
+
+"How does it work?"
+
+Baldy shook his head. "We can't figure it out. It's got all kinds of
+little knobs and dials on it. Push this one an' it squeaks, turn that
+one an' it buzzes. Like that."
+
+Quillan nodded. "All right. What happened?"
+
+"Well, Movaine tells the old guy to go ahead an' do the demonstrating.
+The old guy sort of grins and fiddles with the gadget. The cubicle
+door pops open an' this thing comes pouring out. I never seen nothin'
+like it! It's like a barn door with dirty fur on it! It swirls up an'
+around an'--it wraps its upper end clean around poor Movaine. He never
+even screeches.
+
+"Then everything pops at once. The old guy is laughing like crazy, an'
+that half-smart Rubero drills him right through the head. I take one
+shot at the thing, low so's not to hit Movaine, an' then we're all
+running, I'm halfway to the hall when Cooms tears past me like a
+rocket. The Duke an' the others are already piling out through the
+portal. I get to the hall, and there's this terrific smack of sound in
+the room. I look back ... an' ... an'--" Baldy paused and gulped.
+
+"And what?" Quillan asked.
+
+"There, behind the cubicles, I see poor Movaine stickin' halfway out
+o' the wall!" Baldy reported in a hushed whisper.
+
+"_Half_way out of the wall?"
+
+"From the waist up he's in it! From the waist down he's dangling into
+the room! I tell you, I never seen nothin' like it."
+
+"And this Hlat creature--"
+
+"That's gone. I figure the smack I heard was when it hit the wall
+flat, carrying Movaine. It went on into it. Movaine didn't--at least,
+the last half of him didn't."
+
+"Well," Quillan said after a pause, "in a way, Movaine got his
+demonstration. The Hlats can move through solid matter and carry other
+objects along with them, as advertised. If Yaco can work out how it's
+done and build a gadget that does the same thing, they're getting the
+Hlats cheap. What happened then?"
+
+"I told Marras Cooms about Movaine, and he sent me and a half dozen
+other boys back up here with riot guns to see what we could do for
+him. Which was nothin', of course." Baldy gulped again. "We finally
+cut this end of him off with a beam and took it back down."
+
+"The thing didn't show up while you were here?"
+
+Baldy shuddered and said, "Naw."
+
+"And the technician ... Eltak ... was dead?"
+
+"Sure. Hole in his head you could shove your fist through."
+
+"Somebody," Quillan observed, "ought to drill Rubero for that stupid
+trick!"
+
+"The Duke did--first thing after we got back to the fourth level."
+
+"So the Hlat's on the loose, and all we really have at the moment are
+the cubicles ... and Rest Warden Kinmarten. Where's he, by the way?"
+
+"He tried to take off when we got down to Level Four, and somebody
+cold-cocked him. The doc says he ought to be coming around again
+pretty soon."
+
+Quillan grunted, shoved the Miam Devil Special into its holster, said,
+"O.K., you stay here where you can watch the room and those passages
+and the hall. If you feel the floor start moving under, scream. I'll
+take a look at the cubicle."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lady Pendrake's cubicle was about half as big again as a standard one;
+but, aside from one detail, its outer settings, instruments, and
+operating devices appeared normal. The modification was a recess
+almost six feet long and a foot wide and deep, in one side, which
+could be opened either to the room or to the interior of the rest
+cubicle, but not simultaneously to both. Quillan already knew its
+purpose; the supposed other cubicle was a camouflaged food locker,
+containing fifty-pound slabs of sea beef, each of which represented a
+meal for the Hlat. The recess made it possible to feed it without
+allowing it to be seen, or, possibly, attempting to emerge.
+Kinmarten's nervousness, as reported by his wife, seemed
+understandable. Any rest warden might get disturbed over such a
+charge.
+
+Quillan asked over his shoulder, "Anyone find out yet why the things
+can't get out of the closed rest cubicle?"
+
+"Yeah," Baldy Perk said. "Kinmarten says it's the cubicle's defense
+fields. They could get through the material. They can't get through
+the field."
+
+"Someone think to energize the Executive Block's battle fields?"
+Quillan inquired.
+
+"Yeah. Velladon took care of that before he came screaming up to the
+third level to argue with Cooms and Fluel."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"So it can't slip out of the Block unless it shows itself down on the
+ground level when the entry lock's open."
+
+"Yeah," Baldy muttered. "But I dunno. Is that good?"
+
+Quillan looked at him. "Well, we _would_ like it back."
+
+"Why? There's fifty more coming in on the liner tonight."
+
+"We don't have the fifty yet. If someone louses up the detail--"
+
+"Yawk!" Baldy said faintly. There was a crash of sound as his riot gun
+went off. Quillan spun about, hair bristling, gun out. "What
+happened?"
+
+"I'll swear," Baldy said, white-faced, "I saw something moving along
+that passage!"
+
+Quillan looked, saw nothing, slowly replaced the gun. "Baldy," he
+said, "if you think you see it again, just say so. That's an order! If
+it comes at us, we get out of this level fast. But we don't shoot
+before we have to. If we kill it, it's no good to us. Got that?"
+
+"Yeah," Baldy said. "But I got an idea now, Bad News." He nodded at
+the other cubicle. "Let's leave that meat box open."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"If it's hungry," Baldy explained simply, "I'd sooner it wrapped
+itself around a few chunks of sea beef, an' not around me."
+
+Quillan punched him encouragingly in the shoulder. "Baldy," he said,
+"in your own way, you _have_ had an idea! But we won't leave the meat
+box open. When Kinmarten wakes up, I want him to show me how to bait
+this cubicle with a piece of sea beef, so it'll snap shut if the Hlat
+goes inside. Meanwhile it won't hurt if it gets a little hungry."
+
+"That," said Baldy, "isn't the way _I_ feel about it."
+
+"There must be around a hundred and fifty people in the Executive
+Block at present," Quillan said. "Look at it that way! Even if the
+thing keeps stuffing away, your odds are pretty good, Baldy."
+
+Baldy shuddered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Aside from a dark bruise high on his forehead, Brock Kinmarten showed
+no direct effects of having been knocked out. However, his face was
+strained and his voice not entirely steady. It was obvious that the
+young rest warden had never been in a similarly unnerving situation
+before. But he was making a valiant effort not to appear frightened
+and, at the same time, to indicate that he would co-operate to the
+best of his ability with his captors.
+
+He'd regained consciousness by the time Quillan and Perk returned to
+the fourth level, and Quillan suggested bringing him to Marras Cooms'
+private quarters for questioning. The Brotherhood chief agreed; he was
+primarily interested in finding out how the Hlat-control device
+functioned.
+
+Kinmarten shook his head. He knew nothing about the instrument, he
+said, except that it was called a Hlat-talker. It was very unfortunate
+that Eltak had been shot, because Eltak undoubtedly could have told
+them all they wanted to know about it. If what he had told Kinmarten
+was true, Eltak had been directly involved in the development of the
+device.
+
+"Was he some Federation scientist?" Cooms asked, fiddling absently
+with the mysterious cylindrical object.
+
+"No, sir," the young man said. "But--again if what he told me was the
+truth--he was the man who actually discovered these Hlats. At least,
+he was the first man to discover them who wasn't immediately killed by
+them."
+
+Cooms glanced thoughtfully at Quillan, then asked, "And where was
+that?"
+
+Kinmarten shook his head again. "He didn't tell me. And I didn't
+really want to know. I was anxious to get our convoy to its
+destination, and then to be relieved of the assignment. I ... well,
+I've been trained to act as Rest Warden to human beings, after all,
+not to monstrosities!" He produced an uncertain smile, glancing from
+one to the other of his interrogators. The smile promptly faded out
+again.
+
+"You've no idea at all then about the place they came from?" Cooms
+asked expressionlessly.
+
+"Oh, yes," Kinmarten said hastily. "Eltak talked a great deal about
+the Hlats, and actually--except for its location--gave me a fairly
+good picture of what the planet must be like. For one thing, it's an
+uncolonized world, of course. It must be terratype or very nearly so,
+because Eltak lived there for fifteen years with apparently only a
+minimum of equipment. The Hlats are confined to a single large
+island. He discovered them by accident and--"
+
+"What was he doing there?"
+
+"Well, sir, he came from Hyles-Frisian. He was a crim ... he'd been
+engaged in some form of piracy, and when the authorities began looking
+for him, he decided it would be best to get clean out of the Hub. He
+cracked up his ship on this world and couldn't leave again. When he
+discovered the Hlats and realized their peculiar ability, he kept out
+of their way and observed them. He found out they had a means of
+communicating with each other, and that he could duplicate it. That
+stopped them from harming him, and eventually, he said, he was using
+them like hunting dogs. They were accustomed to co-operating with one
+another, because when there was some animal around that was too large
+for one of them to handle, they would attack, it in a group...."
+
+He went on for another minute or two on the subject. The Hlats--the
+word meant "rock lion" in one of the Hyles-Frisian dialects,
+describing a carnivorous animal which had some superficial resemblance
+to the creatures Eltak had happened on--frequented the seacoast and
+submerged themselves in sand, rocks and debris, whipping up out of it
+to seize some food animal, and taking it down with them again to
+devour it at leisure.
+
+Quillan interrupted, "You heard what happened to the man it attacked
+on the fifth level?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Why would the thing have left him half outside the wall as it did?"
+
+Kinmarten said that it must simply have been moving too fast. It could
+slip into and out of solid substances without a pause itself, but it
+needed a little time to restructure an object it was carrying in the same
+manner. No more time, however, than two or three seconds--depending more
+on the nature of the object than on its size, according to Eltak.
+
+"It can restructure _anything_ in that manner?" Quillan asked.
+
+Kinmarten hesitated. "Well, sir, I don't know. I suppose there might
+be limitations on its ability. Eltak told me the one we were escorting
+had been the subject of extensive experimentation during the past
+year, and that the results are very satisfactory."
+
+"Suppose it carries a living man through a wall. Will the man still be
+alive when he comes out on the other side, assuming the Hlat doesn't
+kill him deliberately?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The process itself wouldn't hurt him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan glanced at Cooms. "You know," he said, "we might be letting
+Yaco off too cheaply!"
+
+Cooms raised an eyebrow warningly, and Quillan grinned. "Our friend
+will be learning about Yaco soon enough. Why did Eltak tell the
+creature to attack, Kinmarten?"
+
+"Sir, I don't know," Kinmarten said. "He was a man of rather violent
+habits. My impression, however, was that he was simply attempting to
+obtain a hostage."
+
+"How did he get off that island with the Hlat?"
+
+"A University League explorer was investigating the planet. Eltak
+contacted them and obtained the guarantee of a full pardon and a large
+cash settlement in return for what he could tell them about the Hlats.
+They took him and this one specimen along for experimentation."
+
+"What about the Hlats on the _Camelot_?"
+
+"Eltak said those had been quite recently trapped on the island."
+
+Cooms ran his fingers over the cylinder, producing a rapid series of
+squeaks and whistles. "That's one thing Yaco may not like," he
+observed. "They won't have a monopoly on the thing."
+
+Quillan shook his head. "Their scientists don't have to work through
+red tape like the U-League. By the time the news breaks--if the
+Federation ever intends to break it--Yaco will have at least a
+five-year start on everyone else. That's all an outfit like that
+needs." He looked at Kinmarten. "Any little thing you haven't thought
+to tell us, friend?" he inquired pleasantly.
+
+A thin film of sweat showed suddenly on Kinmarten's forehead.
+
+"No, sir," he said. "I've really told you everything I know. I--"
+
+"Might try him under dope," Cooms said absently.
+
+"Uh-uh!" Quillan said, "I want him wide awake to help me bait the
+cubicle for the thing. Has Velladon shown any indication of becoming
+willing to co-operate in hunting it?"
+
+Cooms gestured with his head. "Ask Fluel! I sent him down to try to
+patch things up with the commodore. He just showed up again."
+
+Quillan glanced around. The Duke was lounging in the doorway. He
+grinned slightly, said, "Velladon's still sore at us. But he'll talk
+to Quillan. Kinmarten here ... did he tell you his wife's on the
+Star?"
+
+Brock Kinmarten went utterly white. Cooms looked at him, said softly,
+"No, that must have slipped his mind."
+
+Fluel said, "Yeah, Well, she is. And Ryter says they'll have her
+picked up inside half an hour. When they bring her in, we really
+should check on how candid Kinmarten's been about everything."
+
+The rest warden said in a voice that shook uncontrollably, "Gentlemen,
+my wife knows absolutely nothing about these matters! I swear it!
+She--"
+
+Quillan stood up. "Well, I'll go see if I can't get Velladon in a
+better mood. Are you keeping that Hlat-talker, Cooms?"
+
+Cooms smiled. "I am."
+
+"Marras figures," the Duke's flat voice explained, "that if the thing
+comes into the room and he squeaks at it a few times, he won't get
+hurt."
+
+"That's possible," Cooms said, unruffled. "At any rate, I intend to
+hang on to it."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't play around with those buttons too much," Quillan
+observed.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"You might get lucky and tap out some pattern that spells 'Come to
+chow' in the Hlat's vocabulary."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There were considerably more men in evidence on Level Two than on the
+fourth, and fewer signs of nervousness. The Star men had been told of
+the Hlat's escape from its cubicle, but weren't taking it too
+seriously. Quillan was conducted to the commodore and favored with an
+alarmingly toothy grin. Ryter, the security chief, joined them a few
+seconds later. Apparently, Velladon had summoned him.
+
+Velladon said, "Ryter here's made a few transmitter calls. We hear
+Pappy Boltan pulled his outfit out of the Orado area about a month
+ago. Present whereabouts unknown. Hagready went off on some hush-hush
+job at around the same time."
+
+Quillan smiled. "Uh-huh! So he did."
+
+"We also," said Ryter, "learned a number of things about you
+personally." He produced a thin smile. "You lead a busy
+and--apparently--profitable life."
+
+"Business is fair," Quillan agreed. "But it can always be improved."
+
+The commodore turned on the toothy grin. "So all right," he growled,
+"you're clear. We rather liked what we learned. Eh, Ryter?"
+
+Ryter nodded.
+
+"This Brotherhood of Beldon, now--" The commodore shook his head
+heavily.
+
+Quillan was silent a moment. "They might be getting sloppy," he said.
+"I don't know. It's one possibility. They used to be a rather sharp
+outfit, you know."
+
+"That's what I'd heard!" Velladon chewed savagely on his mustache,
+asked finally, "What's another possibility?"
+
+Quillan leaned back in his chair. "Just a feeling, so far. But the
+business with the cubicle upstairs might have angles that weren't
+mentioned."
+
+They looked at him thoughtfully. Ryter said, "Mind amplifying that?"
+
+"Cooms told me," Quillan said, "that Nome Lancion had given Movaine
+instructions to make a test with Lady Pendrake on the quiet and find
+out if those creatures actually can do what they're supposed to do. I
+think he was telling the truth. Nome tends to be overcautious when
+it's a really big deal. Unless he's sure of the Hlats, he wouldn't
+want to be involved in a thing like blowing up the Star and the
+liner."
+
+The commodore scowled absently. "Uh-huh," he said. "He knows we can't
+back out of it--"
+
+"All right. The Brotherhood's full of ambitious men. Behind Lancion,
+Movaine was top man. Cooms behind him; Fluel behind Cooms. Suppose
+that Hlat-control device Cooms is hanging on to so tightly isn't as
+entirely incomprehensible as they make it out to be. Suppose Cooms
+makes a deal with Eltak. Eltak tickles the gadget, and the Hlat kills
+Movaine. Rubero immediately guns down Eltak--and is killed by Fluel a
+couple of minutes later, supposedly for blowing his top and killing
+the man who knew how to control the Hlat."
+
+Ryter cleared his throat. "Fluel was Movaine's gun," he observed.
+
+"So he was," Quillan said. "Would you like the Duke to be yours?"
+
+Ryter grinned, shook his head. "No, thanks!"
+
+Quillan looked back at Velladon. "How well are you actually covered
+against the Brotherhood?"
+
+"Well, _that_'s air-tight," the commodore said. "We've got 'em
+outgunned here. When the liner lands, we'll be about even. But Lancion
+won't start anything. We're too even. Once we're clear of the Star, we
+don't meet again. We deal with Yaco individually. The Brotherhood has
+the Hlats, and we have the trained Federation technicians accompanying
+them, who ... who--"
+
+"Who alone are supposed to be able to inform Yaco how to control the
+Hlats," Ryter finished for him. The security chief's face was
+expressionless.
+
+"By God!" the commodore said softly.
+
+"Well, it's only a possibility that somebody's playing dirty," Quillan
+remarked. "We'd want to be sure of it. But if anyone can handle a Hlat
+with the control instrument, the Brotherhood has an advantage now that
+it isn't talking about--it can offer Yaco everything Yaco needs in one
+package. Of course, Yaco might still be willing to pay for the Hlat
+technicians. If it didn't, you and Ryter could make the same kind of
+trouble for it that my friends can."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The color was draining slowly from Velladon's face. "There's a
+difference," he said. "If we threaten to make trouble for Yaco, they'd
+see to it that our present employers learn that Ryter and I are still
+alive."
+
+"That's the Mooleys, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Tough." Quillan knuckled his chin thoughtfully. "Well, let's put it
+this way then," he said. "My group doesn't have _that_ kind of
+problem, but if things worked out so that we'd have something more
+substantial than nuisance value to offer Yaco, we'd prefer it, of
+course."
+
+Velladon nodded. "Very understandable! Under the circumstances,
+co-operation appears to be indicated, eh?"
+
+"That's what I had in mind."
+
+"You've made a deal," Velladon said. "Any immediate suggestions?"
+
+Quillan looked at his watch. "A couple. We don't want to make any
+mistake about this. It's still almost five hours before the _Camelot_
+pulls in, and until she does you're way ahead on firepower. I wouldn't
+make any accusations just now. But you might mention to Cooms you'd
+like to borrow the Hlat gadget to have it examined by some of your
+technical experts. The way he reacts might tell us something. If he
+balks, the matter shouldn't be pushed too hard at the moment--it's a
+tossup whether you or the Brotherhood has a better claim to the thing.
+
+"But then there's Kinmarten, the rest warden in charge of the cubicle.
+I talked with him while Cooms and Fluel were around, but he may have
+been briefed on what to say. Cooms mentioned doping him, which could
+be a convenient way to keeping him shut up, assuming he knows more
+than he's told. He's one of the personnel you're to offer Yaco. I
+think you can insist on having Kinmarten handed over to you
+immediately. It should be interesting again to see how Cooms reacts."
+
+Velladon's big head nodded vigorously. "Good idea!"
+
+"By the way," Quillan said, "Fluel mentioned you've been looking for
+Kinmarten's wife, the second rest warden on the Pendrake convoy. Found
+her yet?"
+
+"Not a trace, so far," Ryter said.
+
+"That's a little surprising, too, isn't it?"
+
+"Under the circumstances," the commodore said, "it might not be
+surprising at all!" He had regained his color, was beginning to look
+angry. "If they--"
+
+"Well," Quillan said soothingly, "we don't _know_. It's just that
+things do seem to be adding up a little. Now, there's one other point.
+We should do something immediately about catching that Hlat."
+
+Velladon grunted and picked at his teeth with his thumbnail. "It would
+be best to get it back in its cubicle, of course. But I'm not worrying
+about it--just an animal, after all. Even the light hardware those
+Beldon fancy Dans carry should handle it. You use a man-sized gun, I
+see. So do I. If it shows up around here, it gets smeared, that's all.
+There're fifty more of the beasts on the _Camelot_."
+
+Quillan nodded. "You're right on that. But there's the possibility
+that it is being controlled by the Brotherhood at present. If it is,
+it isn't just an animal any more. It could be turned into a thoroughly
+dangerous nuisance."
+
+The commodore thought a moment, nodded. "You're right, I suppose. What
+do you want to do about it?"
+
+"Baiting the cubicle on the fifth level might work. Then there should
+be life-detectors in the Star's security supplies--"
+
+Ryter nodded. "We have a couple of dozen of them, but not in the
+Executive Block. They were left in the security building."
+
+The commodore stood up. "You stay here with Ryter," he told Quillan.
+"There're a couple of other things I want to go over with you two.
+I'll order the life-detectors from the office here--second passage
+down, isn't it, Ryter?... And, Ryter, I have another idea. I'm pulling
+the man in space-armor off the subspace portal and detailing him to
+Level Five." He grinned at Quillan. "That boy's got a brace of
+grenades and built-in spray guns! If Cooms is thinking of pulling any
+funny stunts up there, he'll think again."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The commodore headed briskly down the narrow passageway, his big
+holstered gun slapping his thigh with every step. The two security
+guards stationed at the door to the second level office came to
+attention as he approached, saluted smartly. He grunted, went in
+without returning the salutes, and started over toward the ComWeb on a
+desk at the far end of the big room, skirting the long, dusty-looking
+black rug beside one wall.
+
+Velladon unbuckled his gun belt, placed the gun on the desk, sat down
+and switched on the ComWeb.
+
+Behind him, the black rug stirred silently and rose up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"You called that one," Ryter was saying seven or eight minutes later,
+"almost too well!"
+
+Quillan shook his head, poked at the commodore's gun on the desk with
+his finger, looked about the silent office and back at the door where
+a small group of security men stood staring in at them.
+
+"Three men gone without a sound!" he said. He indicated the glowing
+disk of the ComWeb. "He had time enough to turn it on, not time enough
+to make his call. Any chance of camouflaged portals in this section?"
+
+"No," Ryter said. "I know the location of every portal in the
+Executive Block. No number of men could have taken Velladon and the
+two guards without a fight anyway. We'd have heard it. It didn't
+happen that way."
+
+"Which leaves," Quillan said, "one way it could have happened." He
+jerked his head toward the door. "Will those men keep quiet?"
+
+"If I tell them to."
+
+"Then play it like this. Two guards have vanished. The Hlat obviously
+did it. The thing's deadly. That'll keep every man in the group on the
+alert every instant from now on. But we don't say Velladon has
+vanished. He's outside in the Star at the moment, taking care of
+something."
+
+Ryter licked his lips. "What does that buy us?"
+
+"If the Brotherhood's responsible for this--"
+
+"I don't take much stock in coincidences," Ryter said.
+
+"Neither do I. But the Hlat's an animal; it can't tell them it's
+carried out the job. If they don't realize we suspect them, it gives
+us some advantage. For the moment, we just carry on as planned, and
+get rid of the Hlat in one way or another as the first step. The
+thing's three times as dangerous as anyone suspected--except,
+apparently, the Brotherhood. Get the life-detectors over here as soon
+as you can, and slap a space-armor guard on the fifth level."
+
+Ryter hesitated, nodded. "All right."
+
+"Another thing," Quillan said, "Cooms may have the old trick in mind
+of working from the top down. If he can take you out along with a few
+other key men, he might have this outfit demoralized to the point of
+making up for the difference in the number of guns--especially if the
+Hlat's still on his team. You'd better keep a handful of the best boys
+you have around here glued to your back from now on."
+
+Ryter smiled bleakly. "Don't worry. I intend to. What about you?"
+
+"I don't think they're planning on giving me any personal attention
+at the moment. My organization is outside, not here. And it would look
+odd to the Brotherhood if I started dragging a few Star guards around
+with me at this point."
+
+Ryter shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's your funeral if you've guessed
+wrong."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"There was nothing," Quillan told Marras Cooms, "that you could
+actually put a finger on. It was just that the commodore and Ryter may
+have something up their sleeves. Velladon's looking too self-satisfied
+to suit me."
+
+The Brotherhood chief gnawed his lower lip reflectively. He seemed
+thoughtful, not too disturbed. Cooms might be thoroughly afraid of the
+escaped Hlat, but he wouldn't have reached his present position in
+Nome Lancion's organization if he had been easily frightened by what
+other men were planning.
+
+He said, "I warned Movaine that if Velladon learned we'd checked out
+the Hlat, he wasn't going to like it."
+
+"He doesn't," Quillan said. "He regards it as something pretty close
+to an attempted double cross."
+
+Cooms grinned briefly. "It was."
+
+"Of course. The question is, what can he do about it? He's got you
+outgunned two to one, but if he's thinking of jumping you before
+Lancion gets here, he stands to lose more men than he can afford to
+without endangering the entire operation for himself."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Cooms was silent a few seconds. "There's an unpleasant possibility
+which didn't occur to me until a short while ago," he said then. "The
+fact is that Velladon actually may have us outgunned here by something
+like four to one. If that's the case, he can afford to lose quite a
+few men. In fact, he'd prefer to."
+
+Quillan frowned. "_Four_ to one? How's that?"
+
+Cooms said, "The commodore told us he intended to let only around half
+of the Seventh Star's security force in on the Hlat deal. The other
+half was supposed to have been dumped out of one of the subspace
+section's locks early today, without benefit of suits. We had no
+reason to disbelieve him. Velladon naturally would want to cut down
+the number of men who got in on the split with him to as many as he
+actually needed. But if he's been thinking about eliminating us from
+the game, those other men may still be alive and armed."
+
+Quillan grunted. "I see. You know, that could explain something that
+looked a little odd to me."
+
+"What was that?" Cooms asked.
+
+Quillan said, "After they discovered down there that two of their
+guards were missing and decided the Hlat must have been on their
+level, I tried to get hold of the commodore again. Ryter told me
+Velladon won't be available for a while, that he's outside in the
+Star, taking care of something there. I wondered what could be
+important enough to get Velladon to leave the Executive Block at
+present, but--"
+
+"Brother, I'm way ahead of you!" Cooms said. His expression hardened.
+"That doesn't look good. But at least he can't bring in reinforcements
+without tipping us off. We've got our own guards down with theirs at
+the entrance."
+
+Quillan gave him a glance, then nodded at the wall beyond them.
+"That's a portal over there, Marras. How many of them on this level?"
+
+"Three or four. Why? The outportals have been plugged, man! Sealed
+off. Fluel checked them over when we moved in."
+
+"Sure they're sealed." Quillan stood up, went to the portal, stood
+looking at the panel beside it a moment, then pressed on it here and
+there, and removed it. "Come over here, friend. I suppose portal
+work's been out of your line. I'll show you how fast a thing like that
+can get unplugged!" He slid a pocketbook-sized tool kit out of his
+belt, snapped it open. About a minute later, the lifeless VACANT sign
+above the portal flickered twice, then acquired a steady white glow.
+
+"Portal in operation," Quillan announced. "I'll seal it off again now.
+But that should give you the idea."
+
+Cooms' tongue flicked over his lips. "Could somebody portal through to
+this level from the Star while the exits are sealed here?"
+
+"If the mechanisms have been set for that purpose, the portals can be
+opened again at any time from the Star side. The Duke's an engineer of
+sorts, isn't he? Let him check on it. He should have been thinking of
+the point himself, as far as that goes. Anyway, Velladon can bring in
+as many men as he likes to his own level without using the main
+entrance." He considered. "I didn't see anything to indicate that he's
+started doing it--"
+
+Marras Cooms shrugged irritably. "That means nothing! It would be easy
+enough to keep half a hundred men hidden away on any of the lower
+levels."
+
+"I suppose that's right. Well, if the commodore intends to play rough,
+you should have some warning anyway."
+
+"What kind of warning?"
+
+"There's Kinmarten and that Hlat-talking gadget, for example," Quillan
+pointed out. "Velladon would want both of those in his possession and
+out of the way where they can't get hurt before he starts any
+shooting."
+
+Cooms looked at him a few seconds. "Ryter," he said then, "sent half a
+dozen men up here for Kinmarten just after you got back! Velladon's
+supposed to deliver the Hlats' attendants to Yaco, so I let them have
+Kinmarten." He paused. "They asked for the Hlat-talker, too."
+
+Quillan grunted. "Did you give them that?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well," Quillan said after a moment, "that doesn't necessarily mean
+that we're in for trouble with the Star group. But it does mean, I
+think, that we'd better stay ready for it!" He stood up. "I'll get
+back down there and go on with the motions of getting the hunt for
+the Hlat organized. Velladon would sooner see the thing get caught,
+too, of course, so he shouldn't try to interfere with that. If I spot
+anything that looks suspicious, I'll get the word to you."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I never," said Orca, unconsciously echoing Baldy Perk, "saw anything
+like it!" The commodore's chunky little gunman was ashen-faced. The
+circle of Star men standing around him hardly looked happier. Most of
+them were staring down at the empty lower section of a suit of space
+armor which appeared to have been separated with a neat diagonal slice
+from its upper part.
+
+"Let's get it straight," Ryter said, a little unsteadily. "You say
+this half of the suit was lying against the wall like _that_?"
+
+"Not exactly," Quillan told him. "When we got up to the fifth level,
+the suit was stuck against the wall--like that--about eight feet above
+the floor. That was in the big room where the cubicles are. When
+Kinmarten and Orca and I finally got the suit worked away from the
+wall, I expected frankly that we'd find half the body of the guard
+still inside. But he'd vanished."
+
+Ryter cleared his throat. "Apparently," he said, "the creature drew
+the upper section of the suit into the wall by whatever means it uses,
+then stopped applying the transforming process to the metal, and
+simply moved on with the upper part of the suit and the man."
+
+Quillan nodded. "That's what it looks like."
+
+"But he had _two grenades_!" Orca burst out. "He had sprayguns! How
+could it get him that way?"
+
+"Brother," Quillan said, "grenades won't help you much if you don't
+spot what's moving up behind you!"
+
+Orca glared speechlessly at him. Ryter said, "All right! We've lost
+another man. We're not going to lose any more. We'll station no more
+guards on the fifth level. Now, get everyone who isn't on essential
+guard duty to the main room, and split 'em up into life-detector
+units. Five men to each detail, one to handle the detector, four to
+stay with him, guns out. If the thing comes back to this level, we
+want to have it spotted the instant it arrives. Orca, you stay
+here--and keep _your_ gun out!"
+
+The men filed out hurriedly. Ryter turned to Quillan. "Were you able
+to get the cubicle baited?"
+
+Quillan nodded. "Kinmarten figured out how the thing should be set for
+the purpose. If the Hlat goes in after the sea beef, it's trapped. Of
+course, if the hunting it's been doing was for food, it mightn't be
+interested in the beef."
+
+"We don't know," Ryter said, "that the hunting it's been doing was for
+food."
+
+"No. Did you manage to get the control device from Cooms?"
+
+Ryter shook his head. "He's refused to hand it over."
+
+"If you tried to take it from him," Quillan said, "you might have a
+showdown on your hands."
+
+"And if this keeps on," Ryter said, "I may prefer a showdown! Another
+few rounds of trouble with the Hlat, and the entire operation could
+blow up in our faces! The men aren't used to that kind of thing. It's
+shaken them up. If we've got to take care of the Brotherhood, I'd
+rather do it while I still have an organized group. Where did you
+leave Kinmarten, by the way?"
+
+"He's back in the little room with his two guards," Quillan said.
+
+"Well, he should be all right there. We can't spare--" Ryter's body
+jerked violently. "_What's that?_"
+
+There had been a single thudding crash somewhere in the level. Then
+shouts and cursing.
+
+"Main hall!" Quillan said. "Come on!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The main hall was a jumble of excitedly jabbering Star men when they
+arrived there. Guns waved about, and the various groups were showing a
+marked tendency to stand with their backs toward one another and their
+faces toward the walls.
+
+Ryter's voice rose in a shout that momentarily shut off the hubbub.
+"_What's going on here?_"
+
+Men turned, hands pointed, voices babbled again. Someone nearby said
+sharply and distinctly, "... Saw it drop right out of the ceiling!"
+Farther down the hall, another group shifted aside enough to disclose
+it had been clustered about something which looked a little like the
+empty shell of a gigantic black beetle.
+
+The missing section of the suit of space armor had been returned. But
+not its occupant.
+
+Quillan moved back a step, turned, went back down the passage from
+which they had emerged, pulling the Miam Devil from its holster.
+Behind him the commotion continued; Ryter was shouting something about
+getting the life-detector units over there. Quillan went left down the
+first intersecting corridor, right again on the following one, keeping
+the gun slightly raised before him. Around the next corner, he saw the
+man on guard over the portal connecting the building levels facing
+him, gun pointed.
+
+"What happened?" the guard asked shakily.
+
+Quillan shook his head, coming up. "That thing got another one!"
+
+The guard breathed, "By God!" and lowered his gun a little. Quillan
+raised his a little, the Miam Devil grunted, and the guard sighed and
+went down. Quillan went past him along the hall, stopped two doors
+beyond the portal and rapped on the locked door.
+
+"Quillan here! Open up!"
+
+The door opened a crack, and one of Kinmarten's guards looked out
+questioningly. Quillan shot him through the head, slammed on into the
+room across the collapsing body, saw the second guard wheeling toward
+him, shot again, and slid the gun back into the holster. Kinmarten,
+standing beside a table six feet away, right hand gripping a heavy
+marble ashtray, was staring at him in white-faced shock.
+
+"Take it easy, chum!" Quillan said, turning toward him. "I--"
+
+He ducked hurriedly as the ashtray came whirling through the air
+toward his head. An instant later, a large fist smacked the side of
+Kinmarten's jaw. The rest warden settled limply to the floor.
+
+"Sorry to do that, pal," Quillan muttered, stooping over him. "Things
+are rough all over right now." He hauled Kinmarten upright, bent, and
+had the unconscious young man across his shoulder. The hall was still
+empty except for the body of the portal guard. Quillan laid Kinmarten
+on the carpet before the portal, hauled the guard off into the room,
+and pulled the door to the room shut behind him as he came out.
+Picking up Kinmarten, he stepped into the portal with him and jabbed
+the fifth level button. A moment later, he moved out into the small
+dim entry hall on the fifth level, the gun in his right hand again.
+
+He stood there silently for some seconds, looking about him listening.
+The baited cubicle yawned widely at him from the center of the big
+room. Nothing seemed to be stirring. Kinmarten went back to the floor.
+Quillan moved over to the panel which concealed the other portal's
+mechanisms.
+
+He had the outportal unsealed in considerably less than a minute this
+time, and slapped the panel gently back in place. He turned back to
+Kinmarten and started to bend down for him, then straightened quietly
+again, turning his head.
+
+Had there been a flicker of shadowy motion just then at the edge of
+his vision, behind the big black cube of the Hlat's food locker?
+Quillan remained perfectly still, the Miam Devil ready and every sense
+straining for an indication that the thing was there--or approaching
+stealthily now, gliding behind the surfaces of floor or ceiling or
+walls like an underwater swimmer.
+
+But half a minute passed and nothing else happened. He went down on
+one knee beside Kinmarten, the gun still in his right hand. With his
+left, he carefully wrestled the rest warden back up across his
+shoulder, came upright, moved three steps to the side, and disappeared
+in the outportal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reetal Destone unlocked the entry door to her suite and stepped
+hurriedly inside, letting the door slide shut behind her. She crossed
+the room to the ComWeb stand and switched on the playback. There was
+the succession of tinkling tones which indicated nothing had been
+recorded.
+
+She shut the instrument off again, passing her tongue lightly over her
+lips. No further messages from Heraga....
+
+And none from Quillan.
+
+She shook her head, feeling a surge of sharp anxiety, glanced at her
+watch and told herself that, after all, less than two hours had passed
+since Quillan had gone into the Executive Block. Heraga reported there
+had been no indications of disturbance or excitement when he passed
+through the big entrance hall on his way out. So Quillan, at any
+rate, had succeeded in bluffing his way into the upper levels.
+
+It remained a desperate play, at best.
+
+Reetal went down the short passage to her bedroom. As she came into
+the room, her arms were caught from the side at the elbows, pulled
+suddenly and painfully together behind her. She stood still, frozen
+with shock.
+
+"In a hurry, sweetheart?" Fluel's flat voice said.
+
+Reetal managed a breathless giggle. "Duke! You startled me! How did
+you get in?"
+
+She felt one hand move up her arm to her shoulder. Then she was swung
+about deftly and irresistibly, held pinned back against the wall,
+still unable to move her arms.
+
+He looked at her a moment, asked, "Where are you hiding it this time?"
+
+"Hiding what, Duke?"
+
+"I've been told sweet little Reetal always carries a sweet little gun
+around with her in some shape or form or other."
+
+Reetal shook her head, her eyes widening. "Duke, what's the matter?
+I...."
+
+He let go of her suddenly, and his slap exploded against the side of
+her face. Reetal cried out, dropping her head between her hands.
+Immediately he had her wrists again, and her fingers were jerked away
+from the jeweled ornament in her hair.
+
+"So that's where it is!" Fluel said. "Thought it might be. Don't get
+funny again now, sweetheart. Just stay quiet."
+
+She stayed quiet, wincing a little as he plucked the glittering little
+device out of her hair. He turned it around in his fingers, examining
+it, smiled and slid it into an inside pocket, and took her arm again.
+"Let's go to the front room, Reetal," he said almost pleasantly.
+"We've got a few things to do."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A minute later, she was seated sideways on a lounger, her wrists
+fastened right and left to its armrests. The Duke placed a pocket
+recorder on the floor beside her. "This is a crowded evening,
+sweetheart," he remarked, "which is lucky for you in a way. We'll have
+to rush things along a little. I'll snap the recorder on in a minute
+so you can answer questions--No, keep quiet. Just listen very closely
+now, so you'll know what the right answers are. If you get rattled and
+gum things up, the Duke's going to get annoyed with you."
+
+He sat down a few feet away from her, hitched his shoulders to
+straighten out the silver jacket, and lit a cigarette. "A little while
+after Bad News Quillan turned up just now," he went on, "a few things
+occurred to me. One of them was that a couple of years ago you and he
+were operating around Beldon at about the same time. I thought, well,
+maybe you knew each other; maybe not. And then--"
+
+"Duke," Reetal said uncertainly, "just what are you talking about? I
+don't know--"
+
+"Shut up." He reached over, tapped her knee lightly with his
+fingertips. "Of course, if you want to get slapped around, all right.
+Otherwise, don't interrupt again. Like I said, you're in luck; I don't
+have much time to spend here. You're getting off very easy. Now just
+listen.
+
+"Bad News knew a lot about our operation and had a story to explain
+that. If the story was straight, we couldn't touch him. But I was
+wondering about the two of you happening to be here on the Star again
+at the same time. A team maybe, eh? But he didn't mention you as being
+in on the deal. So what was the idea?
+
+"And then, sweetheart, I remembered something else--and that tied it
+in. Know that little jolt people sometimes get when they're dropping
+off to sleep? Of course. Know another time they sometimes get it? When
+they're snapping back out of a Moment of Truth, eh? I remembered
+suddenly I'd felt a little jump like that while we were talking
+to-day. Might have been a reflex of some kind. Of course, it didn't
+occur to me at the time you could be pulling a lousy stunt like that
+on old Duke. Why take a chance on getting your neck broken?
+
+"But, sweetheart, that's the tie-in! Quillan hasn't told it straight.
+He's got no backing. He's on his own. There's no gang outside
+somewhere that knows all about our little deal. He got his information
+right here, from you. And you got it from dumb old Duke, eh?"
+
+"Duke," Reetal said quite calmly, "can I ask just one question?"
+
+He stared bleakly at her a moment, then grinned. "It's my night to be
+big-hearted, I guess. Go ahead."
+
+"I'm not trying to argue. But it simply doesn't make sense. If I
+learned about this operation you're speaking of from you, what reason
+could I have to feed you Truth in the first place? There'd be almost a
+fifty-fifty chance that you'd spot it immediately. Why should I take
+such a risk? Don't you see?"
+
+Fluel shrugged, dropped his cigarette and ground it carefully into the
+carpet with the tip of his shoe.
+
+"You'll start answering those questions yourself almost immediately,
+sweetheart! Let's not worry about that now. Let me finish. Something
+happened to Movaine couple of hours ago. Nobody's fault. And something
+else happened to Marras Cooms just now. That puts me in charge of the
+operation here. Nice, isn't it? When we found Cooms lying in the hall
+with a hole through his stupid head, I told Baldy Perk it looked like
+Bad News had thrown in with the Star boys and done it. Know Baldy?
+He's Cooms' personal gun. Not what you'd call bright, and he's mighty
+hot now about Cooms. I left him in charge on our level, with orders to
+get Quillan the next time he shows up there. Well and good. The boys
+know Bad News' rep too well to try asking him questions. They won't
+take chances with him. They'll just gun him down together the instant
+they see him."
+
+He paused to scuff his shoe over the mark the cigarette had left on
+the carpet, went on, "But there's Nome Lancion now. He kind of liked
+Cooms, and he might get suspicious. When there's a sudden vacancy in
+the organization like that. Nome takes a good look first at the man
+next in line. He likes to be sure the facts are as stated.
+
+"So now you know the kind of answers from you I want to hear go down
+on the recorder, sweetheart. And be sure they sound right. I don't
+want to waste time on replays. You and Quillan were here on the Star.
+You got some idea of what was happening, realized you were due to be
+vaporized along with the rest of them after we left. There was no way
+out of the jam for you unless you could keep the operation from being
+carried out. You don't, by the way, mention getting any of that
+information from me. I don't want Lancion to think I'm beginning to
+get dopey. You and Quillan just cooked up this story, and he managed
+to get into the Executive Block. The idea being to knock off as many
+of the leaders as he could, and mess things up."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fluel picked up the recorder, stood up, and placed it on the chair.
+"That's all you have to remember. You're a smart girl; you can fill in
+the details any way you like. Now let's get started--"
+
+She stared at him silently for an instant, a muscle beginning to
+twitch in her cheek. "If I do that," she said, "if I give you a story
+Nome will like, what happens next?"
+
+Fluel shrugged. "Just what you're thinking happens next. You're a dead
+little girl right now, Reetal. Might as well get used to the idea.
+You'd be dead anyhow four, five hours from now, so that shouldn't make
+too much difference. What makes a lot of difference is just how
+unpleasant the thing can get."
+
+She drew a long breath. "Duke, I--"
+
+"You're stalling, sweetheart."
+
+"Duke, give me a break. I really didn't know a thing about this. I--"
+
+He looked down at her for a moment. "I gave you a break," he said.
+"You've wasted it. Now we'll try it the other way. If we work a few
+squeals into the recording, that'll make it more convincing to
+Lancion. He'll figure little Reetal's the type who wouldn't spill a
+thing like that without a little pressure." He checked himself,
+grinned. "And that reminds me. When you're talking for the record, use
+your own voice."
+
+"My own voice?" she half whispered.
+
+"Nome will remember what you sound like--and I've heard that voice
+imitations are part of your stock in trade. You might think it was
+cute if Nome got to wondering after you were dead whether that really
+had been you talking. Don't try it, sweetheart."
+
+He brought a glove out of his jacket pocket, slipped it over his left
+hand, flexing his fingers to work it into position. Reetal's eyes
+fastened on the rounded metal tips capping thumb, forefinger and
+middle finger of the glove. Her face went gray.
+
+"Duke," she said, "No--"
+
+"Shut up." He brought out a strip of transparent plastic, moved over
+to her. The gloved hand went into her hair, gripped it, turned her
+face up. He laid the plastic gag lengthwise over her mouth, pressed it
+down and released it. Reetal closed her eyes.
+
+"That'll keep it shut," he said. "Now--" His right hand clamped about
+the back of her neck, forcing her head down and forward almost to her
+knees. The gloved left hand brushed her hair forwards, then its middle
+finger touched the skin at a point just above her shoulder blades.
+
+"Right there," Fluel said. The finger stiffened, drove down.
+
+Reetal jerked violently, twisted, squirmed sideways, wrists straining
+against the grip of the armrests. Her breath burst out of her
+nostrils, followed by squeezed, whining noises. The metal-capped
+finger continued to grind savagely against the nerve center it had
+found.
+
+"Thirty," Fluel said finally. He drew his hand back, pulled her
+upright again, peeled the gag away from her lips. "Only thirty
+seconds, sweetheart. Think you'd sooner play along now?"
+
+Reetal's head nodded.
+
+"Fine. Give you a minute to steady up. This doesn't really waste much
+time, you see--" He took up the recorder, sat down on the chair again,
+watching her. She was breathing raggedly and shallowly, eyes wide and
+incredulous. She didn't look at him.
+
+The Duke lit another cigarette.
+
+"Incidentally," he observed, "if you were stalling because you hoped
+old Bad News might show up, forget it. If the boys haven't gunned him
+down by now, he's tied up on a job the commodore gave him to do. He'll
+be busy another hour or two on that. He--"
+
+He checked himself. A central section of the wall paneling across the
+room from him had just dilated open. Old Bad News stood in the
+concealed suite portal, Rest Warden Kinmarten slung across his
+shoulder.
+
+Both men moved instantly. Fluel's long legs bounced him sideways out
+of the chair, right hand darting under his coat, coming out with a
+gun. Quillan turned to the left to get Kinmarten out of the way. The
+big Miam Devil seemed to jump into his hand. Both guns spoke together.
+
+Fluel's gun thudded to the carpet. The Duke said, "Ah-aa-ah!" in a
+surprised voice, rolled up his eyes, and followed the gun down.
+
+Quillan said, stunned, "He was fast! I felt that one parting my hair."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He became very solicitous then--after first ascertaining that Fluel
+had left the Executive Block unaccompanied, on personal business. He
+located a pain killer spray in Reetal's bedroom and applied it to the
+bruised point below the back of her neck. She was just beginning to
+relax gratefully, as the warm glow of the spray washed out the pain
+and the feeling of paralysis, when Kinmarten, lying on the carpet
+nearby, began to stir and mutter.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Quillan hastily put down the spray.
+
+"Watch him!" he cautioned. "I'll be right back. If he sits up, yell.
+He's a bit wild at the moment. If he wakes up and sees the Duke lying
+there, he'll start climbing the walls."
+
+"What--" Reetal began. But he was gone down the hall.
+
+He returned immediately with a glass of water, went down on one knee
+beside Kinmarten, slid an arm under the rest warden's shoulder, and
+lifted him to a sitting position.
+
+"Wake up, old pal!" he said loudly. "Come on, wake up! Got something
+good for you here--"
+
+"What are you giving him?" Reetal asked, cautiously massaging the back
+of her neck.
+
+"Knockout drops. I already had to lay him out once. We want to lock
+him up with his wife now, and if he comes to and tells her what's
+happened, they'll both be out of their minds by the time we come to
+let them out--"
+
+He interrupted himself. Kinmarten's eyelids were fluttering. Quillan
+raised the glass to his lips. "Here you are, pal," he said in a deep,
+soothing voice. "Drink it! It'll make you feel a lot better."
+
+Kinmarten swallowed obediently, swallowed again. His eyelids stopped
+fluttering. Quillan lowered him back to the floor.
+
+"That ought to do it," he said.
+
+"What," Reetal asked, "did happen? The Duke--"
+
+"Tell you as much as I can after we get Kinmarten out of the way. I
+have to get back to the Executive Block. Things are sort of teetering
+on the edge there." He jerked his head at Fluel's body. "I want to
+know about him, too, of course. Think you can walk now?"
+
+Reetal groaned. "I can try," she said.
+
+They found Solvey Kinmarten dissolved in tears once more. She flung
+herself on her husband's body when Quillan place him on the bed. "What
+have those _beasts_ done to Brock?" she demanded fiercely.
+
+"Nothing very bad," Quillan said soothingly. "He's, um, under sedation
+at the moment, that's all. We've got him away from them now, and he's
+safe ... look at it that way. You stay here and take care of him.
+We'll have the whole deal cleared up before morning, doll. Then you
+can both come out of hiding again." He gave her an encouraging wink.
+
+"I'm so very grateful to both of you--"
+
+"No trouble, really. But we'd better get back to work on the thing."
+
+"Heck," Quillan said a few seconds later, as he and Reetal came out on
+the other side of the portal, "I feel like hell about those two. Nice
+little characters! Well, if the works blow up, they'll never know it."
+
+"_We_'ll know it," Reetal said meaningly. "Start talking."
+
+He rattled through a brief account of events in the Executive Block,
+listened to her report on the Duke's visit, scratched his jaw
+reflectively.
+
+"That might help!" he observed. "They're about ready to jump down
+each other's throats over there right now. A couple more pushes--" He
+stood staring down at the Duke's body for a moment. Blood soiled the
+back of the silver jacket, seeping out from a tear above the heart
+area. Quillan bent down, got his hands under Fluel's armpits, hauled
+the body upright.
+
+Reetal asked, startled, "What are you going to do with it?"
+
+"Something useful, I think. And wouldn't that shock the Duke ... the
+first time he's been of any use to anybody. Zip through the Star's
+ComWeb directory, doll, and get me the call symbol for Level Four of
+the Executive Block!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Solvey Kinmarten dimmed the lights a trifle in the bedroom, went back
+to Brock, rearranged the pillows under his head, and bent down to
+place her lips tenderly to the large bruises on his forehead and the
+side of his jaw. Then she brought a chair up beside the bed, and sat
+down to watch him.
+
+Perhaps a minute later, there was a slight noise behind her. Startled,
+she glanced around, saw something huge, black and shapeless moving
+swiftly across the carpet of the room toward her.
+
+Solvey quietly fainted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Sure you know what to say?" Quillan asked.
+
+Reetal moistened her lips. "Just let me go over it in my mind once
+more." She was sitting on the floor, on the right side of the ComWeb
+stand, her face pale and intent, "You know," she said, "this makes me
+feel a little queasy somehow, Quillan! And suppose they don't fall for
+it?"
+
+"They'll fall for it!" Quillan was on his knees in front of the stand,
+supporting Fluel's body, which was sprawled half across it, directly
+before the lit vision screen. An outflung arm hid the Duke's face from
+the screen. "You almost had _me_ thinking I was listening to Fluel
+when you did the take-off of him this evening. A dying man can be
+expected to sound a little odd, anyway." He smiled at her
+encouragingly. "Ready now?"
+
+Reetal nodded nervously, cleared her throat.
+
+Quillan reached across Fluel tapped out Level Four's call symbol on
+the instrument, ducked back down below the stand. After a moment,
+there was a click.
+
+Reetal produced a quavering, agonized groan. Somebody else gasped.
+
+"_Duke_!" Baldy Perk's voice shouted. "What's happened?"
+
+"Baldy Perk!" Quillan whispered quickly.
+
+Reetal stammered hoarsely, "The c-c-commodore, Baldy! Shot me ... shot
+Marras! They're after ... Quillan ... now!"
+
+"I thought Bad News...." Baldy sounded stunned.
+
+"Was w-wrong, Baldy," Reetal croaked. "Bad News ... with us! Bad News ...
+pal! The c-c-comm--"
+
+Beneath the ComWeb stand the palm of Quillan's right hand thrust
+abruptly up and forward. The stand tilted, went crashing back to the
+floor. Fluel's body lurched over with it. The vision screen shattered.
+Baldy's roaring question was cut off abruptly.
+
+"Great stuff, doll!" Quillan beamed, helping Reetal to her feet. "You
+sent shudders down my back!"
+
+"Down mine, too!"
+
+"I'll get him out of here now. Ditch him in one of the shut-off
+sections. Then I'll get back to the Executive Block. If Ryter's
+thought to look into Kinmarten's room, they'll really be raving on
+both sides there now!"
+
+"Is that necessary?" Reetal asked. "For you to go back, I mean.
+Somebody besides Fluel might have become suspicious of you by now."
+
+"Ryter might," Quillan agreed. "He's looked like the sharpest of the
+lot right from the start. But we'll have to risk that. We've got all
+the making of a shooting war there now, but we've got to make sure it
+gets set off before somebody thinks of comparing notes. If I'm around,
+I'll keep jolting at their nerves."
+
+"I suppose you're right. Now, our group--"
+
+Quillan nodded. "No need to hold off on that any longer, the way
+things are moving. Get on another ComWeb and start putting out those
+Mayday messages right now! As soon as you've rounded the boys up--"
+
+"That might," Reetal said, "take a little less than an hour."
+
+"Fine. Then move them right into the Executive Block. With just a bit
+of luck, one hour from now should land them in the final stages of a
+beautiful battle on the upper levels. Give them my description and
+Ryter's, so we don't have accidents."
+
+"Why Ryter's?"
+
+"Found out he was the boy who took care of the bomb-planting detail.
+We want him alive. The others mightn't know where it's been tucked
+away. Heraga says the clerical staff and technicians in there are all
+wearing the white Star uniforms. Anyone else who isn't in one of those
+uniforms is fair game--" He paused. "Oh, and tip them off about the
+Hlat!--God only knows what that thing will be doing when the ruckus
+starts."
+
+"What about sending a few men in through the fifth level portal, the
+one you've unplugged?"
+
+Quillan considered, shook his head. "No. Down on the ground level is
+where we want them. They'd have to portal there again from the fifth,
+and a portal is too easy to seal off and defend. Now let's get a
+blanket or something to tuck Fluel into. I don't want to feel
+conspicuous if I run into somebody on the way."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan emerged cautiously from the fifth portal in the Executive
+Block a short while later, came to a sudden stop just outside it. In
+the big room beyond the entry hall, the door of the baited cubicle was
+closed, and the life-indicator on the door showed a bright steady
+green glow.
+
+Quillan stared at it a moment, looking somewhat surprised, then went
+quietly into the room and bent to study the cubicle's instruments. A
+grin spread slowly over his face. The trap had been sprung. He glanced
+at the deep-rest setting and turned it several notches farther down.
+
+"Happy dreams, Lady Pendrake!" he murmured. "That takes care of you.
+What an appetite! And now--"
+
+As the Level Four portal dilated open before him, a gun blazed from
+across the hall. Quillan flung himself out and down, rolled to the
+side, briefly aware of a litter of bodies and tumbled furniture
+farther up the hall. Then he was flat on the carpet, gun out before
+him, pointing back at the overturned, ripped couch against the far
+wall from which the fire had come.
+
+A hoarse voice bawled, "Bad News--hold it!"
+
+Quillan hesitated, darting a glance right and left. Men lying about
+everywhere, the furnishings a shambles. "That you, Baldy?" he asked.
+
+"Yeah," Baldy Perk half sobbed. "I'm hurt--"
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"_Star_ gang jumped us. Portaled in here--spitballs and riot guns! Bad
+News, we're clean wiped out! Everyone that was on this level--"
+
+Quillan stood up, holstering the gun, went over to the couch and moved
+it carefully away from the wall. Baldy was crouched behind it,
+kneeling on the blood-soaked carpet, gun in his right hand. He lifted
+a white face, staring eyes, to Quillan.
+
+"Waitin' for 'em to come back," he muttered. "Man, I'm not for long!
+Got hit twice. Near passed out a couple of times already."
+
+"What about your boys on guard downstairs?"
+
+"Same thing there, I guess ... or they'd have showed up. They got
+Cooms and the Duke, too! Man, it all happened fast!"
+
+"And the crew on the freighter?"
+
+"Dunno about them."
+
+"You know the freighter's call number?"
+
+"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Never thought of that," Baldy said wearily. He
+seemed dazed now.
+
+"Let's see if you can stand."
+
+Quillan helped the big man to his feet. Baldy hadn't bled too much
+outwardly, but he seemed to have estimated his own condition
+correctly. He wasn't for long. Quillan slid an arm under his
+shoulders.
+
+"Where's a ComWeb?" he asked.
+
+Baldy blinked about. "Passage there--" His voice was beginning to
+thicken.
+
+The ComWeb was in the second room up the passage. Quillan eased Perk
+into the seat before it. Baldy's head lolled heavily forward, like a
+drunken man's. "What's the number?" Quillan asked.
+
+Baldy reflected a few seconds, blinking owlishly at the instrument,
+then told him. Quillan tapped out the number, flicked on the vision
+screen, then stood aside and back, beyond the screen's range.
+
+"Yeah, Perk?" a voice said some seconds later. "Hey, _Perk_ ... Perk,
+what's with ya?"
+
+Baldy spat blood, grinned. "Shot--" he said.
+
+"_What?_"
+
+"Yeah." Baldy scowled, blinking. "Now, lessee--Oh, yeah. Star gang's
+gonna jump ya! Watch it!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Yeah, watch--" Baldy coughed, laid his big head slowly down face
+forward on the ComWeb stand, and stopping moving.
+
+"Perk! Man, wake up! Perk!"
+
+Quillan quietly took out the gun, reached behind the stand and blew
+the ComWeb apart. He wasn't certain what the freighter's crew would
+make of the sudden break in the connection, but they could hardly
+regard it as reassuring. He made a brief prowl then through the main
+sections of the level. Evidence everywhere of a short and furious
+struggle, a struggle between men panicked and enraged almost beyond
+any regard for self-preservation. It must have been over in minutes.
+He found that the big hall portal to the ground level had been sealed,
+whether before or after the shooting he couldn't know. There would
+have been around twenty members of the Brotherhood on the level. None
+of them had lived as long as Baldy Perk, but they seemed to have
+accounted for approximately an equal number of the Star's security
+force first.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Five Star men came piling out of the fifth level portal behind him a
+minute or two later, Ryter in the lead. Orca behind Ryter. All five
+held leveled guns.
+
+"You won't need the hardware," Quillan assured them. "It's harmless
+enough now. Come on in."
+
+They followed him silently up to the cubicle, stared comprehendingly
+at dials and indicators. "The thing's back inside there, all right!"
+Ryter said. He looked at Quillan. "Is this where you've been all the
+time?"
+
+"Sure, Where else?" The others were forming a half-circle about him, a
+few paces back.
+
+"Taking quite a chance with that Hlat, weren't you?" Ryter remarked.
+
+"Not too much. I thought of something." Quillan indicated the
+outportal in the hall. "I had my back against that. A portal's
+space-break, not solid matter. It couldn't come at me from behind. And
+if it attacked from any other angle"--he tapped the holstered Miam
+Devil lightly, and the gun in Orca's hand jerked upward a fraction of
+an inch--"There aren't many animals that can swallow more than a bolt
+or two from that baby and keep coming."
+
+There was a moment's silence. Then Orca said thoughtfully, "That would
+work!"
+
+"Did it see you?" Ryter asked.
+
+"It couldn't have. First _I_ saw of it, it was sailing out from that
+corner over there. It slammed in after that chunk of sea beef so fast,
+it shook the cubicle. And that was that." He grinned. "Well, most of
+our troubles should be over now!"
+
+One of the men gave a brief, nervous laugh. Quillan looked at him
+curiously. "Something, chum?"
+
+Ryter shook his head. "Something is right! Come on downstairs again,
+Bad News. This time we have news for you--"
+
+The Brotherhood guards on the ground level had been taken by surprise
+and shot down almost without losses for the Star men. But the battle
+on the fourth level had cost more than the dead left up there. An
+additional number had returned with injures that were serious enough
+to make them useless for further work.
+
+"It's been expensive," Ryter admitted. "But one more attack by the
+Hlat would have left me with a panicked mob on my hands. If we'd
+realized it was going to trap itself--"
+
+"I wasn't so sure that would work either," Quillan said. "Did you get
+Kinmarten back?"
+
+"Not yet. The chances are he's locked up somewhere on the fourth
+level. Now the Hlat's out of the way, some of the men have gone back
+up there to look for him. If Cooms thought he was important enough to
+start a fight over, I want him back."
+
+"How about the crew on the Beldon ship?" Quillan asked, "Have they
+been cleaned up?"
+
+"No," Ryter said. "We'll have to do that now, of course."
+
+"How many of them?"
+
+"Supposedly twelve. And that's probably what it is."
+
+"If they know or suspect what's happened," Quillan said, "twelve men
+can give a boarding party in a lock a remarkable amount of trouble."
+
+Ryter shrugged irritably. "I know, but there isn't much choice.
+Lancion's bringing in the other group on the _Camelot_. We don't want
+to have to handle both of them at the same time."
+
+"How are you planning to take the freighter?"
+
+"When the search party comes back down, we'll put every man we can
+spare from guard duty here on the job. They'll be instructed to be
+careful about it ... if they can wind up the matter within the next
+several hours, that will be early enough. We can't afford too many
+additional losses now. But we should come out with enough men to take
+care of Lancion and handle the shipment of Hlats. And that's what
+counts."
+
+"Like me to take charge of the boarding party?" Quillan inquired.
+"That sort of thing's been a kind of specialty of mine."
+
+Ryter looked at him without much expression on his face. "I understand
+that," he said. "But perhaps it would be better if you stayed up here
+with us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The search party came back down ten minutes later. They'd looked
+through every corner of the fourth level. Kinmarten wasn't there,
+either dead or alive. But one observant member of the group had
+discovered, first, that the Duke of Fluel was also not among those
+present, and, next that one of the four outportals on the level had
+been unsealed. The exit on which the portal was found to be set was in
+a currently unused hall in the General Office building on the other
+side of the Star. From that hall, almost every other section of the
+Star was within convenient portal range.
+
+None of the forty-odd people working in the main control office on the
+ground level had actually witnessed any shooting; but it was apparent
+that a number of them were uncomfortably aware that something quite
+extraordinary must be going on. They were a well-disciplined group,
+however. An occasional uneasy glance toward one of the armed men
+lounging along the walls, some anxious faces, were the only noticeable
+indications of tension. Now and then, there was a brief, low-pitched
+conversation at one of the desks.
+
+Quillan stood near the center of the office, Ryter and Orca a dozen
+feet from him on either side. Four Star guards were stationed along
+the walls. From the office one could see through a large doorspace cut
+through both sides of a hall directly into the adjoining transmitter
+room. Four more guards were in there. Aside from the men in the
+entrance hall and at the subspace portal, what was available at the
+moment of Ryter's security force was concentrated at this point.
+
+The arrangement made considerable sense; and Quillan gave no sign of
+being aware that the eyes of the guards shifted to him a little more
+frequently than to any other point in the office, or that none of them
+had moved his hand very far away from his gun since they had come in
+here. But that also made sense. In the general tension area of the
+Executive Block's ground level, a specific point of tension--highly
+charged though undetected by the non-involved personnel--was the one
+provided by the presence of Bad News Quillan here. Ryter was more than
+suspicious by now; the opened portal on the fourth level, the
+disappearance of Kinmarten and the Duke, left room for a wide variety
+of speculations. Few of those speculations could be very favorable to
+Bad News. Ryter obviously preferred to let things stand as they were
+until the Beldon freighter was taken and the major part of his group
+had returned from the subspace sections of the Star. At that time, Bad
+News could expect to come in for some very direct questioning by the
+security chief.
+
+The minutes dragged on. Under the circumstances, a glance at his watch
+could be enough to bring Ryter's uncertainties up to the explosion
+point, and Quillan also preferred to let things stand as they were for
+the moment. But he felt reasonably certain that over an hour had
+passed since he'd left Reetal; and so far there had been no hint of
+anything unusual occurring in the front part of the building. The
+murmur of voices in the main control office continued to eddy about
+him. There were indications that in the transmitter room across the
+hall messages had begun to be exchanged between the Star and the
+approaching liner.
+
+A man sitting at a desk near Quillan stood up presently, went out into
+the hall and disappeared. A short while later, the white-suited figure
+returned and picked up the interrupted work. Quillan's glance went
+over the clerk, shifted on. He felt something tighten up swiftly
+inside him. There was a considerable overall resemblance, but _that_
+wasn't the man who had left the office.
+
+Another minute or two went by. Then two other uniformed figures
+appeared at the opening to the hall, a sparse elderly man, a blond
+girl. They stood there talking earnestly together for some seconds,
+then came slowly down the aisle toward Quillan. It appeared to be an
+argument about some detail of her work. The girl frowned, stubbornly
+shaking her head. Near Quillan they separated, started off into
+different sections of the office. The girl, glancing back, still
+frowning, brushed against Ryter. She looked up at him, startled.
+
+"I'm sorry," she said.
+
+Ryter scowled irritably, started to say something, suddenly appeared
+surprised. Then his eyes went blank and his knees buckled under him.
+
+The clerk sitting at the nearby desk whistled shrilly.
+
+Quillan wheeled, gun out and up, toward the wall behind him. The two
+guards there were still lifting their guns. The Miam Devil grunted
+disapprovingly twice, and the guards went down. Noise crashed from the
+hall ... heavy sporting rifles. He turned again, saw the two other
+guards stumbling backward along the far wall. Feminine screaming
+erupted around the office as the staff dove out of sight behind desks,
+instrument stands and filing cabinets. The elderly man stood above
+Orca, a sap in his hand and a please smile on his face.
+
+In the hallway, four white-uniformed men had swung about and were
+pointing blazing rifles into the transmitter room. The racketing of
+the gunfire ended abruptly and the rifles were lowered again. The
+human din in the office began to diminish, turned suddenly into a
+shocked, strained silence. Quillan realized the blond girl was
+standing at his elbow.
+
+"Did you get the rest of them?" he asked quickly, in a low voice.
+
+"Everyone who was on this level," Reetal told him. "There weren't many
+of them."
+
+"I know. But there's a sizable batch still in the subspace section. If
+we can get the bomb disarmed, we'll just leave them sealed up there.
+How long before you can bring Ryter around?"
+
+"He'll be able to talk in five minutes."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan had been sitting for some little while in a very comfortable
+chair in what had been the commodore's personal suite on the Seventh
+Star, broodingly regarding the image of the _Camelot_ in a huge wall
+screen. The liner was still over two hours' flight away but would
+arrive on schedule. On the Star, at least in the normspace section,
+everything was quiet, and in the main control offices and in the
+transmitter room normal working conditions had been restored.
+
+A room portal twenty feet away opened suddenly, and Reetal Destone
+stepped out.
+
+"So there you are!" she observed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Quillan Looked mildly surprised, then grinned. "I'd hate to have to
+try to hide from you!" he said.
+
+"Hm-m-m!" said Reetal. She smiled. "What are you drinking?"
+
+He nodded at an open liquor cabinet near the screen. "Velladon was
+leaving some excellent stuff behind. Join me?"
+
+"Hm-m-m." She went to the cabinet, looked over the bottles, made her
+selection and filled a glass. "One has the impression," she remarked,
+"that you _were_ hiding from me."
+
+"One does? I'd have to be losing my cotton-picking mind--"
+
+"Not necessarily." Reetal brought the drink over to his chair, sat
+down on the armrest with it. "You might just have a rather
+embarrassing problem to get worked out before you give little Reetal a
+chance to start asking questions about it."
+
+Quillan looked surprised. "What gave you that notion?"
+
+"Oh," Reetal said, "adding things up gave me that notion.... Care to
+hear what the things were?"
+
+"Go ahead, doll."
+
+"First," said Reetal, "I understand that a while ago, after you'd first
+sent me off to do some little job for you, you were in the transmitter
+room having a highly private--shielded and scrambled--conversation with
+somebody on board the _Camelot_."
+
+"Why, yes," Quillan said. "I was talking to the ship's security
+office. They're arranging to have a Federation police boat pick up
+what's left of the commodore's boys and the Brotherhood in the
+subspace section.
+
+"And that," said Reetal, "is where that embarrassing little problem
+begins. Next, I noticed, as I say, that you were showing this tendency
+to avoid a chance for a private talk between us. And after thinking
+about that for a little, and also about a few other things which came
+to mind at around that time, I went to see Ryter."
+
+"Now why--?"
+
+Reetal ran her fingers soothingly through his hair. "Let me finish,
+big boy. I found Ryter and Orca in a highly nervous condition. And do
+you know why they're nervous? They're convinced that some time before
+the _Camelot_ gets here, you're going to do them both in."
+
+"Hm-m-m," said Quillan.
+
+"Ryter," she went on, "besides being nervous, is also very bitter. In
+retrospect, he says, it's all very plain what you've done here. You
+and your associates--a couple of tough boys named Hagready and Boltan,
+and others not identified--are also after these Hlats. The Duke made
+some mention of that, too, you remember. The commodore and Ryter
+bought the story you told them because a transmitter check produced
+the information that Hagready and Boltan had, in fact, left their
+usual work areas and gone off on some highly secret business about a
+month ago.
+
+"Ryter feels that your proposition--to let your gang in on the deal
+for twenty per cent, or else--was made in something less than good
+faith. He's concluded that when you learned of the operation being
+planned by Velladon and the Brotherhood, you and your pals decided to
+obstruct them and take the Hlats for delivery to Yaco yourselves,
+without cutting anybody in. He figures that someone like Hagready or
+Boltan is coming in on the _Camelot_ with a flock of sturdy henchmen
+to do just that. You, personally, rushed to the Seventh Star to
+interfere as much as you could here. Ryter admits reluctantly that
+you did an extremely good job of interfering. He says it's now obvious
+that every move you made since you showed up had the one purpose of
+setting the Star group and the Brotherhood at each other's throats.
+And now that they've practically wiped each other out, you and your
+associates can go on happily with your original plans.
+
+"But, of course, you can't do that if Ryter and Orca are picked up
+alive by the Federation cops. The boys down in the subspace section
+don't matter; they're ordinary gunhands and all they know is that you
+were somebody who showed up on the scene. But Ryter could, and
+certainly would, talk--"
+
+"Ah, he's too imaginative," Quillan said, taking a swallow of his
+drink. "I never heard of the Hlats before I got here. As I told you,
+I'm on an entirely different kind of job at the moment. I had to make
+up some kind of story to get an in with the boys, that's all."
+
+"So you're not going to knock those two weasels off?"
+
+"No such intentions. I don't mind them sweating about it till the Feds
+arrive, but that's it."
+
+"What about Boltan and Hagready?"
+
+"What about them? I did happen to know that if anyone started asking
+questions about those two, he'd learn that neither had been near his
+regular beat for close to a month."
+
+"I'll bet!" Reetal said cryptically.
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Hm-m-m," she said. "Bad News Quillan! A really tough boy, for sure.
+You know, I didn't believe for an instant that you were after the
+Hlats--"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+Reetal said, "I've been on a couple of operations with you, and you'd
+be surprised how much I've picked up about you from time to time on
+the side. Swiping a shipment of odd animals and selling them to Yaco,
+that could be Bad News, in character. Selling a couple of hundred
+human beings--like Brock and Solvey Kinmarten--to go along with the
+animals to an outfit like Yaco would not be in character."
+
+"So I have a heart of gold," Quillan said.
+
+"So you fell all over your own big feet about half a minute ago!"
+Reetal told him. "Bad News Quillan--with no interest whatsoever in the
+Hlats--still couldn't afford to let Ryter live to talk about him to
+the Feds, big boy!"
+
+Quillan looked reflective for a moment. "Dirty trick!" he observed.
+"For that, you might freshen up my glass."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reetal took both glasses over to the liquor cabinet, freshened them
+up, and settled down on the armrest of the chair again. "So there
+we're back to the embarrassing little problem," she said.
+
+"Ryter?"
+
+"No, idiot. We both know that Ryter is headed for Rehabilitation.
+Fifteen years or so of it, as a guess. The problem is little Reetal
+who has now learned a good deal more than she was ever intended to
+learn. Does she head for Rehabilitation, too?"
+
+Quillan took a swallow of his drink and set the glass down again. "Are
+you suggesting," he inquired, "that I might be, excuse the expression,
+a cop?"
+
+Reetal patted his head. "Bad News Quillan! Let's look back at his
+record. What do we find? A shambles, mainly. Smashed-up organizations,
+outfits, gangs. Top-level crooks with suddenly vacant expressions and
+unexplained holes in their heads. Why go on? The name is awfully well
+earned! And nobody realizing anything because the ones who do realize
+it suddenly ... well, where _are_ Boltan Hagready at the moment."
+
+Quillan sighed. "Since you keep bringing it up--Hagready played it
+smart, so he's in Rehabilitation. Be cute if Ryter ran into him there
+some day. Pappy Boltan didn't want to play it smart. I'm not enough of
+a philosopher to make a guess at where he might be at present. But I
+knew he wouldn't be talking."
+
+"All right," Reetal said, "we've got that straight. Bad News is
+Intelligence of some kind. Federation maybe, or maybe one of the
+services. It doesn't matter, really, I suppose. Now, what about me?"
+
+He reached out and tapped his glass with a fingertip. "That about you,
+doll. You filled it. I'm drinking it. I may not think quite as fast as
+you do, but I still think. Would I take a drink from a somewhat
+lawless and very clever lady who really believed I had her lined up
+for Rehabilitation? Or who'd be at all likely to blab out something
+that would ruin an old pal's reputation?"
+
+Reetal ran her fingers through his hair again. "I noticed the deal
+with the drink," she said. "I guess I just wanted to hear you say it.
+You don't tell on me, I don't tell on you. Is that it?"
+
+"That's it," Quillan said. "What Ryter and Orca want to tell the Feds
+doesn't matter. It stops there, the Feds will have the word on me
+before they arrive. By the way, did you go wake up the Kinmartens
+yet?"
+
+"Not yet," Reetal said. "Too busy getting the office help soothed down
+and back to work."
+
+"Well, lets finish these drinks and go do that, then. The little
+doll's almost bound to be asleep by now, but she might still be
+sitting there biting nervously at her pretty knuckles."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Major Hesler Quillan of Space Scout Intelligence, was looking unhappy.
+"We're still searching for them everywhere," he explained to Klayung,
+"but it's a virtual certainty that the Hlat got them shortly before it
+was trapped."
+
+Klayung, a stringy, white-haired old gentleman, was an operator of the
+Psychology Service, in charge of the shipment of Hlats the _Camelot_
+had brought in. He and Quillan were waiting in the vestibule of the
+Seventh Star's rest cubicle vaults for Lady Pendrake's cubicle to be
+brought over from the Executive Block.
+
+Klayung said reflectively, "Couldn't the criminals with who you were
+dealing here have hidden the couple away somewhere?"
+
+Quillan shook his head. "There's no way they could have located them
+so quickly. I made half a dozen portal switches when I was taking
+Kinmarten to the suite. It would take something with a Hlat's
+abilities to follow me over that route and stay undetected. And it
+must be an unusually cunning animal to decide to stay out of sight
+until I'd led it where it wanted to go."
+
+"Oh, they're intelligent enough," Klayung agreed absently. "Their
+average basic I.Q. is probably higher than that of human beings. A
+somewhat different type of mentality, of course. Well, when the
+cubicle arrives, I'll question the Hlat and we'll find out."
+
+Quillan looked at him. "Those control devices make it possible to hold
+two-way conversations with the things?"
+
+"Not exactly," Klayung said. "You see, major, the government
+authorities who were concerned with the discovery of the Hlats
+realized it would be almost impossible to keep some information about
+them from getting out. The specimen which was here on the Star has
+been stationed at various scientific institutions for the past year; a
+rather large number of people were involved in investigating it and
+experimenting with it. In consequence, several little legends about
+them have been deliberately built up. The legends aren't entirely
+truthful, so they help to keep the actual facts about the Hlats
+satisfactorily vague.
+
+"The Hlat-talker is such a legend. Actually, the device does nothing.
+The Hlats respond to telepathic stimuli, both among themselves and
+from other beings, eventually begin to correlate such stimuli with the
+meanings of human speech."
+
+"Then you--" Quillan began.
+
+"Yes. Eltak, their discoverer, was a fairly good natural telepath. If
+he hadn't been abysmally lazy, he might have been very good at it. I
+carry a variety of the Service's psionic knick-knacks about with me,
+which gets me somewhat comparable results."
+
+He broke off as the vestibule portal dilated widely. Lady Pendrake's
+cubicle floated through, directed by two gravity crane operators
+behind it. Klayung stood up.
+
+"Set it there for the present, please," he directed the operators. "We
+may call for you later if it needs to be moved again."
+
+He waited until the portal had closed behind the men before walking
+over to the cubicle. He examined the settings and readings at some
+length.
+
+"Hm-m-m, yes," he said, straightening finally. His expression became
+absent for a few seconds; then he went on. "I'm beginning to grasp the
+situation, I believe. Let me tell you a few things about the Hlats,
+major. For one, they form quite pronounced likes and dislikes. Eltak,
+for example, would have been described by most of his fellow men as a
+rather offensive person. But the Hlats actually became rather fond of
+him during the fifteen or so years he lived on their island.
+
+"That's one point. The other has to do with their level of
+intelligence. We discovered on the way out here that our charges had
+gained quite as comprehensive an understanding of the functioning of
+the cubicles that had been constructed for them as any human who was
+not a technical specialist might do. And--"
+
+He interrupted himself, stood rubbing his chin for a moment.
+
+"Well, actually," he said, "that should be enough to prepare you for a
+look inside the Hlat's cubicle."
+
+Quillan gave him a somewhat surprised glance. "I've been told it's
+ugly as sin," he remarked. "But I've seen some fairly revolting
+looking monsters before this."
+
+Klayung coughed. "That's not exactly what I meant," he said. "I ...
+well, let's just open the thing up. Would you mind, major?"
+
+"Not at all." Quillan stepped over to the side of the cubicle,
+unlocked the door switch and pulled it over. They both moved back a
+few feet before the front of the cubicle. A soft humming came for some
+seconds from the door's mechanisms; then it suddenly swung open.
+Quillan stooped to glance inside, straightened instantly again, hair
+bristling.
+
+"_Where is it?_" he demanded, the Miam Devil out in his hand.
+
+Klayung looked at him thoughtfully. "Not very far away, I believe. But
+I can assure you, major, that it hasn't the slightest intention of
+attacking us--or anybody else--at present."
+
+Quillan grunted, looked back into the cubicle. At the far end, the
+Kinmartens lay side by side, their faces composed. They appeared to be
+breathing regularly.
+
+"Yes," Klayung said, "they're alive and unharmed." He rubbed his chin
+again. "And I think it would be best if we simply closed the cubicle
+now. Later we can call a doctor over from the hospital to put them
+under sedation before they're taken out. They've both had thoroughly
+unnerving experiences, and it would be advisable to awaken them
+gradually to avoid emotional shock."
+
+He moved over to the side of the cubicle, turned the door switch back
+again. "And now for the rest of it," he said. "We may as well sit down
+again, major. This may take a little time."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Let's look at the thing for a moment from the viewpoint of the Hlat,"
+he resumed when he was once more comfortably seated. "Eltak's death
+took it by surprise. It hadn't at that point grasped what the
+situation in the Executive Block was like. It took itself out of sight
+for the moment, killing one of the gang leaders in the process, then
+began prowling about the various levels of the building, picking up
+information from the minds and conversation of the men it encountered.
+In a fairly short time, it learned enough to understand what was
+planned by the criminals; and it arrived at precisely your own
+conclusion ... that it might be possible to reduce and demoralize the
+gangs to the extent that they would no longer be able to carry out
+their plan. It began a systematic series of attacks on them with that
+end in mind.
+
+"But meanwhile you had come into the picture. The Hlat was rather
+puzzled by your motive at first because there appeared to be an
+extraordinary degree of discrepancy between what you were saying and
+what you were thinking. But after observing your activities for a
+while, it began to comprehend what you were trying to do. It realized
+that your approach was more likely to succeed than its own, and that
+further action on its side might interfere with your plans. But there
+remained one thing for it to do.
+
+"I may tell you in confidence, major, that another legend which has
+been spread about these Hlats is their supposed inability to escape
+from the cubicles. Even their attendants are supplied with this
+particular bit of misinformation. Actually, the various force fields
+in the cubicles don't hamper them in the least. The cubicles are
+designed simply to protect the Hlats and keep them from being seen;
+and rest cubicles, of course, can be taken anywhere without arousing
+undue curiosity.
+
+"You mentioned that the Kinmartens very likable young people. The Hlat
+had the same feeling about them; they were the only human beings aside
+from Eltak with whose minds it had become quite familiar. There was no
+assurance at this point that the plans to prevent a bomb from being
+exploded in the Star would be successful, and the one place where
+human beings could hope to survive such an explosion was precisely the
+interior of the Hlat's cubicle, which had been constructed to
+safeguard its occupant against any kind of foreseeable accident.
+
+"So the Hlat sprang your cubicle trap, removed the bait, carried the
+Kinmartens inside, and whipped out of the cubicle again before the
+rest current could take effect on it. It concluded correctly that
+everyone would decide it had been recaptured. After that, it moved
+about the Executive Block, observing events there and prepared to take
+action again if that appeared to be advisable. When you had concluded
+your operation successfully, it remained near the cubicle, waiting for
+me to arrive."
+
+Quillan shook his head. "That's quite an animal!" he observed after
+some seconds. "You say, it's in our general vicinity now?"
+
+"Yes," Klayung said. "It followed the cubicle down here, and has been
+drifting about the walls of the vestibule while we ... well, while I
+talked."
+
+"Why doesn't it show itself?"
+
+Klayung cleared his throat. "For two reasons," he said. "One is that
+rather large gun you're holding on your knees. It saw you use it
+several times, and after all the shooting in the Executive Block, you
+see--"
+
+Quillan slid the Miam Devil into its holster. "Sorry," he said. "Force
+of habit, I guess. Actually, of course, I've understood for some
+minutes now that I wasn't ... well, what's the other reason?"
+
+"I'm afraid," Klayung said, "that you offended it with your remark
+about its appearance. Hlats may have their share of vanity. At any
+rate, it seems to be sulking."
+
+"Oh," said Quillan. "Well, I'm sure," he went on rather loudly, "that
+it understands I received the description from a prejudiced source.
+I'm quite willing to believe it was highly inaccurate."
+
+"Hm-m-m," said Klayung. "That seems to have done it, major. The wall
+directly across from us--"
+
+Something like a ripple passed along the side wall of the vestibule.
+Then the wall darkened suddenly, turned black. Quillan blinked, and
+the Hlat came into view. It hung, spread out like a spider, along half
+the length of the vestibule wall. Something like a huge, hairy amoeba
+in overall appearance, though the physical structures under the
+coarse, black pelt must be of very unamoeba-like complexity. No eyes
+were in sight, but Quillan had the impression of being regarded
+steadily. Here and there, along the edges and over the surface of the
+body, were a variety of flexible extensions.
+
+Quillan stood up, hitched his gun belt into position, and started over
+toward the wall.
+
+"Lady Pendrake," he said, "honored to meet you. Could we shake hands?"
+
+The End
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30493 ***
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30493 ***</div>
+
+<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<p class="center">This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact &amp; Fiction October 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
+<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="356" height="490" alt=""  />
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_002.jpg" width="600" height="412" alt=""  />
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>LION<br />
+
+LOOSE</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>By JAMES H. SCHMITZ</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>The most dangerous of animals is not the biggest and
+fiercest&mdash;but the one that's hardest to stop. Add
+intelligence to that ... and you may come to a wrong
+conclusion as to what the worst menace is....</i></p></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3><i>Illustrated by Schoenherr</i></h3>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="49" height="50" /></div>
+<p>or twelve years at a point where three major shipping routes of the
+Federation of the Hub crossed within a few hours' flight of one
+another, the Seventh Star Hotel had floated in space, a great golden
+sphere, gleaming softly in the void through its translucent shells of
+battle plastic. The Star had been designed to be much more than a
+convenient transfer station for travelers and freight; for some years
+after it was opened to the public, it retained a high rating among
+the more exotic pleasure resorts of the Hub. The Seventh Star Hotel
+was the place to have been that season, and the celebrities and fat
+cats converged on it with their pals and hangers-on. The Star blazed
+with life, excitement, interstellar scandals, tinkled with streams of
+credits dancing in from a thousand worlds. In short, it had started
+out as a paying proposition.</p>
+
+<p>But gradually things changed. The Star's entertainment remained as
+delightfully outrageous as ever, the cuisine as excellent; the
+accommodations and service were still above reproach. The fleecing, in
+general, became no less expertly painless. But one had <i>been</i> there.
+By its eighth year, the Star was dated. Now, in its twelfth, it lived
+soberly off the liner and freighter trade, four fifths of the guest
+suites shut down, the remainder irregularly occupied between ship
+departures.</p>
+
+<p>And in another seven hours, if the plans of certain men went through,
+the Seventh Star Hotel would abruptly wink out of existence.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Some fifty or sixty early diners were scattered about the tables on
+the garden terraces of Phalagon House, the Seventh Star Hotel's most
+exclusive eatery. One of them had just finished his meal, sat smoking
+and regarding a spiraling flow of exquisitely indicated female figures
+across the garden's skyscape with an air of friendly approval. He was
+a large and muscular young man, deeply tanned, with shoulders of
+impressive thickness, an aquiline nose, and dark, reflective eyes.</p>
+
+<p>After a minute or two, he yawned comfortably, put out the cigarette,
+and pushed his chair back from the table. As he came to his feet,
+there was a soft bell-note from the table ComWeb. He hesitated, said,
+"Go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"Is intrusion permitted?" the ComWeb inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Depends," the guest said. "Who's calling?"</p>
+
+<p>"The name is Reetal Destone."</p>
+
+<p>He grinned, appeared pleasantly surprised. "Put the lady through."</p>
+
+<p>There was a brief silence. Then a woman's voice inquired softly,
+"Quillan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right here, doll! Where&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Seal the ComWeb, Quillan."</p>
+
+<p>He reached down to the instrument, tapped the seal button, said, "All
+right. We're private."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably," the woman's voice said. "But better scramble this, too. I
+want to be very sure no one's listening."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted, slid his left hand into an inner coat pocket, briefly
+fingered a device of the approximate size and shape of a cigarette,
+drew his hand out again. "Scrambling!" he announced. "Now, what&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayday, Quillan," the soft voice said. "Can you come immediately?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan's face went expressionless. "Of course. Is it urgent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm in no present danger. But we'd better waste no time."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it going to take real hardware? I'm carrying a finger gun at the
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Then go to your rooms and pick up something useful," Reetal said.
+"This should take real hardware, all right."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. Then where do I go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll meet you at your door. I know where it is."</p>
+
+<p>When Quillan arrived, she was standing before the door to his suite, a
+tall blonde in a sleeveless black and gold sheath; a beautiful body, a
+warm, lovely, humorous face. The warmth and humor were real, but
+masked a mind as impersonally efficient as a computer, and a taste for
+high and dangerous living. When Quillan had last met Reetal Destone, a
+year and a half before, the taste was being satisfied in industrial
+espionage. He hadn't heard of her activities since then.</p>
+
+<p>She smiled thoughtfully at him as he came up. "I'll wait outside," she
+said. "We're not talking here."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded, went on into his living room, selected a gun belt and
+holstered gun from a suitcase, fastened the belt around his waist
+under the coat, and came out. "Now what?"</p>
+
+<p>"First a little portal-hopping&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He followed her across the corridor and into a tube portal, watched as
+she tapped out a setting. The exit light flashed a moment later; they
+stepped out into a vacant lounge elsewhere in the same building,
+crossed it, entered another portal. After three more shifts, they
+emerged into a long hall, dimly lit, heavily carpeted. There was no
+one in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Last stop," Reetal said. She glanced up at his face. "We're on the
+other side of the Star now, in one of the sections they've closed up.
+I've established a kind of emergency headquarters here. The Star's
+nearly broke, did you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd heard of it."</p>
+
+<p>"That appears to be part of the reason for what's going on."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan said, "What's going on?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal slid her arm through his, said, "Come on. That's my, hm-m-m,
+unregistered suite over there. Big boy, it's very, very selfish of me,
+but I was extremely glad to detect your name on the list of newly
+arrived guests just now! As to what's going on ... the <i>Camelot</i>
+berths here at midnight, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "I've some business with one of her passengers."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal bent to unlock the entrance door to the indicated suite. "The
+way it looks now," she remarked, "the odds are pretty high that you're
+not going to keep that appointment."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because shortly after the <i>Camelot</i> docks and something's been
+unloaded from her, the <i>Camelot</i> and the Seventh Star Hotel are
+scheduled to go <i>poof!</i> together. Along with you, me, and some twelve
+thousand other people. And, so far, I haven't been able to think of a
+good way to keep it from happening."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan was silent a moment. "Who's scheduling the poof?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Some old acquaintances of ours are among them. Come on in. What
+they're doing comes under the heading of destroying the evidence."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>She locked the door behind them, said, "Just a moment," went over to
+the paneled wall, turned down a tiny silver switch. "Room portal," she
+said, nodding at the wall. "It might come in handy. I keep it turned
+off most of the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you turning it on now?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the Star's stewards is working on this with me. He'll be along
+as soon as he can get away. Now I'll give you the whole thing as
+briefly as I can. The old acquaintances I mentioned are some boys of
+the Brotherhood of Beldon. Movaine's here; he's got Marras Cooms and
+Fluel with him, and around thirty of the Brotherhood's top guns. Nome
+Lancion's coming in on the <i>Camelot</i> in person tonight to take charge.
+Obviously, with all that brass on the job, they're after something
+very big. Just what it is, I don't yet know. I've got one clue, but a
+rather puzzling one. Tell you about that later. Do you know Velladon?"</p>
+
+<p>"The commodore here?" Quillan nodded. "I've never met him but I know
+who he is."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal said, "He's been manager of the Seventh Star Hotel for the past
+nine years. He's involved in the Beldon outfit's operation. So is the
+chief of the Star's private security force&mdash;his name's Ryter&mdash;and half
+a dozen other Star executives. They've got plenty of firepower, too;
+close to half the entire security force, I understand, including all
+the officers. That would come to nearly seventy men. There's reason to
+believe the rest of the force was disarmed and murdered by them in the
+subspace section of the Star about twelve hours ago. They haven't been
+seen since then.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Velladon, aside from his share in whatever they're after, has
+another reason for wanting to wipe out the Star in an unexplained
+blowup. There I have definite information. Did you know the Mooley
+brothers owned the Star?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been working for the Mooleys the past eight months," Reetal
+said, "checking up on employees at Velladon's level for indications of
+graft. And it appears the commodore had been robbing them blind here
+for at least several years."</p>
+
+<p>"Sort of risky thing to try with the Mooleys, from what I hear,"
+Quillan remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Very. Velladon had reason to be getting a little desperate about
+that. Two men were planted here a month ago. One of them is Sher
+Heraga, the steward I told you about. The other man came in as a
+bookkeeper. Two weeks ago, Heraga got word out that the bookkeeper had
+disappeared. Velladon and Ryter apparently got wise to what he was
+trying to do. So the Mooleys sent me here to find out exactly what was
+going on before they took action. I arrived four days ago."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a regretful little headshake. "I waited almost a day before
+contacting Heraga. It seemed advisable to move very cautiously in the
+matter. But that made it a little too late to do anything. Quillan,
+for the past three days, the Seventh Star Hotel has been locked up
+like a bank vault. And except for ourselves, only the people who are
+in on the plot are aware of it."</p>
+
+<p>"The message transmitters are inoperative?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal nodded. "The story is that a gravitic storm center in the area
+has disrupted transmissions completely for the time being."</p>
+
+<p>"What about incoming ships?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yours was the only one scheduled before the <i>Camelot</i> arrives. It
+left again eight hours ago. Nobody here had been let on board. The
+guests who wanted to apply for outgoing berths were told there were
+none open, that they'd have to wait for the <i>Camelot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>She went over to a desk, unlocked a drawer, took out a sheaf of
+papers, and handed one of them to Quillan. "That's the layout of the
+Star," she said. "This five-level building over by the shell is the
+Executive Block. The Brotherhood and the commodore's men moved in
+there this morning. The Block is the Star's defense center. It's
+raid-proofed, contains the control officers and the transmitter and
+armament rooms. About the standard arrangement. While they hold the
+Executive Block, they have absolute control of the Star."</p>
+
+<p>"If it's the defense center, it should be practically impossible to do
+anything about them there," Quillan agreed. "They could close it up,
+and dump the air out of the rest of the Star in a minute, if they had
+to. But there must be ... well, what about the lifeboats in the
+subspace section&mdash;and our pals must have a getaway ship stashed away
+somewhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have two ships," Reetal said. "A souped-up armed freighter the
+Brotherhood came in on, and a large armed yacht which seems to be the
+commodore's personal property. Unfortunately, they're both in subspace
+locks."</p>
+
+<p>"Why unfortunately?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they've sealed off subspace. Try portaling down there, and
+you'll find yourself looking at a battle-plastic bulkhead. There's no
+way of getting either to those ships or to the lifeboats."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan lifted his eyebrows. "And <i>that</i> hasn't caused any comment?
+What about the maintenance crews, the warehouse men, the&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All the work crews were hauled out of subspace this morning," Reetal
+said. "On the quiet, the Star's employees have been told that a gang
+of raiders was spotted in the warehouse area, and is at present
+cornered there. Naturally, the matter isn't to be mentioned to the
+guests, to avoid arousing unnecessary concern. And that explains
+everything very neatly. The absence of the security men, and why
+subspace is sealed off. Why the Executive Block is under guard, and
+can't be entered&mdash;and why the technical and office personnel in there
+don't come out, and don't communicate out. They've been put on
+emergency status, officially."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Yunk," Quillan said disgustedly after a moment. "This begins to look
+like a hopeless situation, doll!"</p>
+
+<p>"True."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal interrupted, "There is one portal still open to subspace.
+That's in the Executive Block, of course, and Heraga reports it's
+heavily guarded."</p>
+
+<p>"How does he know?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Block's getting its meals from Phalagon House. He floated a diner
+in there a few hours ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said, brightening, "perhaps a deft flavoring of
+poison&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal shook her head. "I checked over the hospital stocks. Not a
+thing there that wouldn't be spotted at once. Unless we can clobber
+them thoroughly, we can't afford to make them suspicious with a trick
+like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Poison would be a bit rough on the office help, too," Quillan
+conceded. "They wouldn't be in on the deal."</p>
+
+<p>"No, they're not. They're working under guard."</p>
+
+<p>"Gas ... no, I suppose not. It would take too long to whip up
+something that could turn the trick." Quillan glanced at his watch.
+"If the <i>Camelot</i> docks at midnight, we've around six and a half hours
+left, doll! And I don't find myself coming up with any brilliant
+ideas. What have you thought of?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal hesitated a moment. "Nothing very brilliant either," she said
+then. "But there are two things we might try as a last resort."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's hear them."</p>
+
+<p>"I know a number of people registered in the Star at present who'd be
+carrying personal weapons. If they were told the facts, I could
+probably line up around twenty who'd be willing to make a try to get
+into the Executive Block, and take over either the control offices or
+the transmitter room. If we got a warning out to the <i>Camelot</i>, that
+would break up the plot. Of course, it wouldn't necessarily save the
+Star."</p>
+
+<p>"No," Quillan said, "but it's worth trying if we can't think of
+something better. How would you get them inside?"</p>
+
+<p>"We could crowd twenty men into one of those diner trucks, and Heraga
+could take us in."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of people are your pals?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few smugglers and confidence men I've had connections with. Fairly
+good boys for this sort of thing. Then there's an old millionaire
+sportsman, with a party of six, waiting to transfer to the <i>Camelot</i>
+for a safari on Jontarou. Old Philmarron isn't all there, in my
+opinion, but he's dead game and loves any kind of a ruckus. We can
+count on him and his friends, if they're not too drunk at the moment.
+Still ... that's not too many to set against something less than a
+hundred professional guns, even though some of them must be down on
+the two ships."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not enough." Quillan looked thoughtful. "What's the other idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let the cat out of the bag generally. Tell the guests and the
+employees out here what's going on, and see if somebody can think of
+something that might be done."</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head. "What you'd set off with that would be anywhere
+between a riot and a panic. The boys in the Executive Block would
+simply give us the breathless treatment. Apparently, they prefer to
+have everything looking quiet and normal when the <i>Camelot</i> gets
+here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But they don't have to play it that way," Reetal agreed. "We might be
+dead for hours before the liner docks. If they keep the landing lock
+closed until what they want has been unloaded, nobody on the <i>Camelot</i>
+would realize what had happened before it was too late."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence. Then Quillan said, "You mentioned you'd
+picked up a clue to what they're after. What was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's a curious thing," Reetal said. "On the trip out here, a
+young girl name of Solvey Kinmarten attached herself to me. She didn't
+want to talk much, but I gathered she was newly married, and that her
+husband was on board and was neglecting her. She's an appealing little
+thing, and she seemed so forlorn and upset that I adopted her for the
+rest of the run. After we arrived, of course, I pretty well forgot
+about the Kinmartens and their troubles.</p>
+
+<p>"A few hours ago, Solvey suddenly came bursting into the suite where
+I'm registered. She was shaking all over. After I calmed her down a
+bit, she spilled out her story. She and her husband, Brock Kinmarten,
+are rest wardens. With another man named Eltak, whom Solvey describes
+as 'some sort of crazy old coot,' they're assigned to escort two
+deluxe private rest cubicles to a very exclusive sanatorium on
+Mezmiali. But Brock told Solvey at the beginning of the trip that this
+was a very unusual assignment, that he didn't want her even to come
+near the cubicles. That wouldn't have bothered her so much, she says,
+but on the way here Brock became increasingly irritable and
+absent-minded. She knew he was worrying about the cubicles, and she
+began to wonder whether they weren't involved in something illegal.
+The pay was very high; they're both getting almost twice the regular
+warden fee for the job. One day, she found an opportunity to do a
+little investigating.</p>
+
+<p>"The cubicles are registered respectively to a Lady Pendrake and a
+Major Pendrake. Lady Pendrake appears to be genuine; the cubicle is
+unusually large and constructed somewhat differently from the ones
+with which Solvey was familiar, but it was clear that it had an
+occupant. However, the life indicator on 'Major Pendrake's cubicle
+registered zero when she switched it on. If there was something inside
+it, it wasn't a living human being.</p>
+
+<p>"That was all she learned at the time, because she was afraid Brock
+might catch her in the cubicle room. Here in the Star, the cubicles
+were taken to a suite reserved for Lady Pendrake. The other man,
+Eltak, stayed in the suite with the cubicles, while the Kinmartens
+were given other quarters. However, Brock was still acting oddly and
+spending most of his time in the Pendrake suite. So this morning,
+Solvey swiped his key to the suite and slipped in when she knew the
+two men had left it."</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_003_01.jpg" width="600" height="630" alt=""  />
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_003_02.jpg" width="252" height="207" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>"She'd barely got there when she heard Brock and Eltak at the door
+again. She ran into the next room, and hid in a closet. Suddenly there
+was a commotion in the front room, and Solvey realized that men from
+the Star's security force had arrived and were arresting Brock and
+Eltak. They hauled both of them away, then floated the cubicles out
+and on a carrier and took them off too, locking the suite behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"Solvey was in a complete panic, sure that she and Brock had become
+involved in some serious breach of the Warden Code. She waited a few
+minutes, then slipped out of the Pendrake suite, and looked me up to
+see if I couldn't help them. I had Heraga check, and he reported that
+the Kinmarten suite was under observation. Evidently, they wanted to
+pick up the girl, too. So I tucked her away in one of the suites in
+this section, and gave her something to put her to sleep. She's there
+now."</p>
+
+
+
+<p>Quillan said, "And where are the prisoners and the cubicles?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the Executive Block."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal smiled briefly. "The Duke of Fluel told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh? The Brotherhood knows you're here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Relax," Reetal said. "Nobody but Heraga knows I'm working for the
+Mooleys. I told the Duke I had a big con deal set up when the
+<i>Camelot</i> came in&mdash;I even suggested he might like to get in on it. He
+laughed, and said he had other plans. But he won't mention to anyone
+that I'm here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," Reetal said dryly, "what the Duke is planning to get in on
+is an hour of tender dalliance. Before the <i>Camelot</i> arrives,
+necessarily. The cold-blooded little skunk!" She hesitated a moment;
+when she spoke again, her voice had turned harsh and nasal, wicked
+amusement sounding through it. "Sort of busy at the moment,
+sweetheart, but we might find time for a drink or two later on in the
+evening, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted. "You're as good at the voice imitations as ever. How
+did you find out about the cubicles?"</p>
+
+<p>"I took a chance and fed him a Moment of Truth."</p>
+
+<p>"With Fluel," Quillan said thoughtfully, "that was taking a chance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, I was aware of it! I've run into card-carrying sadists
+before, but the Duke's the only one who scares me silly. But it did
+work. He dropped in for a about a minute and a half, and came out
+without noticing a thing. Meanwhile, I'd got the answers to a few
+questions. The bomb with which they're planning to mop up behind them
+already has been planted up here in the normspace section. Fluel
+didn't know where; armaments experts took care of it. It's armed now.
+There's a firing switch on each of their ships, and both switches have
+to be tripped before the thing goes off. Part of what they're after is
+in those Pendrake rest cubicles&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Part of it?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh. An even hundred similar cubicles will be unloaded from the
+<i>Camelot</i>&mdash;the bulk of the haul; which is why Nome Lancion is
+supervising things on the liner. I started to ask what was in the
+cubicles, but I saw Fluel was beginning to lose that blank look they
+have under Truth, and switched back to light chitchat just before he
+woke up. Yaco's paying for the job&mdash;or rather, it <i>will</i> pay for the
+stuff, on delivery, and no questions asked."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not very much help, is it?" Quillan said after a moment.
+"Something a big crooked industrial combine like Yaco thinks it can
+use&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It must expect to be able to use it to extremely good advantage,"
+Reetal said. "The Brotherhood will collect thirty million credits for
+their part of the operation. The commodore's group presumably won't do
+any worse." She glanced past Quillan toward the room portal. "It's
+O.K., Heraga! Come in."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Sher Heraga was a lean, dark-skinned little man with a badly bent
+nose, black curly hair, and a nervous look. He regretted, he said,
+that he hadn't been able to uncover anything which might be a lead to
+the location of the bomb. Apparently, it wasn't even being guarded.
+And, of course, a bomb of the size required here would be quite easy
+to conceal.</p>
+
+<p>"If they haven't placed guards over it," Reetal agreed, "it'll take
+blind luck to spot it! Unless we can get hold of one of the men who
+knows where it's planted&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for some seconds. Then Quillan said, "Well, if we
+can't work out a good plan, we'd better see what we can do with one of
+the bad ones. Are the commodore's security men wearing uniforms?"</p>
+
+<p>Heraga shook his head, "Not the ones I saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Then here's an idea," Quillan said. "As things stand, barging into
+the Executive Block with a small armed group can't accomplish much. It
+might be more interesting than sitting around and waiting to be blown
+up, but it still would be suicide. However, if we could get things
+softened up and disorganized in there first&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Softened up and disorganized how?" Reetal asked.</p>
+
+<p>"We can use that notion you had of having Heraga float in another
+diner. This time, I'm on board&mdash;in a steward's uniform, in case the
+guards check."</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't the first time," Heraga said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sloppy of them. Well, they're just gun hands. Anyway, once we're
+inside I shuck off the uniform and get out. Heraga delivers his
+goodies, and leaves again&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal gave him a look. "You'll get shot down the instant you're seen,
+dope!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not. There're two groups in there&mdash;around a hundred men in
+all&mdash;and they haven't had time to get well acquainted yet. I'll have
+my gun in sight, and anyone who sees me should figure I belong to the
+other group, until I run into one of the Brotherhood boys who knows me
+personally."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that's when you get shot down. I understand the last time you
+and the Duke of Fluel met, he woke up with lumps."</p>
+
+<p>"The Duke doesn't love me," Quillan admitted. "But there's nothing
+personal between me and Movaine or Marras Cooms&mdash;and I'll have a
+message for Movaine."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a message?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have to play that by ear a little. It depends on how things
+look in there. But I have a few ideas, based on what you've learned of
+the operation. Now, just what I can do when I get that far, I don't
+know yet. I'll simply try to louse the deal up as much as I can. That
+may take time, and, of course, it might turn out to be impossible to
+get word out to you."</p>
+
+<p>"So what do we do meanwhile?" Reetal asked. "If we start lining up our
+attack group immediately, and then there's no action for another five
+or six hours, there's always the chance of a leak, with around twenty
+people in the know."</p>
+
+<p>"And if there's a leak," Quillan agreed, "we've probably had it. No,
+you'd better wait with that! If I'm not out, and you haven't heard
+from me before the <i>Camelot</i>'s actually due to dock, Heraga can still
+take the group&mdash;everyone but yourself&mdash;in as scheduled."</p>
+
+<p>"Why everyone but me?" Reetal asked.</p>
+
+<p>"If nothing else works, you might find some way of getting a warning
+to the liner's security force after they've docked. It isn't much of a
+possibility, but we can't afford to throw it away."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see." Reetal looked reflective. "What do you think, Heraga?"</p>
+
+<p>The little man shrugged. "You told me that Mr. Quillan is not
+inexperienced in dealing with, ah, his enemies. If he feels he might
+accomplish something in the Executive Block, I'm in favor of the plan.
+The situation certainly could hardly become worse."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the spirit!" Quillan approved. "The positive outlook&mdash;that's
+what a think like this mainly takes. Can you arrange for the diner and
+the uniform?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," Heraga said, "I've had myself put in charge of that detail,
+naturally."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what can you tell me about the Executive Block's layout?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal stood up. "Come over to the desk," she said. "We've got
+diagrams."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"The five levels, as you see," Heraga was explaining a few moments
+later, "are built directly into the curve of the Star's shells. Level
+Five, on the top, is therefore quite small. The other levels are
+fairly extensive. Two, Three, and Four could each accommodate a
+hundred men comfortably. These levels contain mainly living quarters,
+private offices, and the like. The Brotherhood men appear to be
+occupying the fourth level, Velladon's group the second. The third may
+be reserved for meetings between representatives of the two groups.
+All three of these levels are connected by single-exit portals to the
+large entrance area on the ground level.</p>
+
+<p>"The portals stood open when I went in earlier today, and there were
+about twenty armed men lounging about the entrance hall. I recognized
+approximately half of them as being members of the Star's security
+force. The others were unfamiliar." Heraga cleared his throat. "There
+is a possibility that the two groups do not entirely trust each
+other."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "If they're playing around with something like sixty
+million CR, anybody would have to be crazy to trust the Brotherhood of
+Beldon. The transmitter room and the control officers are guarded,
+too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but not heavily," Heraga said. "There seem to be only a few men
+stationed at each of those points. Ostensibly, they're there as a
+safe-guard&mdash;in case the imaginary raiders attempt to break out of the
+subspace section."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the arrangement of the ordinary walk-in tube portals in the
+Executive Block?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is one which interconnects the five levels. On each of the
+lower levels, there are, in addition, several portals which lead out
+to various points in the Seventh Star Hotel. On the fifth level, there
+is only one portal of this kind. Except for the portal which operates
+between the different levels in the Executive Block, all of them have
+been rendered unusable at present."</p>
+
+<p>"Unusable in what way?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have been sealed off on the Executive Block side."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you get me a diagram of the entry and exit systems those outgoing
+portals connect with?" Quillan asked. "I might turn one of them usable
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I can do that."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the communication possibilities?"</p>
+
+<p>"The ComWeb system is functioning normally on the second, third, and
+fourth levels. It has been shut off on the first level&mdash;to avoid the
+spread of 'alarming rumors' by office personnel. There is no ComWeb on
+the fifth level."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal said, "We'll shift our operating headquarters back to my
+registered suite then. The ComWebs are turned off in these vacant
+sections. I'll stay in the other suite in case you find a chance to
+signal in."</p>
+
+<p>Heraga left a few minutes later to make his arrangements. Reetal
+smiled at Quillan, a little dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Good luck, guy," she said. "Anything else to settle before you start
+off?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "Couple of details. If you're going to be in your
+regular suite, and Fluel finds himself with some idle time on hand, he
+might show up for the dalliance you mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal's smile changed slightly. Her left hand fluffed the hair at the
+back of her head, flicked down again. There was a tiny click, and
+Quillan looked at a small jeweled hair-clasp in her palm, its needle
+beak pointing at him.</p>
+
+<p>"It hasn't got much range," Reetal said, "but within ten feet it will
+scramble the Duke's brains just as thoroughly as they need to be
+scrambled."</p>
+
+<p>"Good enough," Quillan said. "Just don't give that boy the ghost of a
+chance, doll. He has a rep for playing very unnice games with the
+ladies."</p>
+
+<p>"I know his reputation." Reetal replaced the tiny gun in her hair.
+"Anything else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Let's look in on the Kinmarten chick for a moment. If she's
+awake, she may have remembered something or other by now that she
+didn't think to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>They found Solvey Kinmarten awake, and tearfully glad to see Reetal.
+Quillan was introduced as a member of the legal profession who would
+do what he could for Solvey and her husband. Solvey frowned prettily,
+trying very hard to remember anything that might be of use. But it
+appeared that she had told Reetal all she knew.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The blue and white Phalagon House diner, driven by Heraga, was
+admitted without comment into the Executive Block. It floated on
+unchallenged through the big entry hall and into a corridor.
+Immediately behind the first turn of the corridor, the diner paused a
+few seconds. Its side door opened and closed. The diner moved on.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan, coatless and with the well-worn butt of a big Miam Devil
+Special protruding from the holster on his right hip, came briskly
+back along the corridor. Between fifteen and twenty men, their guns
+also conspicuously in evidence, were scattered about the entrance
+hall, expressions and attitudes indicating a curious mixture of
+boredom and uneasy tension. The eyes of about half of them swiveled
+around to Quillan when he came into the hall; then, with one
+exception, they looked indifferently away again.</p>
+
+<p>The exception, leaning against the wall near the three open portals to
+the upper levels, continued to stare as Quillan came toward him,
+forehead creased in a deep scowl as if he were painfully ransacking
+his mind for something. Quillan stopped in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Chum," he asked, "any idea where Movaine is at the moment? They just
+give me this message for him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Still scowling, the other scratched his chin and blinked. "Uh ...
+dunno for sure," he said after a moment. "He oughta be in the third
+level conference room with the rest of 'em. Uh ... dunno you oughta
+barge in there right now, pal! The commodore's <i>reee-lly</i> hot about
+somethin'!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked worried. "Gotta chance it, I guess! Message is pretty
+important, they say&mdash;" He turned, went through the center portal of
+the three, abruptly found himself walking along a wide, well-lit hall.</p>
+
+<p>Nobody in sight here, or in the first intersecting passage he came to.
+When he reached the next passage, he heard voices on the right, turned
+toward them, went by a string of closed doors on both sides until,
+forty feet on, the passage angled again and opened into a long,
+high-ceilinged room. The voices came through an open door on the right
+side of the room. Standing against the wall beside the door were two
+men whose heads turned sharply toward Quillan as he appeared in the
+passage. The short, chunky one scowled. The big man next to him, the
+top of whose head had been permanently seared clear of hair years
+before by a near miss from a blaster, dropped his jaw slowly. His eyes
+popped.</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine in there, Baldy?" Quillan inquired, coming up.</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine! He ... you ... how&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The chunky man took out his gun, waved it negligently at Quillan.
+"Tell the ape to blow, Perk. He isn't wanted here."</p>
+
+<p>"Ape?" Quillan asked softly. His right hand moved, had the gun by the
+barrel, twisted, reversed the gun, jammed it back with some violence
+into the chunky man's stomach. "Ape?" he repeated. The chunky man went
+white.</p>
+
+<p>"Bad News&mdash;" Baldy Perk breathed. "Take it easy! That's Orca. He's the
+commodore's torpedo. How&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Movaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine ... he ... uh&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All right, he's not here. And Lancion can't have arrived yet. Is
+Cooms in there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy Perk said weakly. "Cooms is in there, Quillan."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go in." Quillan withdrew the gun, slid it into a pocket, smiled
+down at Orca. "Get it back from your boss, slob. Be seeing you!"</p>
+
+<p>Orca's voice was a husky whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"You will, friend! You will!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The conference room was big and sparsely furnished. Four men sat at
+the long table in its center. Quillan knew two of them&mdash;Marras Cooms,
+second in command of the Beldon Brotherhood's detachment here, and the
+Duke of Fluel, Movaine's personal gun. Going by Heraga's
+descriptions, the big, florid-faced man with white hair and flowing
+white mustaches who was doing the talking was Velladon, the commodore;
+while the fourth man, younger, wiry, with thinning black hair
+plastered back across his skull, would be Ryter, chief of the Star's
+security force.</p>
+
+<p>"What I object to primarily is that the attempt was made without
+obtaining my consent, and secretly," Velladon was saying, with a
+toothy grin but in a voice that shook with open fury. "And now it's
+been made and bungled, you have a nerve asking for our help. The
+problem is yours&mdash;and you better take care of it fast! I can't spare
+Ryter. If&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Cooms," Baldy Perk broke in desperately from the door, "Bad News
+Quillan's here an'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The heads of the four men at the table came around simultaneously. The
+eyes of two of them widened for an instant. Then Marras Cooms began
+laughing softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Now everything's happened!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Cooms," the commodore said testily, "I prefer not to be interrupted.
+Now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't be helped, commodore," Quillan said, moving forward, Perk
+shuffling along unhappily beside him. "I've got news for Movaine, and
+the news can't wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine?" the commodore repeated, blue eyes bulging at Quillan.
+"Movaine! Cooms, who <i>is</i> this man?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're looking at Bad News Quillan," Cooms said. "A highjacking
+specialist, with somewhat numerous sidelines. But the point right now
+is that he isn't a member of the Brotherhood."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What!"</i> Velladon's big fist smashed down on the table. "<i>Now</i> what
+kind of a game ... how did he get <i>in</i> here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said mildly, "I oozed in through the north wall about
+a minute ago. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He checked, conscious of having created some kind of sensation. The
+four men at the table were staring up at him without moving. Baldy
+Perk appeared to be holding his breath. Then the commodore coughed,
+cleared his throat, drummed his fingers on the table.</p>
+
+<p>He said reflectively: "He could have news&mdash;good or bad&mdash;at that! For
+all of us." He chewed on one of his mustache tips, grinned suddenly up
+at Quillan. "Well, sit down, friend! Let's talk. You can't talk to
+Movaine, you see. Movaine's um, had an accident. Passed away suddenly
+half an hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry to hear it," Quillan said. "That's the sort of thing that
+happens so often in the Brotherhood." He swung a chair around, sat
+down facing the table. "You're looking well tonight, Fluel," he
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Fluel, lean and dapper in silver jacket and tight-fitting
+silver trousers, gave him a wintry smile, said nothing.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Now, then, friend," Velladon inquired confidentially, "just what was
+your business with Movaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it will come to around twenty per cent of the take," Quillan
+informed him. "We won't argue about a half-million CR more or less.
+But around twenty per."</p>
+
+<p>The faces thoughtful. After some seconds, the commodore asked, "And
+who's we?"</p>
+
+<p>"A number of citizens," Quillan said, "who have been rather unhappy
+since discovering that you, too, are interested in Lady Pendrake and
+her pals. We'd gone to considerable expense and trouble to ... well,
+her ladyship was scheduled to show up in Mezmiali, you know. And now
+she isn't going to show up there. All right, that's business. Twenty
+per&mdash;no hard feelings. Otherwise, it won't do you a bit of good to
+blow up the Star and the liner. There'd still be loose talk&mdash;maybe
+other complications, too. You know how it goes. You wouldn't be happy,
+and neither would Yaco. Right?"</p>
+
+<p>The commodore's massive head turned back to Cooms. "How well do you
+know this man, Marras?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms grinned dryly. "Well enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he leveling?"</p>
+
+<p>"He'd be nuts to be here if he wasn't. And he isn't nuts&mdash;at least,
+not that way."</p>
+
+<p>"There might be a question about that," Fluel observed. He looked at
+the commodore. "Why not ask him for a couple of the names that are in
+it with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hagready and Boltan," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon chewed the other mustache tip. "I know Hagready. If he&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know both of them," Cooms said. "Boltan works highjacking crews out
+of Orado. Quillan operates there occasionally."</p>
+
+<p>"Pappy Boltan's an old business associate," Quillan agreed. "Reliable
+sort of a guy. Doesn't mind taking a few chances either."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon's protruding blue eyes measured him a moment. "We can check
+on those two, you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Check away," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon nodded. "We will." He was silent for a second or two, then
+glanced over at Cooms. "There've been no leaks on our side," he
+remarked. "And they must have known about this for weeks! Of all the
+inept, bungling&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, don't be too hard on the Brotherhood, commodore," Quillan said.
+"Leaks happen. You ought to know."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" Velladon snapped.</p>
+
+<p>"From what we heard, the Brotherhood's pulling you out of a hole here.
+You should feel rather kindly toward them."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore stared at him reflectively. Then he grinned. "Could be I
+should," he said, "Did you come here alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore nodded. "If you're bluffing, God help you. If you're
+not, your group's in. Twenty per. No time for haggling&mdash;we can raise
+Yaco's price to cover it." He stood up, and Ryter stood up with him.
+"Marras," the commodore went on, "tell him what's happened. If he's
+half as hot as he sounds, he's the boy to put on that job. Let him get
+in on a little of the work for the twenty per cent. Ryter, come on.
+We&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, sir," Quillan interrupted. He took Orca's gun by the
+muzzle from his pocket, held it out to Velladon. "One of your men lost
+this thing. The one outside the door. If you don't mind&mdash;he might pout
+if he doesn't get it back."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The fifth level of the Executive Block appeared to be, as Heraga had
+said, quite small. The tiny entry hall, on which two walk-in portals
+opened, led directly into the large room where the two Pendrake rest
+cubicles had been placed. One of the cubicles now stood open. To right
+and left, a narrow passage stretched away from the room, ending
+apparently in smaller rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy Perk was perspiring profusely.</p>
+
+<p>"Now right here," he said in a low voice, "was where I was standing.
+Movaine was over there, on the right of the cubicle, and Cooms was
+beside him. Rubero was a little behind me, hanging on to the
+punk&mdash;that Kinmarten. An' the Duke"&mdash;he nodded back at the wide
+doorspace to the hall&mdash;"was standing back there.</p>
+
+<p>"All right. The punk's opened the cubicle a crack, looking like he's
+about to pass out while he's doin' it. This bearded guy, Eltak, stands
+in front of the cubicle, holding the gadget he controls the thing
+with&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the gadget now?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Marras Cooms' got it."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it work?"</p>
+
+<p>Baldy shook his head. "We can't figure it out. It's got all kinds of
+little knobs and dials on it. Push this one an' it squeaks, turn that
+one an' it buzzes. Like that."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "All right. What happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Movaine tells the old guy to go ahead an' do the demonstrating.
+The old guy sort of grins and fiddles with the gadget. The cubicle
+door pops open an' this thing comes pouring out. I never seen nothin'
+like it! It's like a barn door with dirty fur on it! It swirls up an'
+around an'&mdash;it wraps its upper end clean around poor Movaine. He never
+even screeches.</p>
+
+<p>"Then everything pops at once. The old guy is laughing like crazy, an'
+that half-smart Rubero drills him right through the head. I take one
+shot at the thing, low so's not to hit Movaine, an' then we're all
+running, I'm halfway to the hall when Cooms tears past me like a
+rocket. The Duke an' the others are already piling out through the
+portal. I get to the hall, and there's this terrific smack of sound in
+the room. I look back ... an' ... an'&mdash;" Baldy paused and gulped.</p>
+
+<p>"And what?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"There, behind the cubicles, I see poor Movaine stickin' halfway out
+o' the wall!" Baldy reported in a hushed whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Half</i>way out of the wall?"</p>
+
+<p>"From the waist up he's in it! From the waist down he's dangling into
+the room! I tell you, I never seen nothin' like it."</p>
+
+<p>"And this Hlat creature&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's gone. I figure the smack I heard was when it hit the wall
+flat, carrying Movaine. It went on into it. Movaine didn't&mdash;at least,
+the last half of him didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said after a pause, "in a way, Movaine got his
+demonstration. The Hlats can move through solid matter and carry other
+objects along with them, as advertised. If Yaco can work out how it's
+done and build a gadget that does the same thing, they're getting the
+Hlats cheap. What happened then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told Marras Cooms about Movaine, and he sent me and a half dozen
+other boys back up here with riot guns to see what we could do for
+him. Which was nothin', of course." Baldy gulped again. "We finally
+cut this end of him off with a beam and took it back down."</p>
+
+<p>"The thing didn't show up while you were here?"</p>
+
+<p>Baldy shuddered and said, "Naw."</p>
+
+<p>"And the technician ... Eltak ... was dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure. Hole in his head you could shove your fist through."</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody," Quillan observed, "ought to drill Rubero for that stupid
+trick!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Duke did&mdash;first thing after we got back to the fourth level."</p>
+
+<p>"So the Hlat's on the loose, and all we really have at the moment are
+the cubicles ... and Rest Warden Kinmarten. Where's he, by the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"He tried to take off when we got down to Level Four, and somebody
+cold-cocked him. The doc says he ought to be coming around again
+pretty soon."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted, shoved the Miam Devil Special into its holster, said,
+"O.K., you stay here where you can watch the room and those passages
+and the hall. If you feel the floor start moving under, scream. I'll
+take a look at the cubicle."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Lady Pendrake's cubicle was about half as big again as a standard one;
+but, aside from one detail, its outer settings, instruments, and
+operating devices appeared normal. The modification was a recess
+almost six feet long and a foot wide and deep, in one side, which
+could be opened either to the room or to the interior of the rest
+cubicle, but not simultaneously to both. Quillan already knew its
+purpose; the supposed other cubicle was a camouflaged food locker,
+containing fifty-pound slabs of sea beef, each of which represented a
+meal for the Hlat. The recess made it possible to feed it without
+allowing it to be seen, or, possibly, attempting to emerge.
+Kinmarten's nervousness, as reported by his wife, seemed
+understandable. Any rest warden might get disturbed over such a
+charge.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan asked over his shoulder, "Anyone find out yet why the things
+can't get out of the closed rest cubicle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy Perk said. "Kinmarten says it's the cubicle's defense
+fields. They could get through the material. They can't get through
+the field."</p>
+
+<p>"Someone think to energize the Executive Block's battle fields?"
+Quillan inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah. Velladon took care of that before he came screaming up to the
+third level to argue with Cooms and Fluel."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_004.jpg" width="600" height="229" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>"So it can't slip out of the Block unless it shows itself down on the
+ground level when the entry lock's open."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy muttered. "But I dunno. Is that good?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked at him. "Well, we <i>would</i> like it back."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? There's fifty more coming in on the liner tonight."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't have the fifty yet. If someone louses up the detail&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yawk!" Baldy said faintly. There was a crash of sound as his riot gun
+went off. Quillan spun about, hair bristling, gun out. "What
+happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll swear," Baldy said, white-faced, "I saw something moving along
+that passage!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked, saw nothing, slowly replaced the gun. "Baldy," he
+said, "if you think you see it again, just say so. That's an order! If
+it comes at us, we get out of this level fast. But we don't shoot
+before we have to. If we kill it, it's no good to us. Got that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy said. "But I got an idea now, Bad News." He nodded at
+the other cubicle. "Let's leave that meat box open."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it's hungry," Baldy explained simply, "I'd sooner it wrapped
+itself around a few chunks of sea beef, an' not around me."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan punched him encouragingly in the shoulder. "Baldy," he said,
+"in your own way, you <i>have</i> had an idea! But we won't leave the meat
+box open. When Kinmarten wakes up, I want him to show me how to bait
+this cubicle with a piece of sea beef, so it'll snap shut if the Hlat
+goes inside. Meanwhile it won't hurt if it gets a little hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"That," said Baldy, "isn't the way <i>I</i> feel about it."</p>
+
+<p>"There must be around a hundred and fifty people in the Executive
+Block at present," Quillan said. "Look at it that way! Even if the
+thing keeps stuffing away, your odds are pretty good, Baldy."</p>
+
+<p>Baldy shuddered.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Aside from a dark bruise high on his forehead, Brock Kinmarten showed
+no direct effects of having been knocked out. However, his face was
+strained and his voice not entirely steady. It was obvious that the
+young rest warden had never been in a similarly unnerving situation
+before. But he was making a valiant effort not to appear frightened
+and, at the same time, to indicate that he would co-operate to the
+best of his ability with his captors.</p>
+
+<p>He'd regained consciousness by the time Quillan and Perk returned to
+the fourth level, and Quillan suggested bringing him to Marras Cooms'
+private quarters for questioning. The Brotherhood chief agreed; he was
+primarily interested in finding out how the Hlat-control device
+functioned.</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten shook his head. He knew nothing about the instrument, he
+said, except that it was called a Hlat-talker. It was very unfortunate
+that Eltak had been shot, because Eltak undoubtedly could have told
+them all they wanted to know about it. If what he had told Kinmarten
+was true, Eltak had been directly involved in the development of the
+device.</p>
+
+<p>"Was he some Federation scientist?" Cooms asked, fiddling absently
+with the mysterious cylindrical object.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," the young man said. "But&mdash;again if what he told me was the
+truth&mdash;he was the man who actually discovered these Hlats. At least,
+he was the first man to discover them who wasn't immediately killed by
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms glanced thoughtfully at Quillan, then asked, "And where was
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten shook his head again. "He didn't tell me. And I didn't
+really want to know. I was anxious to get our convoy to its
+destination, and then to be relieved of the assignment. I ... well,
+I've been trained to act as Rest Warden to human beings, after all,
+not to monstrosities!" He produced an uncertain smile, glancing from
+one to the other of his interrogators. The smile promptly faded out
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"You've no idea at all then about the place they came from?" Cooms
+asked expressionlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," Kinmarten said hastily. "Eltak talked a great deal about
+the Hlats, and actually&mdash;except for its location&mdash;gave me a fairly
+good picture of what the planet must be like. For one thing, it's an
+uncolonized world, of course. It must be terratype or very nearly so,
+because Eltak lived there for fifteen years with apparently only a
+minimum of equipment. The Hlats are confined to a single large
+island. He discovered them by accident and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What was he doing there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, he came from Hyles-Frisian. He was a crim ... he'd been
+engaged in some form of piracy, and when the authorities began looking
+for him, he decided it would be best to get clean out of the Hub. He
+cracked up his ship on this world and couldn't leave again. When he
+discovered the Hlats and realized their peculiar ability, he kept out
+of their way and observed them. He found out they had a means of
+communicating with each other, and that he could duplicate it. That
+stopped them from harming him, and eventually, he said, he was using
+them like hunting dogs. They were accustomed to co-operating with one
+another, because when there was some animal around that was too large
+for one of them to handle, they would attack, it in a group...."</p>
+
+<p>He went on for another minute or two on the subject. The Hlats&mdash;the
+word meant "rock lion" in one of the Hyles-Frisian dialects,
+describing a carnivorous animal which had some superficial resemblance
+to the creatures Eltak had happened on&mdash;frequented the seacoast and
+submerged themselves in sand, rocks and debris, whipping up out of it
+to seize some food animal, and taking it down with them again to
+devour it at leisure.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan interrupted, "You heard what happened to the man it attacked
+on the fifth level?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why would the thing have left him half outside the wall as it did?"</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten said that it must simply have been moving too fast. It could
+slip into and out of solid substances without a pause itself, but it
+needed a little time to restructure an object it was carrying in the same
+manner. No more time, however, than two or three seconds&mdash;depending more
+on the nature of the object than on its size, according to Eltak.</p>
+
+<p>"It can restructure <i>anything</i> in that manner?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten hesitated. "Well, sir, I don't know. I suppose there might
+be limitations on its ability. Eltak told me the one we were escorting
+had been the subject of extensive experimentation during the past
+year, and that the results are very satisfactory."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose it carries a living man through a wall. Will the man still be
+alive when he comes out on the other side, assuming the Hlat doesn't
+kill him deliberately?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. The process itself wouldn't hurt him."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Quillan glanced at Cooms. "You know," he said, "we might be letting
+Yaco off too cheaply!"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms raised an eyebrow warningly, and Quillan grinned. "Our friend
+will be learning about Yaco soon enough. Why did Eltak tell the
+creature to attack, Kinmarten?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I don't know," Kinmarten said. "He was a man of rather violent
+habits. My impression, however, was that he was simply attempting to
+obtain a hostage."</p>
+
+<p>"How did he get off that island with the Hlat?"</p>
+
+<p>"A University League explorer was investigating the planet. Eltak
+contacted them and obtained the guarantee of a full pardon and a large
+cash settlement in return for what he could tell them about the Hlats.
+They took him and this one specimen along for experimentation."</p>
+
+<p>"What about the Hlats on the <i>Camelot</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eltak said those had been quite recently trapped on the island."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms ran his fingers over the cylinder, producing a rapid series of
+squeaks and whistles. "That's one thing Yaco may not like," he
+observed. "They won't have a monopoly on the thing."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head. "Their scientists don't have to work through
+red tape like the U-League. By the time the news breaks&mdash;if the
+Federation ever intends to break it&mdash;Yaco will have at least a
+five-year start on everyone else. That's all an outfit like that
+needs." He looked at Kinmarten. "Any little thing you haven't thought
+to tell us, friend?" he inquired pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>A thin film of sweat showed suddenly on Kinmarten's forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," he said. "I've really told you everything I know. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Might try him under dope," Cooms said absently.</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-uh!" Quillan said, "I want him wide awake to help me bait the
+cubicle for the thing. Has Velladon shown any indication of becoming
+willing to co-operate in hunting it?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms gestured with his head. "Ask Fluel! I sent him down to try to
+patch things up with the commodore. He just showed up again."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan glanced around. The Duke was lounging in the doorway. He
+grinned slightly, said, "Velladon's still sore at us. But he'll talk
+to Quillan. Kinmarten here ... did he tell you his wife's on the
+Star?"</p>
+
+<p>Brock Kinmarten went utterly white. Cooms looked at him, said softly,
+"No, that must have slipped his mind."</p>
+
+<p>Fluel said, "Yeah, Well, she is. And Ryter says they'll have her
+picked up inside half an hour. When they bring her in, we really
+should check on how candid Kinmarten's been about everything."</p>
+
+<p>The rest warden said in a voice that shook uncontrollably, "Gentlemen,
+my wife knows absolutely nothing about these matters! I swear it!
+She&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood up. "Well, I'll go see if I can't get Velladon in a
+better mood. Are you keeping that Hlat-talker, Cooms?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms smiled. "I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Marras figures," the Duke's flat voice explained, "that if the thing
+comes into the room and he squeaks at it a few times, he won't get
+hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"That's possible," Cooms said, unruffled. "At any rate, I intend to
+hang on to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wouldn't play around with those buttons too much," Quillan
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"You might get lucky and tap out some pattern that spells 'Come to
+chow' in the Hlat's vocabulary."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>There were considerably more men in evidence on Level Two than on the
+fourth, and fewer signs of nervousness. The Star men had been told of
+the Hlat's escape from its cubicle, but weren't taking it too
+seriously. Quillan was conducted to the commodore and favored with an
+alarmingly toothy grin. Ryter, the security chief, joined them a few
+seconds later. Apparently, Velladon had summoned him.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon said, "Ryter here's made a few transmitter calls. We hear
+Pappy Boltan pulled his outfit out of the Orado area about a month
+ago. Present whereabouts unknown. Hagready went off on some hush-hush
+job at around the same time."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan smiled. "Uh-huh! So he did."</p>
+
+<p>"We also," said Ryter, "learned a number of things about you
+personally." He produced a thin smile. "You lead a busy
+and&mdash;apparently&mdash;profitable life."</p>
+
+<p>"Business is fair," Quillan agreed. "But it can always be improved."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore turned on the toothy grin. "So all right," he growled,
+"you're clear. We rather liked what we learned. Eh, Ryter?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"This Brotherhood of Beldon, now&mdash;" The commodore shook his head
+heavily.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan was silent a moment. "They might be getting sloppy," he said.
+"I don't know. It's one possibility. They used to be a rather sharp
+outfit, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I'd heard!" Velladon chewed savagely on his mustache,
+asked finally, "What's another possibility?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan leaned back in his chair. "Just a feeling, so far. But the
+business with the cubicle upstairs might have angles that weren't
+mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>They looked at him thoughtfully. Ryter said, "Mind amplifying that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cooms told me," Quillan said, "that Nome Lancion had given Movaine
+instructions to make a test with Lady Pendrake on the quiet and find
+out if those creatures actually can do what they're supposed to do. I
+think he was telling the truth. Nome tends to be overcautious when
+it's a really big deal. Unless he's sure of the Hlats, he wouldn't
+want to be involved in a thing like blowing up the Star and the
+liner."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore scowled absently. "Uh-huh," he said. "He knows we can't
+back out of it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All right. The Brotherhood's full of ambitious men. Behind Lancion,
+Movaine was top man. Cooms behind him; Fluel behind Cooms. Suppose
+that Hlat-control device Cooms is hanging on to so tightly isn't as
+entirely incomprehensible as they make it out to be. Suppose Cooms
+makes a deal with Eltak. Eltak tickles the gadget, and the Hlat kills
+Movaine. Rubero immediately guns down Eltak&mdash;and is killed by Fluel a
+couple of minutes later, supposedly for blowing his top and killing
+the man who knew how to control the Hlat."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter cleared his throat. "Fluel was Movaine's gun," he observed.</p>
+
+<p>"So he was," Quillan said. "Would you like the Duke to be yours?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter grinned, shook his head. "No, thanks!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked back at Velladon. "How well are you actually covered
+against the Brotherhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>that</i>'s air-tight," the commodore said. "We've got 'em
+outgunned here. When the liner lands, we'll be about even. But Lancion
+won't start anything. We're too even. Once we're clear of the Star, we
+don't meet again. We deal with Yaco individually. The Brotherhood has
+the Hlats, and we have the trained Federation technicians accompanying
+them, who ... who&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who alone are supposed to be able to inform Yaco how to control the
+Hlats," Ryter finished for him. The security chief's face was
+expressionless.</p>
+
+<p>"By God!" the commodore said softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's only a possibility that somebody's playing dirty," Quillan
+remarked. "We'd want to be sure of it. But if anyone can handle a Hlat
+with the control instrument, the Brotherhood has an advantage now that
+it isn't talking about&mdash;it can offer Yaco everything Yaco needs in one
+package. Of course, Yaco might still be willing to pay for the Hlat
+technicians. If it didn't, you and Ryter could make the same kind of
+trouble for it that my friends can."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The color was draining slowly from Velladon's face. "There's a
+difference," he said. "If we threaten to make trouble for Yaco, they'd
+see to it that our present employers learn that Ryter and I are still
+alive."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Mooleys, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Tough." Quillan knuckled his chin thoughtfully. "Well, let's put it
+this way then," he said. "My group doesn't have <i>that</i> kind of
+problem, but if things worked out so that we'd have something more
+substantial than nuisance value to offer Yaco, we'd prefer it, of
+course."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon nodded. "Very understandable! Under the circumstances,
+co-operation appears to be indicated, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I had in mind."</p>
+
+<p>"You've made a deal," Velladon said. "Any immediate suggestions?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked at his watch. "A couple. We don't want to make any
+mistake about this. It's still almost five hours before the <i>Camelot</i>
+pulls in, and until she does you're way ahead on firepower. I wouldn't
+make any accusations just now. But you might mention to Cooms you'd
+like to borrow the Hlat gadget to have it examined by some of your
+technical experts. The way he reacts might tell us something. If he
+balks, the matter shouldn't be pushed too hard at the moment&mdash;it's a
+tossup whether you or the Brotherhood has a better claim to the thing.</p>
+
+<p>"But then there's Kinmarten, the rest warden in charge of the cubicle.
+I talked with him while Cooms and Fluel were around, but he may have
+been briefed on what to say. Cooms mentioned doping him, which could
+be a convenient way to keeping him shut up, assuming he knows more
+than he's told. He's one of the personnel you're to offer Yaco. I
+think you can insist on having Kinmarten handed over to you
+immediately. It should be interesting again to see how Cooms reacts."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon's big head nodded vigorously. "Good idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"By the way," Quillan said, "Fluel mentioned you've been looking for
+Kinmarten's wife, the second rest warden on the Pendrake convoy. Found
+her yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a trace, so far," Ryter said.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a little surprising, too, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Under the circumstances," the commodore said, "it might not be
+surprising at all!" He had regained his color, was beginning to look
+angry. "If they&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said soothingly, "we don't <i>know</i>. It's just that
+things do seem to be adding up a little. Now, there's one other point.
+We should do something immediately about catching that Hlat."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon grunted and picked at his teeth with his thumbnail. "It would
+be best to get it back in its cubicle, of course. But I'm not worrying
+about it&mdash;just an animal, after all. Even the light hardware those
+Beldon fancy Dans carry should handle it. You use a man-sized gun, I
+see. So do I. If it shows up around here, it gets smeared, that's all.
+There're fifty more of the beasts on the <i>Camelot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "You're right on that. But there's the possibility
+that it is being controlled by the Brotherhood at present. If it is,
+it isn't just an animal any more. It could be turned into a thoroughly
+dangerous nuisance."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore thought a moment, nodded. "You're right, I suppose. What
+do you want to do about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Baiting the cubicle on the fifth level might work. Then there should
+be life-detectors in the Star's security supplies&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter nodded. "We have a couple of dozen of them, but not in the
+Executive Block. They were left in the security building."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore stood up. "You stay here with Ryter," he told Quillan.
+"There're a couple of other things I want to go over with you two.
+I'll order the life-detectors from the office here&mdash;second passage
+down, isn't it, Ryter?... And, Ryter, I have another idea. I'm pulling
+the man in space-armor off the subspace portal and detailing him to
+Level Five." He grinned at Quillan. "That boy's got a brace of
+grenades and built-in spray guns! If Cooms is thinking of pulling any
+funny stunts up there, he'll think again."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The commodore headed briskly down the narrow passageway, his big
+holstered gun slapping his thigh with every step. The two security
+guards stationed at the door to the second level office came to
+attention as he approached, saluted smartly. He grunted, went in
+without returning the salutes, and started over toward the ComWeb on a
+desk at the far end of the big room, skirting the long, dusty-looking
+black rug beside one wall.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon unbuckled his gun belt, placed the gun on the desk, sat down
+and switched on the ComWeb.</p>
+
+<p>Behind him, the black rug stirred silently and rose up.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"You called that one," Ryter was saying seven or eight minutes later,
+"almost too well!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head, poked at the commodore's gun on the desk with
+his finger, looked about the silent office and back at the door where
+a small group of security men stood staring in at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Three men gone without a sound!" he said. He indicated the glowing
+disk of the ComWeb. "He had time enough to turn it on, not time enough
+to make his call. Any chance of camouflaged portals in this section?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Ryter said. "I know the location of every portal in the
+Executive Block. No number of men could have taken Velladon and the
+two guards without a fight anyway. We'd have heard it. It didn't
+happen that way."</p>
+
+<p>"Which leaves," Quillan said, "one way it could have happened." He
+jerked his head toward the door. "Will those men keep quiet?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I tell them to."</p>
+
+<p>"Then play it like this. Two guards have vanished. The Hlat obviously
+did it. The thing's deadly. That'll keep every man in the group on the
+alert every instant from now on. But we don't say Velladon has
+vanished. He's outside in the Star at the moment, taking care of
+something."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter licked his lips. "What does that buy us?"</p>
+
+<p>"If the Brotherhood's responsible for this&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't take much stock in coincidences," Ryter said.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I. But the Hlat's an animal; it can't tell them it's
+carried out the job. If they don't realize we suspect them, it gives
+us some advantage. For the moment, we just carry on as planned, and
+get rid of the Hlat in one way or another as the first step. The
+thing's three times as dangerous as anyone suspected&mdash;except,
+apparently, the Brotherhood. Get the life-detectors over here as soon
+as you can, and slap a space-armor guard on the fifth level."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter hesitated, nodded. "All right."</p>
+
+<p>"Another thing," Quillan said, "Cooms may have the old trick in mind
+of working from the top down. If he can take you out along with a few
+other key men, he might have this outfit demoralized to the point of
+making up for the difference in the number of guns&mdash;especially if the
+Hlat's still on his team. You'd better keep a handful of the best boys
+you have around here glued to your back from now on."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter smiled bleakly. "Don't worry. I intend to. What about you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think they're planning on giving me any personal attention
+at the moment. My organization is outside, not here. And it would look
+odd to the Brotherhood if I started dragging a few Star guards around
+with me at this point."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's your funeral if you've guessed
+wrong."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"There was nothing," Quillan told Marras Cooms, "that you could
+actually put a finger on. It was just that the commodore and Ryter may
+have something up their sleeves. Velladon's looking too self-satisfied
+to suit me."</p>
+
+<p>The Brotherhood chief gnawed his lower lip reflectively. He seemed
+thoughtful, not too disturbed. Cooms might be thoroughly afraid of the
+escaped Hlat, but he wouldn't have reached his present position in
+Nome Lancion's organization if he had been easily frightened by what
+other men were planning.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "I warned Movaine that if Velladon learned we'd checked out
+the Hlat, he wasn't going to like it."</p>
+
+<p>"He doesn't," Quillan said. "He regards it as something pretty close
+to an attempted double cross."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms grinned briefly. "It was."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. The question is, what can he do about it? He's got you
+outgunned two to one, but if he's thinking of jumping you before
+Lancion gets here, he stands to lose more men than he can afford to
+without endangering the entire operation for himself."</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_005.jpg" width="300" height="876" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Cooms was silent a few seconds. "There's an unpleasant possibility
+which didn't occur to me until a short while ago," he said then. "The
+fact is that Velladon actually may have us outgunned here by something
+like four to one. If that's the case, he can afford to lose quite a
+few men. In fact, he'd prefer to."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan frowned. "<i>Four</i> to one? How's that?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms said, "The commodore told us he intended to let only around half
+of the Seventh Star's security force in on the Hlat deal. The other
+half was supposed to have been dumped out of one of the subspace
+section's locks early today, without benefit of suits. We had no
+reason to disbelieve him. Velladon naturally would want to cut down
+the number of men who got in on the split with him to as many as he
+actually needed. But if he's been thinking about eliminating us from
+the game, those other men may still be alive and armed."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted. "I see. You know, that could explain something that
+looked a little odd to me."</p>
+
+<p>"What was that?" Cooms asked.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan said, "After they discovered down there that two of their
+guards were missing and decided the Hlat must have been on their
+level, I tried to get hold of the commodore again. Ryter told me
+Velladon won't be available for a while, that he's outside in the
+Star, taking care of something there. I wondered what could be
+important enough to get Velladon to leave the Executive Block at
+present, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother, I'm way ahead of you!" Cooms said. His expression hardened.
+"That doesn't look good. But at least he can't bring in reinforcements
+without tipping us off. We've got our own guards down with theirs at
+the entrance."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan gave him a glance, then nodded at the wall beyond them.
+"That's a portal over there, Marras. How many of them on this level?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three or four. Why? The outportals have been plugged, man! Sealed
+off. Fluel checked them over when we moved in."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure they're sealed." Quillan stood up, went to the portal, stood
+looking at the panel beside it a moment, then pressed on it here and
+there, and removed it. "Come over here, friend. I suppose portal
+work's been out of your line. I'll show you how fast a thing like that
+can get unplugged!" He slid a pocketbook-sized tool kit out of his
+belt, snapped it open. About a minute later, the lifeless VACANT sign
+above the portal flickered twice, then acquired a steady white glow.</p>
+
+<p>"Portal in operation," Quillan announced. "I'll seal it off again now.
+But that should give you the idea."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms' tongue flicked over his lips. "Could somebody portal through to
+this level from the Star while the exits are sealed here?"</p>
+
+<p>"If the mechanisms have been set for that purpose, the portals can be
+opened again at any time from the Star side. The Duke's an engineer of
+sorts, isn't he? Let him check on it. He should have been thinking of
+the point himself, as far as that goes. Anyway, Velladon can bring in
+as many men as he likes to his own level without using the main
+entrance." He considered. "I didn't see anything to indicate that he's
+started doing it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Marras Cooms shrugged irritably. "That means nothing! It would be easy
+enough to keep half a hundred men hidden away on any of the lower
+levels."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that's right. Well, if the commodore intends to play rough,
+you should have some warning anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of warning?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's Kinmarten and that Hlat-talking gadget, for example," Quillan
+pointed out. "Velladon would want both of those in his possession and
+out of the way where they can't get hurt before he starts any
+shooting."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms looked at him a few seconds. "Ryter," he said then, "sent half a
+dozen men up here for Kinmarten just after you got back! Velladon's
+supposed to deliver the Hlats' attendants to Yaco, so I let them have
+Kinmarten." He paused. "They asked for the Hlat-talker, too."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted. "Did you give them that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said after a moment, "that doesn't necessarily mean
+that we're in for trouble with the Star group. But it does mean, I
+think, that we'd better stay ready for it!" He stood up. "I'll get
+back down there and go on with the motions of getting the hunt for
+the Hlat organized. Velladon would sooner see the thing get caught,
+too, of course, so he shouldn't try to interfere with that. If I spot
+anything that looks suspicious, I'll get the word to you."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I never," said Orca, unconsciously echoing Baldy Perk, "saw anything
+like it!" The commodore's chunky little gunman was ashen-faced. The
+circle of Star men standing around him hardly looked happier. Most of
+them were staring down at the empty lower section of a suit of space
+armor which appeared to have been separated with a neat diagonal slice
+from its upper part.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's get it straight," Ryter said, a little unsteadily. "You say
+this half of the suit was lying against the wall like <i>that</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly," Quillan told him. "When we got up to the fifth level,
+the suit was stuck against the wall&mdash;like that&mdash;about eight feet above
+the floor. That was in the big room where the cubicles are. When
+Kinmarten and Orca and I finally got the suit worked away from the
+wall, I expected frankly that we'd find half the body of the guard
+still inside. But he'd vanished."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter cleared his throat. "Apparently," he said, "the creature drew
+the upper section of the suit into the wall by whatever means it uses,
+then stopped applying the transforming process to the metal, and
+simply moved on with the upper part of the suit and the man."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "That's what it looks like."</p>
+
+<p>"But he had <i>two grenades</i>!" Orca burst out. "He had sprayguns! How
+could it get him that way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," Quillan said, "grenades won't help you much if you don't
+spot what's moving up behind you!"</p>
+
+<p>Orca glared speechlessly at him. Ryter said, "All right! We've lost
+another man. We're not going to lose any more. We'll station no more
+guards on the fifth level. Now, get everyone who isn't on essential
+guard duty to the main room, and split 'em up into life-detector
+units. Five men to each detail, one to handle the detector, four to
+stay with him, guns out. If the thing comes back to this level, we
+want to have it spotted the instant it arrives. Orca, you stay
+here&mdash;and keep <i>your</i> gun out!"</p>
+
+<p>The men filed out hurriedly. Ryter turned to Quillan. "Were you able
+to get the cubicle baited?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "Kinmarten figured out how the thing should be set for
+the purpose. If the Hlat goes in after the sea beef, it's trapped. Of
+course, if the hunting it's been doing was for food, it mightn't be
+interested in the beef."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't know," Ryter said, "that the hunting it's been doing was for
+food."</p>
+
+<p>"No. Did you manage to get the control device from Cooms?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shook his head. "He's refused to hand it over."</p>
+
+<p>"If you tried to take it from him," Quillan said, "you might have a
+showdown on your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"And if this keeps on," Ryter said, "I may prefer a showdown! Another
+few rounds of trouble with the Hlat, and the entire operation could
+blow up in our faces! The men aren't used to that kind of thing. It's
+shaken them up. If we've got to take care of the Brotherhood, I'd
+rather do it while I still have an organized group. Where did you
+leave Kinmarten, by the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's back in the little room with his two guards," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he should be all right there. We can't spare&mdash;" Ryter's body
+jerked violently. "<i>What's that?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>There had been a single thudding crash somewhere in the level. Then
+shouts and cursing.</p>
+
+<p>"Main hall!" Quillan said. "Come on!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The main hall was a jumble of excitedly jabbering Star men when they
+arrived there. Guns waved about, and the various groups were showing a
+marked tendency to stand with their backs toward one another and their
+faces toward the walls.</p>
+
+<p>Ryter's voice rose in a shout that momentarily shut off the hubbub.
+"<i>What's going on here?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Men turned, hands pointed, voices babbled again. Someone nearby said
+sharply and distinctly, "... Saw it drop right out of the ceiling!"
+Farther down the hall, another group shifted aside enough to disclose
+it had been clustered about something which looked a little like the
+empty shell of a gigantic black beetle.</p>
+
+<p>The missing section of the suit of space armor had been returned. But
+not its occupant.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan moved back a step, turned, went back down the passage from
+which they had emerged, pulling the Miam Devil from its holster.
+Behind him the commotion continued; Ryter was shouting something about
+getting the life-detector units over there. Quillan went left down the
+first intersecting corridor, right again on the following one, keeping
+the gun slightly raised before him. Around the next corner, he saw the
+man on guard over the portal connecting the building levels facing
+him, gun pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"What happened?" the guard asked shakily.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head, coming up. "That thing got another one!"</p>
+
+<p>The guard breathed, "By God!" and lowered his gun a little. Quillan
+raised his a little, the Miam Devil grunted, and the guard sighed and
+went down. Quillan went past him along the hall, stopped two doors
+beyond the portal and rapped on the locked door.</p>
+
+<p>"Quillan here! Open up!"</p>
+
+<p>The door opened a crack, and one of Kinmarten's guards looked out
+questioningly. Quillan shot him through the head, slammed on into the
+room across the collapsing body, saw the second guard wheeling toward
+him, shot again, and slid the gun back into the holster. Kinmarten,
+standing beside a table six feet away, right hand gripping a heavy
+marble ashtray, was staring at him in white-faced shock.</p>
+
+<p>"Take it easy, chum!" Quillan said, turning toward him. "I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He ducked hurriedly as the ashtray came whirling through the air
+toward his head. An instant later, a large fist smacked the side of
+Kinmarten's jaw. The rest warden settled limply to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry to do that, pal," Quillan muttered, stooping over him. "Things
+are rough all over right now." He hauled Kinmarten upright, bent, and
+had the unconscious young man across his shoulder. The hall was still
+empty except for the body of the portal guard. Quillan laid Kinmarten
+on the carpet before the portal, hauled the guard off into the room,
+and pulled the door to the room shut behind him as he came out.
+Picking up Kinmarten, he stepped into the portal with him and jabbed
+the fifth level button. A moment later, he moved out into the small
+dim entry hall on the fifth level, the gun in his right hand again.</p>
+
+<p>He stood there silently for some seconds, looking about him listening.
+The baited cubicle yawned widely at him from the center of the big
+room. Nothing seemed to be stirring. Kinmarten went back to the floor.
+Quillan moved over to the panel which concealed the other portal's
+mechanisms.</p>
+
+<p>He had the outportal unsealed in considerably less than a minute this
+time, and slapped the panel gently back in place. He turned back to
+Kinmarten and started to bend down for him, then straightened quietly
+again, turning his head.</p>
+
+<p>Had there been a flicker of shadowy motion just then at the edge of
+his vision, behind the big black cube of the Hlat's food locker?
+Quillan remained perfectly still, the Miam Devil ready and every sense
+straining for an indication that the thing was there&mdash;or approaching
+stealthily now, gliding behind the surfaces of floor or ceiling or
+walls like an underwater swimmer.</p>
+
+<p>But half a minute passed and nothing else happened. He went down on
+one knee beside Kinmarten, the gun still in his right hand. With his
+left, he carefully wrestled the rest warden back up across his
+shoulder, came upright, moved three steps to the side, and disappeared
+in the outportal.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Reetal Destone unlocked the entry door to her suite and stepped
+hurriedly inside, letting the door slide shut behind her. She crossed
+the room to the ComWeb stand and switched on the playback. There was
+the succession of tinkling tones which indicated nothing had been
+recorded.</p>
+
+<p>She shut the instrument off again, passing her tongue lightly over her
+lips. No further messages from Heraga....</p>
+
+<p>And none from Quillan.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head, feeling a surge of sharp anxiety, glanced at her
+watch and told herself that, after all, less than two hours had passed
+since Quillan had gone into the Executive Block. Heraga reported there
+had been no indications of disturbance or excitement when he passed
+through the big entrance hall on his way out. So Quillan, at any
+rate, had succeeded in bluffing his way into the upper levels.</p>
+
+<p>It remained a desperate play, at best.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal went down the short passage to her bedroom. As she came into
+the room, her arms were caught from the side at the elbows, pulled
+suddenly and painfully together behind her. She stood still, frozen
+with shock.</p>
+
+<p>"In a hurry, sweetheart?" Fluel's flat voice said.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal managed a breathless giggle. "Duke! You startled me! How did
+you get in?"</p>
+
+<p>She felt one hand move up her arm to her shoulder. Then she was swung
+about deftly and irresistibly, held pinned back against the wall,
+still unable to move her arms.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her a moment, asked, "Where are you hiding it this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hiding what, Duke?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been told sweet little Reetal always carries a sweet little gun
+around with her in some shape or form or other."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal shook her head, her eyes widening. "Duke, what's the matter?
+I...."</p>
+
+<p>He let go of her suddenly, and his slap exploded against the side of
+her face. Reetal cried out, dropping her head between her hands.
+Immediately he had her wrists again, and her fingers were jerked away
+from the jeweled ornament in her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"So that's where it is!" Fluel said. "Thought it might be. Don't get
+funny again now, sweetheart. Just stay quiet."</p>
+
+<p>She stayed quiet, wincing a little as he plucked the glittering little
+device out of her hair. He turned it around in his fingers, examining
+it, smiled and slid it into an inside pocket, and took her arm again.
+"Let's go to the front room, Reetal," he said almost pleasantly.
+"We've got a few things to do."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>A minute later, she was seated sideways on a lounger, her wrists
+fastened right and left to its armrests. The Duke placed a pocket
+recorder on the floor beside her. "This is a crowded evening,
+sweetheart," he remarked, "which is lucky for you in a way. We'll have
+to rush things along a little. I'll snap the recorder on in a minute
+so you can answer questions&mdash;No, keep quiet. Just listen very closely
+now, so you'll know what the right answers are. If you get rattled and
+gum things up, the Duke's going to get annoyed with you."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down a few feet away from her, hitched his shoulders to
+straighten out the silver jacket, and lit a cigarette. "A little while
+after Bad News Quillan turned up just now," he went on, "a few things
+occurred to me. One of them was that a couple of years ago you and he
+were operating around Beldon at about the same time. I thought, well,
+maybe you knew each other; maybe not. And then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," Reetal said uncertainly, "just what are you talking about? I
+don't know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up." He reached over, tapped her knee lightly with his
+fingertips. "Of course, if you want to get slapped around, all right.
+Otherwise, don't interrupt again. Like I said, you're in luck; I don't
+have much time to spend here. You're getting off very easy. Now just
+listen.</p>
+
+<p>"Bad News knew a lot about our operation and had a story to explain
+that. If the story was straight, we couldn't touch him. But I was
+wondering about the two of you happening to be here on the Star again
+at the same time. A team maybe, eh? But he didn't mention you as being
+in on the deal. So what was the idea?</p>
+
+<p>"And then, sweetheart, I remembered something else&mdash;and that tied it
+in. Know that little jolt people sometimes get when they're dropping
+off to sleep? Of course. Know another time they sometimes get it? When
+they're snapping back out of a Moment of Truth, eh? I remembered
+suddenly I'd felt a little jump like that while we were talking
+to-day. Might have been a reflex of some kind. Of course, it didn't
+occur to me at the time you could be pulling a lousy stunt like that
+on old Duke. Why take a chance on getting your neck broken?</p>
+
+<p>"But, sweetheart, that's the tie-in! Quillan hasn't told it straight.
+He's got no backing. He's on his own. There's no gang outside
+somewhere that knows all about our little deal. He got his information
+right here, from you. And you got it from dumb old Duke, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," Reetal said quite calmly, "can I ask just one question?"</p>
+
+<p>He stared bleakly at her a moment, then grinned. "It's my night to be
+big-hearted, I guess. Go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not trying to argue. But it simply doesn't make sense. If I
+learned about this operation you're speaking of from you, what reason
+could I have to feed you Truth in the first place? There'd be almost a
+fifty-fifty chance that you'd spot it immediately. Why should I take
+such a risk? Don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>Fluel shrugged, dropped his cigarette and ground it carefully into the
+carpet with the tip of his shoe.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll start answering those questions yourself almost immediately,
+sweetheart! Let's not worry about that now. Let me finish. Something
+happened to Movaine couple of hours ago. Nobody's fault. And something
+else happened to Marras Cooms just now. That puts me in charge of the
+operation here. Nice, isn't it? When we found Cooms lying in the hall
+with a hole through his stupid head, I told Baldy Perk it looked like
+Bad News had thrown in with the Star boys and done it. Know Baldy?
+He's Cooms' personal gun. Not what you'd call bright, and he's mighty
+hot now about Cooms. I left him in charge on our level, with orders to
+get Quillan the next time he shows up there. Well and good. The boys
+know Bad News' rep too well to try asking him questions. They won't
+take chances with him. They'll just gun him down together the instant
+they see him."</p>
+
+<p>He paused to scuff his shoe over the mark the cigarette had left on
+the carpet, went on, "But there's Nome Lancion now. He kind of liked
+Cooms, and he might get suspicious. When there's a sudden vacancy in
+the organization like that. Nome takes a good look first at the man
+next in line. He likes to be sure the facts are as stated.</p>
+
+<p>"So now you know the kind of answers from you I want to hear go down
+on the recorder, sweetheart. And be sure they sound right. I don't
+want to waste time on replays. You and Quillan were here on the Star.
+You got some idea of what was happening, realized you were due to be
+vaporized along with the rest of them after we left. There was no way
+out of the jam for you unless you could keep the operation from being
+carried out. You don't, by the way, mention getting any of that
+information from me. I don't want Lancion to think I'm beginning to
+get dopey. You and Quillan just cooked up this story, and he managed
+to get into the Executive Block. The idea being to knock off as many
+of the leaders as he could, and mess things up."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Fluel picked up the recorder, stood up, and placed it on the chair.
+"That's all you have to remember. You're a smart girl; you can fill in
+the details any way you like. Now let's get started&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She stared at him silently for an instant, a muscle beginning to
+twitch in her cheek. "If I do that," she said, "if I give you a story
+Nome will like, what happens next?"</p>
+
+<p>Fluel shrugged. "Just what you're thinking happens next. You're a dead
+little girl right now, Reetal. Might as well get used to the idea.
+You'd be dead anyhow four, five hours from now, so that shouldn't make
+too much difference. What makes a lot of difference is just how
+unpleasant the thing can get."</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long breath. "Duke, I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You're stalling, sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>"Duke, give me a break. I really didn't know a thing about this. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He looked down at her for a moment. "I gave you a break," he said.
+"You've wasted it. Now we'll try it the other way. If we work a few
+squeals into the recording, that'll make it more convincing to
+Lancion. He'll figure little Reetal's the type who wouldn't spill a
+thing like that without a little pressure." He checked himself,
+grinned. "And that reminds me. When you're talking for the record, use
+your own voice."</p>
+
+<p>"My own voice?" she half whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"Nome will remember what you sound like&mdash;and I've heard that voice
+imitations are part of your stock in trade. You might think it was
+cute if Nome got to wondering after you were dead whether that really
+had been you talking. Don't try it, sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>He brought a glove out of his jacket pocket, slipped it over his left
+hand, flexing his fingers to work it into position. Reetal's eyes
+fastened on the rounded metal tips capping thumb, forefinger and
+middle finger of the glove. Her face went gray.</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," she said, "No&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up." He brought out a strip of transparent plastic, moved over
+to her. The gloved hand went into her hair, gripped it, turned her
+face up. He laid the plastic gag lengthwise over her mouth, pressed it
+down and released it. Reetal closed her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll keep it shut," he said. "Now&mdash;" His right hand clamped about
+the back of her neck, forcing her head down and forward almost to her
+knees. The gloved left hand brushed her hair forwards, then its middle
+finger touched the skin at a point just above her shoulder blades.</p>
+
+<p>"Right there," Fluel said. The finger stiffened, drove down.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal jerked violently, twisted, squirmed sideways, wrists straining
+against the grip of the armrests. Her breath burst out of her
+nostrils, followed by squeezed, whining noises. The metal-capped
+finger continued to grind savagely against the nerve center it had
+found.</p>
+
+<p>"Thirty," Fluel said finally. He drew his hand back, pulled her
+upright again, peeled the gag away from her lips. "Only thirty
+seconds, sweetheart. Think you'd sooner play along now?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal's head nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine. Give you a minute to steady up. This doesn't really waste much
+time, you see&mdash;" He took up the recorder, sat down on the chair again,
+watching her. She was breathing raggedly and shallowly, eyes wide and
+incredulous. She didn't look at him.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke lit another cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>"Incidentally," he observed, "if you were stalling because you hoped
+old Bad News might show up, forget it. If the boys haven't gunned him
+down by now, he's tied up on a job the commodore gave him to do. He'll
+be busy another hour or two on that. He&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He checked himself. A central section of the wall paneling across the
+room from him had just dilated open. Old Bad News stood in the
+concealed suite portal, Rest Warden Kinmarten slung across his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Both men moved instantly. Fluel's long legs bounced him sideways out
+of the chair, right hand darting under his coat, coming out with a
+gun. Quillan turned to the left to get Kinmarten out of the way. The
+big Miam Devil seemed to jump into his hand. Both guns spoke together.</p>
+
+<p>Fluel's gun thudded to the carpet. The Duke said, "Ah-aa-ah!" in a
+surprised voice, rolled up his eyes, and followed the gun down.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan said, stunned, "He was fast! I felt that one parting my hair."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>He became very solicitous then&mdash;after first ascertaining that Fluel
+had left the Executive Block unaccompanied, on personal business. He
+located a pain killer spray in Reetal's bedroom and applied it to the
+bruised point below the back of her neck. She was just beginning to
+relax gratefully, as the warm glow of the spray washed out the pain
+and the feeling of paralysis, when Kinmarten, lying on the carpet
+nearby, began to stir and mutter.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_006.jpg" width="300" height="865" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Quillan hastily put down the spray.</p>
+
+<p>"Watch him!" he cautioned. "I'll be right back. If he sits up, yell.
+He's a bit wild at the moment. If he wakes up and sees the Duke lying
+there, he'll start climbing the walls."</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;" Reetal began. But he was gone down the hall.</p>
+
+<p>He returned immediately with a glass of water, went down on one knee
+beside Kinmarten, slid an arm under the rest warden's shoulder, and
+lifted him to a sitting position.</p>
+
+<p>"Wake up, old pal!" he said loudly. "Come on, wake up! Got something
+good for you here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you giving him?" Reetal asked, cautiously massaging the back
+of her neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Knockout drops. I already had to lay him out once. We want to lock
+him up with his wife now, and if he comes to and tells her what's
+happened, they'll both be out of their minds by the time we come to
+let them out&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted himself. Kinmarten's eyelids were fluttering. Quillan
+raised the glass to his lips. "Here you are, pal," he said in a deep,
+soothing voice. "Drink it! It'll make you feel a lot better."</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten swallowed obediently, swallowed again. His eyelids stopped
+fluttering. Quillan lowered him back to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"That ought to do it," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"What," Reetal asked, "did happen? The Duke&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell you as much as I can after we get Kinmarten out of the way. I
+have to get back to the Executive Block. Things are sort of teetering
+on the edge there." He jerked his head at Fluel's body. "I want to
+know about him, too, of course. Think you can walk now?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal groaned. "I can try," she said.</p>
+
+<p>They found Solvey Kinmarten dissolved in tears once more. She flung
+herself on her husband's body when Quillan place him on the bed. "What
+have those <i>beasts</i> done to Brock?" she demanded fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing very bad," Quillan said soothingly. "He's, um, under sedation
+at the moment, that's all. We've got him away from them now, and he's
+safe ... look at it that way. You stay here and take care of him.
+We'll have the whole deal cleared up before morning, doll. Then you
+can both come out of hiding again." He gave her an encouraging wink.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so very grateful to both of you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No trouble, really. But we'd better get back to work on the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Heck," Quillan said a few seconds later, as he and Reetal came out on
+the other side of the portal, "I feel like hell about those two. Nice
+little characters! Well, if the works blow up, they'll never know it."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We</i>'ll know it," Reetal said meaningly. "Start talking."</p>
+
+<p>He rattled through a brief account of events in the Executive Block,
+listened to her report on the Duke's visit, scratched his jaw
+reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"That might help!" he observed. "They're about ready to jump down
+each other's throats over there right now. A couple more pushes&mdash;" He
+stood staring down at the Duke's body for a moment. Blood soiled the
+back of the silver jacket, seeping out from a tear above the heart
+area. Quillan bent down, got his hands under Fluel's armpits, hauled
+the body upright.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal asked, startled, "What are you going to do with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something useful, I think. And wouldn't that shock the Duke ... the
+first time he's been of any use to anybody. Zip through the Star's
+ComWeb directory, doll, and get me the call symbol for Level Four of
+the Executive Block!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Solvey Kinmarten dimmed the lights a trifle in the bedroom, went back
+to Brock, rearranged the pillows under his head, and bent down to
+place her lips tenderly to the large bruises on his forehead and the
+side of his jaw. Then she brought a chair up beside the bed, and sat
+down to watch him.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps a minute later, there was a slight noise behind her. Startled,
+she glanced around, saw something huge, black and shapeless moving
+swiftly across the carpet of the room toward her.</p>
+
+<p>Solvey quietly fainted.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Sure you know what to say?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal moistened her lips. "Just let me go over it in my mind once
+more." She was sitting on the floor, on the right side of the ComWeb
+stand, her face pale and intent, "You know," she said, "this makes me
+feel a little queasy somehow, Quillan! And suppose they don't fall for
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"They'll fall for it!" Quillan was on his knees in front of the stand,
+supporting Fluel's body, which was sprawled half across it, directly
+before the lit vision screen. An outflung arm hid the Duke's face from
+the screen. "You almost had <i>me</i> thinking I was listening to Fluel
+when you did the take-off of him this evening. A dying man can be
+expected to sound a little odd, anyway." He smiled at her
+encouragingly. "Ready now?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal nodded nervously, cleared her throat.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan reached across Fluel tapped out Level Four's call symbol on
+the instrument, ducked back down below the stand. After a moment,
+there was a click.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal produced a quavering, agonized groan. Somebody else gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Duke</i>!" Baldy Perk's voice shouted. "What's happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Baldy Perk!" Quillan whispered quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal stammered hoarsely, "The c-c-commodore, Baldy! Shot me ... shot
+Marras! They're after ... Quillan ... now!"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought Bad News...." Baldy sounded stunned.</p>
+
+<p>"Was w-wrong, Baldy," Reetal croaked. "Bad News ... with us! Bad News ...
+pal! The c-c-comm&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the ComWeb stand the palm of Quillan's right hand thrust
+abruptly up and forward. The stand tilted, went crashing back to the
+floor. Fluel's body lurched over with it. The vision screen shattered.
+Baldy's roaring question was cut off abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Great stuff, doll!" Quillan beamed, helping Reetal to her feet. "You
+sent shudders down my back!"</p>
+
+<p>"Down mine, too!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get him out of here now. Ditch him in one of the shut-off
+sections. Then I'll get back to the Executive Block. If Ryter's
+thought to look into Kinmarten's room, they'll really be raving on
+both sides there now!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that necessary?" Reetal asked. "For you to go back, I mean.
+Somebody besides Fluel might have become suspicious of you by now."</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter might," Quillan agreed. "He's looked like the sharpest of the
+lot right from the start. But we'll have to risk that. We've got all
+the making of a shooting war there now, but we've got to make sure it
+gets set off before somebody thinks of comparing notes. If I'm around,
+I'll keep jolting at their nerves."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you're right. Now, our group&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "No need to hold off on that any longer, the way
+things are moving. Get on another ComWeb and start putting out those
+Mayday messages right now! As soon as you've rounded the boys up&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That might," Reetal said, "take a little less than an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Fine. Then move them right into the Executive Block. With just a bit
+of luck, one hour from now should land them in the final stages of a
+beautiful battle on the upper levels. Give them my description and
+Ryter's, so we don't have accidents."</p>
+
+<p>"Why Ryter's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Found out he was the boy who took care of the bomb-planting detail.
+We want him alive. The others mightn't know where it's been tucked
+away. Heraga says the clerical staff and technicians in there are all
+wearing the white Star uniforms. Anyone else who isn't in one of those
+uniforms is fair game&mdash;" He paused. "Oh, and tip them off about the
+Hlat!&mdash;God only knows what that thing will be doing when the ruckus
+starts."</p>
+
+<p>"What about sending a few men in through the fifth level portal, the
+one you've unplugged?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan considered, shook his head. "No. Down on the ground level is
+where we want them. They'd have to portal there again from the fifth,
+and a portal is too easy to seal off and defend. Now let's get a
+blanket or something to tuck Fluel into. I don't want to feel
+conspicuous if I run into somebody on the way."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Quillan emerged cautiously from the fifth portal in the Executive
+Block a short while later, came to a sudden stop just outside it. In
+the big room beyond the entry hall, the door of the baited cubicle was
+closed, and the life-indicator on the door showed a bright steady
+green glow.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stared at it a moment, looking somewhat surprised, then went
+quietly into the room and bent to study the cubicle's instruments. A
+grin spread slowly over his face. The trap had been sprung. He glanced
+at the deep-rest setting and turned it several notches farther down.</p>
+
+<p>"Happy dreams, Lady Pendrake!" he murmured. "That takes care of you.
+What an appetite! And now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>As the Level Four portal dilated open before him, a gun blazed from
+across the hall. Quillan flung himself out and down, rolled to the
+side, briefly aware of a litter of bodies and tumbled furniture
+farther up the hall. Then he was flat on the carpet, gun out before
+him, pointing back at the overturned, ripped couch against the far
+wall from which the fire had come.</p>
+
+<p>A hoarse voice bawled, "Bad News&mdash;hold it!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan hesitated, darting a glance right and left. Men lying about
+everywhere, the furnishings a shambles. "That you, Baldy?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy Perk half sobbed. "I'm hurt&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Star</i> gang jumped us. Portaled in here&mdash;spitballs and riot guns! Bad
+News, we're clean wiped out! Everyone that was on this level&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood up, holstering the gun, went over to the couch and moved
+it carefully away from the wall. Baldy was crouched behind it,
+kneeling on the blood-soaked carpet, gun in his right hand. He lifted
+a white face, staring eyes, to Quillan.</p>
+
+<p>"Waitin' for 'em to come back," he muttered. "Man, I'm not for long!
+Got hit twice. Near passed out a couple of times already."</p>
+
+<p>"What about your boys on guard downstairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Same thing there, I guess ... or they'd have showed up. They got
+Cooms and the Duke, too! Man, it all happened fast!"</p>
+
+<p>"And the crew on the freighter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dunno about them."</p>
+
+<p>"You know the freighter's call number?"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Never thought of that," Baldy said wearily. He
+seemed dazed now.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see if you can stand."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan helped the big man to his feet. Baldy hadn't bled too much
+outwardly, but he seemed to have estimated his own condition
+correctly. He wasn't for long. Quillan slid an arm under his
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's a ComWeb?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy blinked about. "Passage there&mdash;" His voice was beginning to
+thicken.</p>
+
+<p>The ComWeb was in the second room up the passage. Quillan eased Perk
+into the seat before it. Baldy's head lolled heavily forward, like a
+drunken man's. "What's the number?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy reflected a few seconds, blinking owlishly at the instrument,
+then told him. Quillan tapped out the number, flicked on the vision
+screen, then stood aside and back, beyond the screen's range.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah, Perk?" a voice said some seconds later. "Hey, <i>Perk</i> ... Perk,
+what's with ya?"</p>
+
+<p>Baldy spat blood, grinned. "Shot&mdash;" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah." Baldy scowled, blinking. "Now, lessee&mdash;Oh, yeah. Star gang's
+gonna jump ya! Watch it!"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah, watch&mdash;" Baldy coughed, laid his big head slowly down face
+forward on the ComWeb stand, and stopping moving.</p>
+
+<p>"Perk! Man, wake up! Perk!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan quietly took out the gun, reached behind the stand and blew
+the ComWeb apart. He wasn't certain what the freighter's crew would
+make of the sudden break in the connection, but they could hardly
+regard it as reassuring. He made a brief prowl then through the main
+sections of the level. Evidence everywhere of a short and furious
+struggle, a struggle between men panicked and enraged almost beyond
+any regard for self-preservation. It must have been over in minutes.
+He found that the big hall portal to the ground level had been sealed,
+whether before or after the shooting he couldn't know. There would
+have been around twenty members of the Brotherhood on the level. None
+of them had lived as long as Baldy Perk, but they seemed to have
+accounted for approximately an equal number of the Star's security
+force first.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Five Star men came piling out of the fifth level portal behind him a
+minute or two later, Ryter in the lead. Orca behind Ryter. All five
+held leveled guns.</p>
+
+<p>"You won't need the hardware," Quillan assured them. "It's harmless
+enough now. Come on in."</p>
+
+<p>They followed him silently up to the cubicle, stared comprehendingly
+at dials and indicators. "The thing's back inside there, all right!"
+Ryter said. He looked at Quillan. "Is this where you've been all the
+time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, Where else?" The others were forming a half-circle about him, a
+few paces back.</p>
+
+<p>"Taking quite a chance with that Hlat, weren't you?" Ryter remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Not too much. I thought of something." Quillan indicated the
+outportal in the hall. "I had my back against that. A portal's
+space-break, not solid matter. It couldn't come at me from behind. And
+if it attacked from any other angle"&mdash;he tapped the holstered Miam
+Devil lightly, and the gun in Orca's hand jerked upward a fraction of
+an inch&mdash;"There aren't many animals that can swallow more than a bolt
+or two from that baby and keep coming."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence. Then Orca said thoughtfully, "That would
+work!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did it see you?" Ryter asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It couldn't have. First <i>I</i> saw of it, it was sailing out from that
+corner over there. It slammed in after that chunk of sea beef so fast,
+it shook the cubicle. And that was that." He grinned. "Well, most of
+our troubles should be over now!"</p>
+
+<p>One of the men gave a brief, nervous laugh. Quillan looked at him
+curiously. "Something, chum?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shook his head. "Something is right! Come on downstairs again,
+Bad News. This time we have news for you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Brotherhood guards on the ground level had been taken by surprise
+and shot down almost without losses for the Star men. But the battle
+on the fourth level had cost more than the dead left up there. An
+additional number had returned with injures that were serious enough
+to make them useless for further work.</p>
+
+<p>"It's been expensive," Ryter admitted. "But one more attack by the
+Hlat would have left me with a panicked mob on my hands. If we'd
+realized it was going to trap itself&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't so sure that would work either," Quillan said. "Did you get
+Kinmarten back?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. The chances are he's locked up somewhere on the fourth
+level. Now the Hlat's out of the way, some of the men have gone back
+up there to look for him. If Cooms thought he was important enough to
+start a fight over, I want him back."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the crew on the Beldon ship?" Quillan asked, "Have they
+been cleaned up?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Ryter said. "We'll have to do that now, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"How many of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Supposedly twelve. And that's probably what it is."</p>
+
+<p>"If they know or suspect what's happened," Quillan said, "twelve men
+can give a boarding party in a lock a remarkable amount of trouble."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shrugged irritably. "I know, but there isn't much choice.
+Lancion's bringing in the other group on the <i>Camelot</i>. We don't want
+to have to handle both of them at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"How are you planning to take the freighter?"</p>
+
+<p>"When the search party comes back down, we'll put every man we can
+spare from guard duty here on the job. They'll be instructed to be
+careful about it ... if they can wind up the matter within the next
+several hours, that will be early enough. We can't afford too many
+additional losses now. But we should come out with enough men to take
+care of Lancion and handle the shipment of Hlats. And that's what
+counts."</p>
+
+<p>"Like me to take charge of the boarding party?" Quillan inquired.
+"That sort of thing's been a kind of specialty of mine."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter looked at him without much expression on his face. "I understand
+that," he said. "But perhaps it would be better if you stayed up here
+with us."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The search party came back down ten minutes later. They'd looked
+through every corner of the fourth level. Kinmarten wasn't there,
+either dead or alive. But one observant member of the group had
+discovered, first, that the Duke of Fluel was also not among those
+present, and, next that one of the four outportals on the level had
+been unsealed. The exit on which the portal was found to be set was in
+a currently unused hall in the General Office building on the other
+side of the Star. From that hall, almost every other section of the
+Star was within convenient portal range.</p>
+
+<p>None of the forty-odd people working in the main control office on the
+ground level had actually witnessed any shooting; but it was apparent
+that a number of them were uncomfortably aware that something quite
+extraordinary must be going on. They were a well-disciplined group,
+however. An occasional uneasy glance toward one of the armed men
+lounging along the walls, some anxious faces, were the only noticeable
+indications of tension. Now and then, there was a brief, low-pitched
+conversation at one of the desks.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood near the center of the office, Ryter and Orca a dozen
+feet from him on either side. Four Star guards were stationed along
+the walls. From the office one could see through a large doorspace cut
+through both sides of a hall directly into the adjoining transmitter
+room. Four more guards were in there. Aside from the men in the
+entrance hall and at the subspace portal, what was available at the
+moment of Ryter's security force was concentrated at this point.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangement made considerable sense; and Quillan gave no sign of
+being aware that the eyes of the guards shifted to him a little more
+frequently than to any other point in the office, or that none of them
+had moved his hand very far away from his gun since they had come in
+here. But that also made sense. In the general tension area of the
+Executive Block's ground level, a specific point of tension&mdash;highly
+charged though undetected by the non-involved personnel&mdash;was the one
+provided by the presence of Bad News Quillan here. Ryter was more than
+suspicious by now; the opened portal on the fourth level, the
+disappearance of Kinmarten and the Duke, left room for a wide variety
+of speculations. Few of those speculations could be very favorable to
+Bad News. Ryter obviously preferred to let things stand as they were
+until the Beldon freighter was taken and the major part of his group
+had returned from the subspace sections of the Star. At that time, Bad
+News could expect to come in for some very direct questioning by the
+security chief.</p>
+
+<p>The minutes dragged on. Under the circumstances, a glance at his watch
+could be enough to bring Ryter's uncertainties up to the explosion
+point, and Quillan also preferred to let things stand as they were for
+the moment. But he felt reasonably certain that over an hour had
+passed since he'd left Reetal; and so far there had been no hint of
+anything unusual occurring in the front part of the building. The
+murmur of voices in the main control office continued to eddy about
+him. There were indications that in the transmitter room across the
+hall messages had begun to be exchanged between the Star and the
+approaching liner.</p>
+
+<p>A man sitting at a desk near Quillan stood up presently, went out into
+the hall and disappeared. A short while later, the white-suited figure
+returned and picked up the interrupted work. Quillan's glance went
+over the clerk, shifted on. He felt something tighten up swiftly
+inside him. There was a considerable overall resemblance, but <i>that</i>
+wasn't the man who had left the office.</p>
+
+<p>Another minute or two went by. Then two other uniformed figures
+appeared at the opening to the hall, a sparse elderly man, a blond
+girl. They stood there talking earnestly together for some seconds,
+then came slowly down the aisle toward Quillan. It appeared to be an
+argument about some detail of her work. The girl frowned, stubbornly
+shaking her head. Near Quillan they separated, started off into
+different sections of the office. The girl, glancing back, still
+frowning, brushed against Ryter. She looked up at him, startled.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Ryter scowled irritably, started to say something, suddenly appeared
+surprised. Then his eyes went blank and his knees buckled under him.</p>
+
+<p>The clerk sitting at the nearby desk whistled shrilly.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan wheeled, gun out and up, toward the wall behind him. The two
+guards there were still lifting their guns. The Miam Devil grunted
+disapprovingly twice, and the guards went down. Noise crashed from the
+hall ... heavy sporting rifles. He turned again, saw the two other
+guards stumbling backward along the far wall. Feminine screaming
+erupted around the office as the staff dove out of sight behind desks,
+instrument stands and filing cabinets. The elderly man stood above
+Orca, a sap in his hand and a please smile on his face.</p>
+
+<p>In the hallway, four white-uniformed men had swung about and were
+pointing blazing rifles into the transmitter room. The racketing of
+the gunfire ended abruptly and the rifles were lowered again. The
+human din in the office began to diminish, turned suddenly into a
+shocked, strained silence. Quillan realized the blond girl was
+standing at his elbow.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you get the rest of them?" he asked quickly, in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Everyone who was on this level," Reetal told him. "There weren't many
+of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. But there's a sizable batch still in the subspace section. If
+we can get the bomb disarmed, we'll just leave them sealed up there.
+How long before you can bring Ryter around?"</p>
+
+<p>"He'll be able to talk in five minutes."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Quillan had been sitting for some little while in a very comfortable
+chair in what had been the commodore's personal suite on the Seventh
+Star, broodingly regarding the image of the <i>Camelot</i> in a huge wall
+screen. The liner was still over two hours' flight away but would
+arrive on schedule. On the Star, at least in the normspace section,
+everything was quiet, and in the main control offices and in the
+transmitter room normal working conditions had been restored.</p>
+
+<p>A room portal twenty feet away opened suddenly, and Reetal Destone
+stepped out.</p>
+
+<p>"So there you are!" she observed.</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_007_01.jpg" width="400" height="429" alt=""  />
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_007_02.jpg" width="195" height="146" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Quillan Looked mildly surprised, then grinned. "I'd hate to have to
+try to hide from you!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m!" said Reetal. She smiled. "What are you drinking?"</p>
+
+<p>He nodded at an open liquor cabinet near the screen. "Velladon was
+leaving some excellent stuff behind. Join me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m." She went to the cabinet, looked over the bottles, made her
+selection and filled a glass. "One has the impression," she remarked,
+"that you <i>were</i> hiding from me."</p>
+
+<p>"One does? I'd have to be losing my cotton-picking mind&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily." Reetal brought the drink over to his chair, sat
+down on the armrest with it. "You might just have a rather
+embarrassing problem to get worked out before you give little Reetal a
+chance to start asking questions about it."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked surprised. "What gave you that notion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," Reetal said, "adding things up gave me that notion.... Care to
+hear what the things were?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, doll."</p>
+
+<p>"First," said Reetal, "I understand that a while ago, after you'd first
+sent me off to do some little job for you, you were in the transmitter
+room having a highly private&mdash;shielded and scrambled&mdash;conversation with
+somebody on board the <i>Camelot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," Quillan said. "I was talking to the ship's security
+office. They're arranging to have a Federation police boat pick up
+what's left of the commodore's boys and the Brotherhood in the
+subspace section.</p>
+
+<p>"And that," said Reetal, "is where that embarrassing little problem
+begins. Next, I noticed, as I say, that you were showing this tendency
+to avoid a chance for a private talk between us. And after thinking
+about that for a little, and also about a few other things which came
+to mind at around that time, I went to see Ryter."</p>
+
+<p>"Now why&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal ran her fingers soothingly through his hair. "Let me finish,
+big boy. I found Ryter and Orca in a highly nervous condition. And do
+you know why they're nervous? They're convinced that some time before
+the <i>Camelot</i> gets here, you're going to do them both in."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m," said Quillan.</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter," she went on, "besides being nervous, is also very bitter. In
+retrospect, he says, it's all very plain what you've done here. You
+and your associates&mdash;a couple of tough boys named Hagready and Boltan,
+and others not identified&mdash;are also after these Hlats. The Duke made
+some mention of that, too, you remember. The commodore and Ryter
+bought the story you told them because a transmitter check produced
+the information that Hagready and Boltan had, in fact, left their
+usual work areas and gone off on some highly secret business about a
+month ago.</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter feels that your proposition&mdash;to let your gang in on the deal
+for twenty per cent, or else&mdash;was made in something less than good
+faith. He's concluded that when you learned of the operation being
+planned by Velladon and the Brotherhood, you and your pals decided to
+obstruct them and take the Hlats for delivery to Yaco yourselves,
+without cutting anybody in. He figures that someone like Hagready or
+Boltan is coming in on the <i>Camelot</i> with a flock of sturdy henchmen
+to do just that. You, personally, rushed to the Seventh Star to
+interfere as much as you could here. Ryter admits reluctantly that
+you did an extremely good job of interfering. He says it's now obvious
+that every move you made since you showed up had the one purpose of
+setting the Star group and the Brotherhood at each other's throats.
+And now that they've practically wiped each other out, you and your
+associates can go on happily with your original plans.</p>
+
+<p>"But, of course, you can't do that if Ryter and Orca are picked up
+alive by the Federation cops. The boys down in the subspace section
+don't matter; they're ordinary gunhands and all they know is that you
+were somebody who showed up on the scene. But Ryter could, and
+certainly would, talk&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he's too imaginative," Quillan said, taking a swallow of his
+drink. "I never heard of the Hlats before I got here. As I told you,
+I'm on an entirely different kind of job at the moment. I had to make
+up some kind of story to get an in with the boys, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"So you're not going to knock those two weasels off?"</p>
+
+<p>"No such intentions. I don't mind them sweating about it till the Feds
+arrive, but that's it."</p>
+
+<p>"What about Boltan and Hagready?"</p>
+
+<p>"What about them? I did happen to know that if anyone started asking
+questions about those two, he'd learn that neither had been near his
+regular beat for close to a month."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet!" Reetal said cryptically.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m," she said. "Bad News Quillan! A really tough boy, for sure.
+You know, I didn't believe for an instant that you were after the
+Hlats&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal said, "I've been on a couple of operations with you, and you'd
+be surprised how much I've picked up about you from time to time on
+the side. Swiping a shipment of odd animals and selling them to Yaco,
+that could be Bad News, in character. Selling a couple of hundred
+human beings&mdash;like Brock and Solvey Kinmarten&mdash;to go along with the
+animals to an outfit like Yaco would not be in character."</p>
+
+<p>"So I have a heart of gold," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>"So you fell all over your own big feet about half a minute ago!"
+Reetal told him. "Bad News Quillan&mdash;with no interest whatsoever in the
+Hlats&mdash;still couldn't afford to let Ryter live to talk about him to
+the Feds, big boy!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked reflective for a moment. "Dirty trick!" he observed.
+"For that, you might freshen up my glass."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Reetal took both glasses over to the liquor cabinet, freshened them
+up, and settled down on the armrest of the chair again. "So there
+we're back to the embarrassing little problem," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, idiot. We both know that Ryter is headed for Rehabilitation.
+Fifteen years or so of it, as a guess. The problem is little Reetal
+who has now learned a good deal more than she was ever intended to
+learn. Does she head for Rehabilitation, too?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan took a swallow of his drink and set the glass down again. "Are
+you suggesting," he inquired, "that I might be, excuse the expression,
+a cop?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal patted his head. "Bad News Quillan! Let's look back at his
+record. What do we find? A shambles, mainly. Smashed-up organizations,
+outfits, gangs. Top-level crooks with suddenly vacant expressions and
+unexplained holes in their heads. Why go on? The name is awfully well
+earned! And nobody realizing anything because the ones who do realize
+it suddenly ... well, where <i>are</i> Boltan Hagready at the moment."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan sighed. "Since you keep bringing it up&mdash;Hagready played it
+smart, so he's in Rehabilitation. Be cute if Ryter ran into him there
+some day. Pappy Boltan didn't want to play it smart. I'm not enough of
+a philosopher to make a guess at where he might be at present. But I
+knew he wouldn't be talking."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," Reetal said, "we've got that straight. Bad News is
+Intelligence of some kind. Federation maybe, or maybe one of the
+services. It doesn't matter, really, I suppose. Now, what about me?"</p>
+
+<p>He reached out and tapped his glass with a fingertip. "That about you,
+doll. You filled it. I'm drinking it. I may not think quite as fast as
+you do, but I still think. Would I take a drink from a somewhat
+lawless and very clever lady who really believed I had her lined up
+for Rehabilitation? Or who'd be at all likely to blab out something
+that would ruin an old pal's reputation?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal ran her fingers through his hair again. "I noticed the deal
+with the drink," she said. "I guess I just wanted to hear you say it.
+You don't tell on me, I don't tell on you. Is that it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it," Quillan said. "What Ryter and Orca want to tell the Feds
+doesn't matter. It stops there, the Feds will have the word on me
+before they arrive. By the way, did you go wake up the Kinmartens
+yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," Reetal said. "Too busy getting the office help soothed down
+and back to work."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, lets finish these drinks and go do that, then. The little
+doll's almost bound to be asleep by now, but she might still be
+sitting there biting nervously at her pretty knuckles."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Major Hesler Quillan of Space Scout Intelligence, was looking unhappy.
+"We're still searching for them everywhere," he explained to Klayung,
+"but it's a virtual certainty that the Hlat got them shortly before it
+was trapped."</p>
+
+<p>Klayung, a stringy, white-haired old gentleman, was an operator of the
+Psychology Service, in charge of the shipment of Hlats the <i>Camelot</i>
+had brought in. He and Quillan were waiting in the vestibule of the
+Seventh Star's rest cubicle vaults for Lady Pendrake's cubicle to be
+brought over from the Executive Block.</p>
+
+<p>Klayung said reflectively, "Couldn't the criminals with who you were
+dealing here have hidden the couple away somewhere?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head. "There's no way they could have located them
+so quickly. I made half a dozen portal switches when I was taking
+Kinmarten to the suite. It would take something with a Hlat's
+abilities to follow me over that route and stay undetected. And it
+must be an unusually cunning animal to decide to stay out of sight
+until I'd led it where it wanted to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they're intelligent enough," Klayung agreed absently. "Their
+average basic I.Q. is probably higher than that of human beings. A
+somewhat different type of mentality, of course. Well, when the
+cubicle arrives, I'll question the Hlat and we'll find out."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked at him. "Those control devices make it possible to hold
+two-way conversations with the things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly," Klayung said. "You see, major, the government
+authorities who were concerned with the discovery of the Hlats
+realized it would be almost impossible to keep some information about
+them from getting out. The specimen which was here on the Star has
+been stationed at various scientific institutions for the past year; a
+rather large number of people were involved in investigating it and
+experimenting with it. In consequence, several little legends about
+them have been deliberately built up. The legends aren't entirely
+truthful, so they help to keep the actual facts about the Hlats
+satisfactorily vague.</p>
+
+<p>"The Hlat-talker is such a legend. Actually, the device does nothing.
+The Hlats respond to telepathic stimuli, both among themselves and
+from other beings, eventually begin to correlate such stimuli with the
+meanings of human speech."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you&mdash;" Quillan began.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Eltak, their discoverer, was a fairly good natural telepath. If
+he hadn't been abysmally lazy, he might have been very good at it. I
+carry a variety of the Service's psionic knick-knacks about with me,
+which gets me somewhat comparable results."</p>
+
+<p>He broke off as the vestibule portal dilated widely. Lady Pendrake's
+cubicle floated through, directed by two gravity crane operators
+behind it. Klayung stood up.</p>
+
+<p>"Set it there for the present, please," he directed the operators. "We
+may call for you later if it needs to be moved again."</p>
+
+<p>He waited until the portal had closed behind the men before walking
+over to the cubicle. He examined the settings and readings at some
+length.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m, yes," he said, straightening finally. His expression became
+absent for a few seconds; then he went on. "I'm beginning to grasp the
+situation, I believe. Let me tell you a few things about the Hlats,
+major. For one, they form quite pronounced likes and dislikes. Eltak,
+for example, would have been described by most of his fellow men as a
+rather offensive person. But the Hlats actually became rather fond of
+him during the fifteen or so years he lived on their island.</p>
+
+<p>"That's one point. The other has to do with their level of
+intelligence. We discovered on the way out here that our charges had
+gained quite as comprehensive an understanding of the functioning of
+the cubicles that had been constructed for them as any human who was
+not a technical specialist might do. And&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted himself, stood rubbing his chin for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, actually," he said, "that should be enough to prepare you for a
+look inside the Hlat's cubicle."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan gave him a somewhat surprised glance. "I've been told it's
+ugly as sin," he remarked. "But I've seen some fairly revolting
+looking monsters before this."</p>
+
+<p>Klayung coughed. "That's not exactly what I meant," he said. "I ...
+well, let's just open the thing up. Would you mind, major?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all." Quillan stepped over to the side of the cubicle,
+unlocked the door switch and pulled it over. They both moved back a
+few feet before the front of the cubicle. A soft humming came for some
+seconds from the door's mechanisms; then it suddenly swung open.
+Quillan stooped to glance inside, straightened instantly again, hair
+bristling.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Where is it?</i>" he demanded, the Miam Devil out in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Klayung looked at him thoughtfully. "Not very far away, I believe. But
+I can assure you, major, that it hasn't the slightest intention of
+attacking us&mdash;or anybody else&mdash;at present."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted, looked back into the cubicle. At the far end, the
+Kinmartens lay side by side, their faces composed. They appeared to be
+breathing regularly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Klayung said, "they're alive and unharmed." He rubbed his chin
+again. "And I think it would be best if we simply closed the cubicle
+now. Later we can call a doctor over from the hospital to put them
+under sedation before they're taken out. They've both had thoroughly
+unnerving experiences, and it would be advisable to awaken them
+gradually to avoid emotional shock."</p>
+
+<p>He moved over to the side of the cubicle, turned the door switch back
+again. "And now for the rest of it," he said. "We may as well sit down
+again, major. This may take a little time."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Let's look at the thing for a moment from the viewpoint of the Hlat,"
+he resumed when he was once more comfortably seated. "Eltak's death
+took it by surprise. It hadn't at that point grasped what the
+situation in the Executive Block was like. It took itself out of sight
+for the moment, killing one of the gang leaders in the process, then
+began prowling about the various levels of the building, picking up
+information from the minds and conversation of the men it encountered.
+In a fairly short time, it learned enough to understand what was
+planned by the criminals; and it arrived at precisely your own
+conclusion ... that it might be possible to reduce and demoralize the
+gangs to the extent that they would no longer be able to carry out
+their plan. It began a systematic series of attacks on them with that
+end in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"But meanwhile you had come into the picture. The Hlat was rather
+puzzled by your motive at first because there appeared to be an
+extraordinary degree of discrepancy between what you were saying and
+what you were thinking. But after observing your activities for a
+while, it began to comprehend what you were trying to do. It realized
+that your approach was more likely to succeed than its own, and that
+further action on its side might interfere with your plans. But there
+remained one thing for it to do.</p>
+
+<p>"I may tell you in confidence, major, that another legend which has
+been spread about these Hlats is their supposed inability to escape
+from the cubicles. Even their attendants are supplied with this
+particular bit of misinformation. Actually, the various force fields
+in the cubicles don't hamper them in the least. The cubicles are
+designed simply to protect the Hlats and keep them from being seen;
+and rest cubicles, of course, can be taken anywhere without arousing
+undue curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"You mentioned that the Kinmartens very likable young people. The Hlat
+had the same feeling about them; they were the only human beings aside
+from Eltak with whose minds it had become quite familiar. There was no
+assurance at this point that the plans to prevent a bomb from being
+exploded in the Star would be successful, and the one place where
+human beings could hope to survive such an explosion was precisely the
+interior of the Hlat's cubicle, which had been constructed to
+safeguard its occupant against any kind of foreseeable accident.</p>
+
+<p>"So the Hlat sprang your cubicle trap, removed the bait, carried the
+Kinmartens inside, and whipped out of the cubicle again before the
+rest current could take effect on it. It concluded correctly that
+everyone would decide it had been recaptured. After that, it moved
+about the Executive Block, observing events there and prepared to take
+action again if that appeared to be advisable. When you had concluded
+your operation successfully, it remained near the cubicle, waiting for
+me to arrive."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head. "That's quite an animal!" he observed after
+some seconds. "You say, it's in our general vicinity now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Klayung said. "It followed the cubicle down here, and has been
+drifting about the walls of the vestibule while we ... well, while I
+talked."</p>
+
+<p>"Why doesn't it show itself?"</p>
+
+<p>Klayung cleared his throat. "For two reasons," he said. "One is that
+rather large gun you're holding on your knees. It saw you use it
+several times, and after all the shooting in the Executive Block, you
+see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan slid the Miam Devil into its holster. "Sorry," he said. "Force
+of habit, I guess. Actually, of course, I've understood for some
+minutes now that I wasn't ... well, what's the other reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid," Klayung said, "that you offended it with your remark
+about its appearance. Hlats may have their share of vanity. At any
+rate, it seems to be sulking."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Quillan. "Well, I'm sure," he went on rather loudly, "that
+it understands I received the description from a prejudiced source.
+I'm quite willing to believe it was highly inaccurate."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m," said Klayung. "That seems to have done it, major. The wall
+directly across from us&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Something like a ripple passed along the side wall of the vestibule.
+Then the wall darkened suddenly, turned black. Quillan blinked, and
+the Hlat came into view. It hung, spread out like a spider, along half
+the length of the vestibule wall. Something like a huge, hairy amoeba
+in overall appearance, though the physical structures under the
+coarse, black pelt must be of very unamoeba-like complexity. No eyes
+were in sight, but Quillan had the impression of being regarded
+steadily. Here and there, along the edges and over the surface of the
+body, were a variety of flexible extensions.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood up, hitched his gun belt into position, and started over
+toward the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Pendrake," he said, "honored to meet you. Could we shake hands?"</p>
+
+<h3>The End</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30493 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lion Loose
+
+Author: James H. Schmitz
+
+Illustrator: Schoenherr
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2009 [EBook #30493]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LION LOOSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
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+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<div class="tr"><p class="center">Transcriber's Note:</p>
+<p class="center">This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact &amp; Fiction October 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.</p></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 356px;">
+<img src="images/image_001.jpg" width="356" height="490" alt=""  />
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_002.jpg" width="600" height="412" alt=""  />
+</div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h1>LION<br />
+
+LOOSE</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>By JAMES H. SCHMITZ</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>The most dangerous of animals is not the biggest and
+fiercest&mdash;but the one that's hardest to stop. Add
+intelligence to that ... and you may come to a wrong
+conclusion as to what the worst menace is....</i></p></div>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3><i>Illustrated by Schoenherr</i></h3>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figleft"><img src="images/image_f.jpg" alt="F" width="49" height="50" /></div>
+<p>or twelve years at a point where three major shipping routes of the
+Federation of the Hub crossed within a few hours' flight of one
+another, the Seventh Star Hotel had floated in space, a great golden
+sphere, gleaming softly in the void through its translucent shells of
+battle plastic. The Star had been designed to be much more than a
+convenient transfer station for travelers and freight; for some years
+after it was opened to the public, it retained a high rating among
+the more exotic pleasure resorts of the Hub. The Seventh Star Hotel
+was the place to have been that season, and the celebrities and fat
+cats converged on it with their pals and hangers-on. The Star blazed
+with life, excitement, interstellar scandals, tinkled with streams of
+credits dancing in from a thousand worlds. In short, it had started
+out as a paying proposition.</p>
+
+<p>But gradually things changed. The Star's entertainment remained as
+delightfully outrageous as ever, the cuisine as excellent; the
+accommodations and service were still above reproach. The fleecing, in
+general, became no less expertly painless. But one had <i>been</i> there.
+By its eighth year, the Star was dated. Now, in its twelfth, it lived
+soberly off the liner and freighter trade, four fifths of the guest
+suites shut down, the remainder irregularly occupied between ship
+departures.</p>
+
+<p>And in another seven hours, if the plans of certain men went through,
+the Seventh Star Hotel would abruptly wink out of existence.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Some fifty or sixty early diners were scattered about the tables on
+the garden terraces of Phalagon House, the Seventh Star Hotel's most
+exclusive eatery. One of them had just finished his meal, sat smoking
+and regarding a spiraling flow of exquisitely indicated female figures
+across the garden's skyscape with an air of friendly approval. He was
+a large and muscular young man, deeply tanned, with shoulders of
+impressive thickness, an aquiline nose, and dark, reflective eyes.</p>
+
+<p>After a minute or two, he yawned comfortably, put out the cigarette,
+and pushed his chair back from the table. As he came to his feet,
+there was a soft bell-note from the table ComWeb. He hesitated, said,
+"Go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"Is intrusion permitted?" the ComWeb inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Depends," the guest said. "Who's calling?"</p>
+
+<p>"The name is Reetal Destone."</p>
+
+<p>He grinned, appeared pleasantly surprised. "Put the lady through."</p>
+
+<p>There was a brief silence. Then a woman's voice inquired softly,
+"Quillan?"</p>
+
+<p>"Right here, doll! Where&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Seal the ComWeb, Quillan."</p>
+
+<p>He reached down to the instrument, tapped the seal button, said, "All
+right. We're private."</p>
+
+<p>"Probably," the woman's voice said. "But better scramble this, too. I
+want to be very sure no one's listening."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted, slid his left hand into an inner coat pocket, briefly
+fingered a device of the approximate size and shape of a cigarette,
+drew his hand out again. "Scrambling!" he announced. "Now, what&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Mayday, Quillan," the soft voice said. "Can you come immediately?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan's face went expressionless. "Of course. Is it urgent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm in no present danger. But we'd better waste no time."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it going to take real hardware? I'm carrying a finger gun at the
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Then go to your rooms and pick up something useful," Reetal said.
+"This should take real hardware, all right."</p>
+
+<p>"All right. Then where do I go?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll meet you at your door. I know where it is."</p>
+
+<p>When Quillan arrived, she was standing before the door to his suite, a
+tall blonde in a sleeveless black and gold sheath; a beautiful body, a
+warm, lovely, humorous face. The warmth and humor were real, but
+masked a mind as impersonally efficient as a computer, and a taste for
+high and dangerous living. When Quillan had last met Reetal Destone, a
+year and a half before, the taste was being satisfied in industrial
+espionage. He hadn't heard of her activities since then.</p>
+
+<p>She smiled thoughtfully at him as he came up. "I'll wait outside," she
+said. "We're not talking here."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded, went on into his living room, selected a gun belt and
+holstered gun from a suitcase, fastened the belt around his waist
+under the coat, and came out. "Now what?"</p>
+
+<p>"First a little portal-hopping&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He followed her across the corridor and into a tube portal, watched as
+she tapped out a setting. The exit light flashed a moment later; they
+stepped out into a vacant lounge elsewhere in the same building,
+crossed it, entered another portal. After three more shifts, they
+emerged into a long hall, dimly lit, heavily carpeted. There was no
+one in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Last stop," Reetal said. She glanced up at his face. "We're on the
+other side of the Star now, in one of the sections they've closed up.
+I've established a kind of emergency headquarters here. The Star's
+nearly broke, did you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'd heard of it."</p>
+
+<p>"That appears to be part of the reason for what's going on."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan said, "What's going on?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal slid her arm through his, said, "Come on. That's my, hm-m-m,
+unregistered suite over there. Big boy, it's very, very selfish of me,
+but I was extremely glad to detect your name on the list of newly
+arrived guests just now! As to what's going on ... the <i>Camelot</i>
+berths here at midnight, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "I've some business with one of her passengers."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal bent to unlock the entrance door to the indicated suite. "The
+way it looks now," she remarked, "the odds are pretty high that you're
+not going to keep that appointment."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because shortly after the <i>Camelot</i> docks and something's been
+unloaded from her, the <i>Camelot</i> and the Seventh Star Hotel are
+scheduled to go <i>poof!</i> together. Along with you, me, and some twelve
+thousand other people. And, so far, I haven't been able to think of a
+good way to keep it from happening."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan was silent a moment. "Who's scheduling the poof?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Some old acquaintances of ours are among them. Come on in. What
+they're doing comes under the heading of destroying the evidence."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>She locked the door behind them, said, "Just a moment," went over to
+the paneled wall, turned down a tiny silver switch. "Room portal," she
+said, nodding at the wall. "It might come in handy. I keep it turned
+off most of the time."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you turning it on now?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"One of the Star's stewards is working on this with me. He'll be along
+as soon as he can get away. Now I'll give you the whole thing as
+briefly as I can. The old acquaintances I mentioned are some boys of
+the Brotherhood of Beldon. Movaine's here; he's got Marras Cooms and
+Fluel with him, and around thirty of the Brotherhood's top guns. Nome
+Lancion's coming in on the <i>Camelot</i> in person tonight to take charge.
+Obviously, with all that brass on the job, they're after something
+very big. Just what it is, I don't yet know. I've got one clue, but a
+rather puzzling one. Tell you about that later. Do you know Velladon?"</p>
+
+<p>"The commodore here?" Quillan nodded. "I've never met him but I know
+who he is."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal said, "He's been manager of the Seventh Star Hotel for the past
+nine years. He's involved in the Beldon outfit's operation. So is the
+chief of the Star's private security force&mdash;his name's Ryter&mdash;and half
+a dozen other Star executives. They've got plenty of firepower, too;
+close to half the entire security force, I understand, including all
+the officers. That would come to nearly seventy men. There's reason to
+believe the rest of the force was disarmed and murdered by them in the
+subspace section of the Star about twelve hours ago. They haven't been
+seen since then.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Velladon, aside from his share in whatever they're after, has
+another reason for wanting to wipe out the Star in an unexplained
+blowup. There I have definite information. Did you know the Mooley
+brothers owned the Star?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been working for the Mooleys the past eight months," Reetal
+said, "checking up on employees at Velladon's level for indications of
+graft. And it appears the commodore had been robbing them blind here
+for at least several years."</p>
+
+<p>"Sort of risky thing to try with the Mooleys, from what I hear,"
+Quillan remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Very. Velladon had reason to be getting a little desperate about
+that. Two men were planted here a month ago. One of them is Sher
+Heraga, the steward I told you about. The other man came in as a
+bookkeeper. Two weeks ago, Heraga got word out that the bookkeeper had
+disappeared. Velladon and Ryter apparently got wise to what he was
+trying to do. So the Mooleys sent me here to find out exactly what was
+going on before they took action. I arrived four days ago."</p>
+
+<p>She gave a regretful little headshake. "I waited almost a day before
+contacting Heraga. It seemed advisable to move very cautiously in the
+matter. But that made it a little too late to do anything. Quillan,
+for the past three days, the Seventh Star Hotel has been locked up
+like a bank vault. And except for ourselves, only the people who are
+in on the plot are aware of it."</p>
+
+<p>"The message transmitters are inoperative?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal nodded. "The story is that a gravitic storm center in the area
+has disrupted transmissions completely for the time being."</p>
+
+<p>"What about incoming ships?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yours was the only one scheduled before the <i>Camelot</i> arrives. It
+left again eight hours ago. Nobody here had been let on board. The
+guests who wanted to apply for outgoing berths were told there were
+none open, that they'd have to wait for the <i>Camelot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>She went over to a desk, unlocked a drawer, took out a sheaf of
+papers, and handed one of them to Quillan. "That's the layout of the
+Star," she said. "This five-level building over by the shell is the
+Executive Block. The Brotherhood and the commodore's men moved in
+there this morning. The Block is the Star's defense center. It's
+raid-proofed, contains the control officers and the transmitter and
+armament rooms. About the standard arrangement. While they hold the
+Executive Block, they have absolute control of the Star."</p>
+
+<p>"If it's the defense center, it should be practically impossible to do
+anything about them there," Quillan agreed. "They could close it up,
+and dump the air out of the rest of the Star in a minute, if they had
+to. But there must be ... well, what about the lifeboats in the
+subspace section&mdash;and our pals must have a getaway ship stashed away
+somewhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have two ships," Reetal said. "A souped-up armed freighter the
+Brotherhood came in on, and a large armed yacht which seems to be the
+commodore's personal property. Unfortunately, they're both in subspace
+locks."</p>
+
+<p>"Why unfortunately?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because they've sealed off subspace. Try portaling down there, and
+you'll find yourself looking at a battle-plastic bulkhead. There's no
+way of getting either to those ships or to the lifeboats."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan lifted his eyebrows. "And <i>that</i> hasn't caused any comment?
+What about the maintenance crews, the warehouse men, the&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All the work crews were hauled out of subspace this morning," Reetal
+said. "On the quiet, the Star's employees have been told that a gang
+of raiders was spotted in the warehouse area, and is at present
+cornered there. Naturally, the matter isn't to be mentioned to the
+guests, to avoid arousing unnecessary concern. And that explains
+everything very neatly. The absence of the security men, and why
+subspace is sealed off. Why the Executive Block is under guard, and
+can't be entered&mdash;and why the technical and office personnel in there
+don't come out, and don't communicate out. They've been put on
+emergency status, officially."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Yunk," Quillan said disgustedly after a moment. "This begins to look
+like a hopeless situation, doll!"</p>
+
+<p>"True."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal interrupted, "There is one portal still open to subspace.
+That's in the Executive Block, of course, and Heraga reports it's
+heavily guarded."</p>
+
+<p>"How does he know?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Block's getting its meals from Phalagon House. He floated a diner
+in there a few hours ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said, brightening, "perhaps a deft flavoring of
+poison&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal shook her head. "I checked over the hospital stocks. Not a
+thing there that wouldn't be spotted at once. Unless we can clobber
+them thoroughly, we can't afford to make them suspicious with a trick
+like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Poison would be a bit rough on the office help, too," Quillan
+conceded. "They wouldn't be in on the deal."</p>
+
+<p>"No, they're not. They're working under guard."</p>
+
+<p>"Gas ... no, I suppose not. It would take too long to whip up
+something that could turn the trick." Quillan glanced at his watch.
+"If the <i>Camelot</i> docks at midnight, we've around six and a half hours
+left, doll! And I don't find myself coming up with any brilliant
+ideas. What have you thought of?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal hesitated a moment. "Nothing very brilliant either," she said
+then. "But there are two things we might try as a last resort."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's hear them."</p>
+
+<p>"I know a number of people registered in the Star at present who'd be
+carrying personal weapons. If they were told the facts, I could
+probably line up around twenty who'd be willing to make a try to get
+into the Executive Block, and take over either the control offices or
+the transmitter room. If we got a warning out to the <i>Camelot</i>, that
+would break up the plot. Of course, it wouldn't necessarily save the
+Star."</p>
+
+<p>"No," Quillan said, "but it's worth trying if we can't think of
+something better. How would you get them inside?"</p>
+
+<p>"We could crowd twenty men into one of those diner trucks, and Heraga
+could take us in."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of people are your pals?"</p>
+
+<p>"A few smugglers and confidence men I've had connections with. Fairly
+good boys for this sort of thing. Then there's an old millionaire
+sportsman, with a party of six, waiting to transfer to the <i>Camelot</i>
+for a safari on Jontarou. Old Philmarron isn't all there, in my
+opinion, but he's dead game and loves any kind of a ruckus. We can
+count on him and his friends, if they're not too drunk at the moment.
+Still ... that's not too many to set against something less than a
+hundred professional guns, even though some of them must be down on
+the two ships."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not enough." Quillan looked thoughtful. "What's the other idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let the cat out of the bag generally. Tell the guests and the
+employees out here what's going on, and see if somebody can think of
+something that might be done."</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head. "What you'd set off with that would be anywhere
+between a riot and a panic. The boys in the Executive Block would
+simply give us the breathless treatment. Apparently, they prefer to
+have everything looking quiet and normal when the <i>Camelot</i> gets
+here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But they don't have to play it that way," Reetal agreed. "We might be
+dead for hours before the liner docks. If they keep the landing lock
+closed until what they want has been unloaded, nobody on the <i>Camelot</i>
+would realize what had happened before it was too late."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence. Then Quillan said, "You mentioned you'd
+picked up a clue to what they're after. What was that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's a curious thing," Reetal said. "On the trip out here, a
+young girl name of Solvey Kinmarten attached herself to me. She didn't
+want to talk much, but I gathered she was newly married, and that her
+husband was on board and was neglecting her. She's an appealing little
+thing, and she seemed so forlorn and upset that I adopted her for the
+rest of the run. After we arrived, of course, I pretty well forgot
+about the Kinmartens and their troubles.</p>
+
+<p>"A few hours ago, Solvey suddenly came bursting into the suite where
+I'm registered. She was shaking all over. After I calmed her down a
+bit, she spilled out her story. She and her husband, Brock Kinmarten,
+are rest wardens. With another man named Eltak, whom Solvey describes
+as 'some sort of crazy old coot,' they're assigned to escort two
+deluxe private rest cubicles to a very exclusive sanatorium on
+Mezmiali. But Brock told Solvey at the beginning of the trip that this
+was a very unusual assignment, that he didn't want her even to come
+near the cubicles. That wouldn't have bothered her so much, she says,
+but on the way here Brock became increasingly irritable and
+absent-minded. She knew he was worrying about the cubicles, and she
+began to wonder whether they weren't involved in something illegal.
+The pay was very high; they're both getting almost twice the regular
+warden fee for the job. One day, she found an opportunity to do a
+little investigating.</p>
+
+<p>"The cubicles are registered respectively to a Lady Pendrake and a
+Major Pendrake. Lady Pendrake appears to be genuine; the cubicle is
+unusually large and constructed somewhat differently from the ones
+with which Solvey was familiar, but it was clear that it had an
+occupant. However, the life indicator on 'Major Pendrake's cubicle
+registered zero when she switched it on. If there was something inside
+it, it wasn't a living human being.</p>
+
+<p>"That was all she learned at the time, because she was afraid Brock
+might catch her in the cubicle room. Here in the Star, the cubicles
+were taken to a suite reserved for Lady Pendrake. The other man,
+Eltak, stayed in the suite with the cubicles, while the Kinmartens
+were given other quarters. However, Brock was still acting oddly and
+spending most of his time in the Pendrake suite. So this morning,
+Solvey swiped his key to the suite and slipped in when she knew the
+two men had left it."</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_003_01.jpg" width="600" height="630" alt=""  />
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_003_02.jpg" width="252" height="207" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>"She'd barely got there when she heard Brock and Eltak at the door
+again. She ran into the next room, and hid in a closet. Suddenly there
+was a commotion in the front room, and Solvey realized that men from
+the Star's security force had arrived and were arresting Brock and
+Eltak. They hauled both of them away, then floated the cubicles out
+and on a carrier and took them off too, locking the suite behind them.</p>
+
+<p>"Solvey was in a complete panic, sure that she and Brock had become
+involved in some serious breach of the Warden Code. She waited a few
+minutes, then slipped out of the Pendrake suite, and looked me up to
+see if I couldn't help them. I had Heraga check, and he reported that
+the Kinmarten suite was under observation. Evidently, they wanted to
+pick up the girl, too. So I tucked her away in one of the suites in
+this section, and gave her something to put her to sleep. She's there
+now."</p>
+
+
+
+<p>Quillan said, "And where are the prisoners and the cubicles?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the Executive Block."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal smiled briefly. "The Duke of Fluel told me."</p>
+
+<p>"Huh? The Brotherhood knows you're here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Relax," Reetal said. "Nobody but Heraga knows I'm working for the
+Mooleys. I told the Duke I had a big con deal set up when the
+<i>Camelot</i> came in&mdash;I even suggested he might like to get in on it. He
+laughed, and said he had other plans. But he won't mention to anyone
+that I'm here."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because," Reetal said dryly, "what the Duke is planning to get in on
+is an hour of tender dalliance. Before the <i>Camelot</i> arrives,
+necessarily. The cold-blooded little skunk!" She hesitated a moment;
+when she spoke again, her voice had turned harsh and nasal, wicked
+amusement sounding through it. "Sort of busy at the moment,
+sweetheart, but we might find time for a drink or two later on in the
+evening, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted. "You're as good at the voice imitations as ever. How
+did you find out about the cubicles?"</p>
+
+<p>"I took a chance and fed him a Moment of Truth."</p>
+
+<p>"With Fluel," Quillan said thoughtfully, "that was taking a chance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Believe me, I was aware of it! I've run into card-carrying sadists
+before, but the Duke's the only one who scares me silly. But it did
+work. He dropped in for a about a minute and a half, and came out
+without noticing a thing. Meanwhile, I'd got the answers to a few
+questions. The bomb with which they're planning to mop up behind them
+already has been planted up here in the normspace section. Fluel
+didn't know where; armaments experts took care of it. It's armed now.
+There's a firing switch on each of their ships, and both switches have
+to be tripped before the thing goes off. Part of what they're after is
+in those Pendrake rest cubicles&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Part of it?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-huh. An even hundred similar cubicles will be unloaded from the
+<i>Camelot</i>&mdash;the bulk of the haul; which is why Nome Lancion is
+supervising things on the liner. I started to ask what was in the
+cubicles, but I saw Fluel was beginning to lose that blank look they
+have under Truth, and switched back to light chitchat just before he
+woke up. Yaco's paying for the job&mdash;or rather, it <i>will</i> pay for the
+stuff, on delivery, and no questions asked."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not very much help, is it?" Quillan said after a moment.
+"Something a big crooked industrial combine like Yaco thinks it can
+use&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It must expect to be able to use it to extremely good advantage,"
+Reetal said. "The Brotherhood will collect thirty million credits for
+their part of the operation. The commodore's group presumably won't do
+any worse." She glanced past Quillan toward the room portal. "It's
+O.K., Heraga! Come in."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Sher Heraga was a lean, dark-skinned little man with a badly bent
+nose, black curly hair, and a nervous look. He regretted, he said,
+that he hadn't been able to uncover anything which might be a lead to
+the location of the bomb. Apparently, it wasn't even being guarded.
+And, of course, a bomb of the size required here would be quite easy
+to conceal.</p>
+
+<p>"If they haven't placed guards over it," Reetal agreed, "it'll take
+blind luck to spot it! Unless we can get hold of one of the men who
+knows where it's planted&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>There was silence for some seconds. Then Quillan said, "Well, if we
+can't work out a good plan, we'd better see what we can do with one of
+the bad ones. Are the commodore's security men wearing uniforms?"</p>
+
+<p>Heraga shook his head, "Not the ones I saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Then here's an idea," Quillan said. "As things stand, barging into
+the Executive Block with a small armed group can't accomplish much. It
+might be more interesting than sitting around and waiting to be blown
+up, but it still would be suicide. However, if we could get things
+softened up and disorganized in there first&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Softened up and disorganized how?" Reetal asked.</p>
+
+<p>"We can use that notion you had of having Heraga float in another
+diner. This time, I'm on board&mdash;in a steward's uniform, in case the
+guards check."</p>
+
+<p>"They didn't the first time," Heraga said.</p>
+
+<p>"Sloppy of them. Well, they're just gun hands. Anyway, once we're
+inside I shuck off the uniform and get out. Heraga delivers his
+goodies, and leaves again&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal gave him a look. "You'll get shot down the instant you're seen,
+dope!"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not. There're two groups in there&mdash;around a hundred men in
+all&mdash;and they haven't had time to get well acquainted yet. I'll have
+my gun in sight, and anyone who sees me should figure I belong to the
+other group, until I run into one of the Brotherhood boys who knows me
+personally."</p>
+
+<p>"Then that's when you get shot down. I understand the last time you
+and the Duke of Fluel met, he woke up with lumps."</p>
+
+<p>"The Duke doesn't love me," Quillan admitted. "But there's nothing
+personal between me and Movaine or Marras Cooms&mdash;and I'll have a
+message for Movaine."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of a message?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have to play that by ear a little. It depends on how things
+look in there. But I have a few ideas, based on what you've learned of
+the operation. Now, just what I can do when I get that far, I don't
+know yet. I'll simply try to louse the deal up as much as I can. That
+may take time, and, of course, it might turn out to be impossible to
+get word out to you."</p>
+
+<p>"So what do we do meanwhile?" Reetal asked. "If we start lining up our
+attack group immediately, and then there's no action for another five
+or six hours, there's always the chance of a leak, with around twenty
+people in the know."</p>
+
+<p>"And if there's a leak," Quillan agreed, "we've probably had it. No,
+you'd better wait with that! If I'm not out, and you haven't heard
+from me before the <i>Camelot</i>'s actually due to dock, Heraga can still
+take the group&mdash;everyone but yourself&mdash;in as scheduled."</p>
+
+<p>"Why everyone but me?" Reetal asked.</p>
+
+<p>"If nothing else works, you might find some way of getting a warning
+to the liner's security force after they've docked. It isn't much of a
+possibility, but we can't afford to throw it away."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I see." Reetal looked reflective. "What do you think, Heraga?"</p>
+
+<p>The little man shrugged. "You told me that Mr. Quillan is not
+inexperienced in dealing with, ah, his enemies. If he feels he might
+accomplish something in the Executive Block, I'm in favor of the plan.
+The situation certainly could hardly become worse."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the spirit!" Quillan approved. "The positive outlook&mdash;that's
+what a think like this mainly takes. Can you arrange for the diner and
+the uniform?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," Heraga said, "I've had myself put in charge of that detail,
+naturally."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what can you tell me about the Executive Block's layout?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal stood up. "Come over to the desk," she said. "We've got
+diagrams."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"The five levels, as you see," Heraga was explaining a few moments
+later, "are built directly into the curve of the Star's shells. Level
+Five, on the top, is therefore quite small. The other levels are
+fairly extensive. Two, Three, and Four could each accommodate a
+hundred men comfortably. These levels contain mainly living quarters,
+private offices, and the like. The Brotherhood men appear to be
+occupying the fourth level, Velladon's group the second. The third may
+be reserved for meetings between representatives of the two groups.
+All three of these levels are connected by single-exit portals to the
+large entrance area on the ground level.</p>
+
+<p>"The portals stood open when I went in earlier today, and there were
+about twenty armed men lounging about the entrance hall. I recognized
+approximately half of them as being members of the Star's security
+force. The others were unfamiliar." Heraga cleared his throat. "There
+is a possibility that the two groups do not entirely trust each
+other."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "If they're playing around with something like sixty
+million CR, anybody would have to be crazy to trust the Brotherhood of
+Beldon. The transmitter room and the control officers are guarded,
+too?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but not heavily," Heraga said. "There seem to be only a few men
+stationed at each of those points. Ostensibly, they're there as a
+safe-guard&mdash;in case the imaginary raiders attempt to break out of the
+subspace section."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the arrangement of the ordinary walk-in tube portals in the
+Executive Block?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is one which interconnects the five levels. On each of the
+lower levels, there are, in addition, several portals which lead out
+to various points in the Seventh Star Hotel. On the fifth level, there
+is only one portal of this kind. Except for the portal which operates
+between the different levels in the Executive Block, all of them have
+been rendered unusable at present."</p>
+
+<p>"Unusable in what way?"</p>
+
+<p>"They have been sealed off on the Executive Block side."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you get me a diagram of the entry and exit systems those outgoing
+portals connect with?" Quillan asked. "I might turn one of them usable
+again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I can do that."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the communication possibilities?"</p>
+
+<p>"The ComWeb system is functioning normally on the second, third, and
+fourth levels. It has been shut off on the first level&mdash;to avoid the
+spread of 'alarming rumors' by office personnel. There is no ComWeb on
+the fifth level."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal said, "We'll shift our operating headquarters back to my
+registered suite then. The ComWebs are turned off in these vacant
+sections. I'll stay in the other suite in case you find a chance to
+signal in."</p>
+
+<p>Heraga left a few minutes later to make his arrangements. Reetal
+smiled at Quillan, a little dubiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Good luck, guy," she said. "Anything else to settle before you start
+off?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "Couple of details. If you're going to be in your
+regular suite, and Fluel finds himself with some idle time on hand, he
+might show up for the dalliance you mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal's smile changed slightly. Her left hand fluffed the hair at the
+back of her head, flicked down again. There was a tiny click, and
+Quillan looked at a small jeweled hair-clasp in her palm, its needle
+beak pointing at him.</p>
+
+<p>"It hasn't got much range," Reetal said, "but within ten feet it will
+scramble the Duke's brains just as thoroughly as they need to be
+scrambled."</p>
+
+<p>"Good enough," Quillan said. "Just don't give that boy the ghost of a
+chance, doll. He has a rep for playing very unnice games with the
+ladies."</p>
+
+<p>"I know his reputation." Reetal replaced the tiny gun in her hair.
+"Anything else?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Let's look in on the Kinmarten chick for a moment. If she's
+awake, she may have remembered something or other by now that she
+didn't think to tell you."</p>
+
+<p>They found Solvey Kinmarten awake, and tearfully glad to see Reetal.
+Quillan was introduced as a member of the legal profession who would
+do what he could for Solvey and her husband. Solvey frowned prettily,
+trying very hard to remember anything that might be of use. But it
+appeared that she had told Reetal all she knew.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The blue and white Phalagon House diner, driven by Heraga, was
+admitted without comment into the Executive Block. It floated on
+unchallenged through the big entry hall and into a corridor.
+Immediately behind the first turn of the corridor, the diner paused a
+few seconds. Its side door opened and closed. The diner moved on.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan, coatless and with the well-worn butt of a big Miam Devil
+Special protruding from the holster on his right hip, came briskly
+back along the corridor. Between fifteen and twenty men, their guns
+also conspicuously in evidence, were scattered about the entrance
+hall, expressions and attitudes indicating a curious mixture of
+boredom and uneasy tension. The eyes of about half of them swiveled
+around to Quillan when he came into the hall; then, with one
+exception, they looked indifferently away again.</p>
+
+<p>The exception, leaning against the wall near the three open portals to
+the upper levels, continued to stare as Quillan came toward him,
+forehead creased in a deep scowl as if he were painfully ransacking
+his mind for something. Quillan stopped in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Chum," he asked, "any idea where Movaine is at the moment? They just
+give me this message for him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Still scowling, the other scratched his chin and blinked. "Uh ...
+dunno for sure," he said after a moment. "He oughta be in the third
+level conference room with the rest of 'em. Uh ... dunno you oughta
+barge in there right now, pal! The commodore's <i>reee-lly</i> hot about
+somethin'!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked worried. "Gotta chance it, I guess! Message is pretty
+important, they say&mdash;" He turned, went through the center portal of
+the three, abruptly found himself walking along a wide, well-lit hall.</p>
+
+<p>Nobody in sight here, or in the first intersecting passage he came to.
+When he reached the next passage, he heard voices on the right, turned
+toward them, went by a string of closed doors on both sides until,
+forty feet on, the passage angled again and opened into a long,
+high-ceilinged room. The voices came through an open door on the right
+side of the room. Standing against the wall beside the door were two
+men whose heads turned sharply toward Quillan as he appeared in the
+passage. The short, chunky one scowled. The big man next to him, the
+top of whose head had been permanently seared clear of hair years
+before by a near miss from a blaster, dropped his jaw slowly. His eyes
+popped.</p>
+
+<p>"My God!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine in there, Baldy?" Quillan inquired, coming up.</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine! He ... you ... how&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The chunky man took out his gun, waved it negligently at Quillan.
+"Tell the ape to blow, Perk. He isn't wanted here."</p>
+
+<p>"Ape?" Quillan asked softly. His right hand moved, had the gun by the
+barrel, twisted, reversed the gun, jammed it back with some violence
+into the chunky man's stomach. "Ape?" he repeated. The chunky man went
+white.</p>
+
+<p>"Bad News&mdash;" Baldy Perk breathed. "Take it easy! That's Orca. He's the
+commodore's torpedo. How&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Movaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine ... he ... uh&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All right, he's not here. And Lancion can't have arrived yet. Is
+Cooms in there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy Perk said weakly. "Cooms is in there, Quillan."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go in." Quillan withdrew the gun, slid it into a pocket, smiled
+down at Orca. "Get it back from your boss, slob. Be seeing you!"</p>
+
+<p>Orca's voice was a husky whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"You will, friend! You will!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The conference room was big and sparsely furnished. Four men sat at
+the long table in its center. Quillan knew two of them&mdash;Marras Cooms,
+second in command of the Beldon Brotherhood's detachment here, and the
+Duke of Fluel, Movaine's personal gun. Going by Heraga's
+descriptions, the big, florid-faced man with white hair and flowing
+white mustaches who was doing the talking was Velladon, the commodore;
+while the fourth man, younger, wiry, with thinning black hair
+plastered back across his skull, would be Ryter, chief of the Star's
+security force.</p>
+
+<p>"What I object to primarily is that the attempt was made without
+obtaining my consent, and secretly," Velladon was saying, with a
+toothy grin but in a voice that shook with open fury. "And now it's
+been made and bungled, you have a nerve asking for our help. The
+problem is yours&mdash;and you better take care of it fast! I can't spare
+Ryter. If&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Cooms," Baldy Perk broke in desperately from the door, "Bad News
+Quillan's here an'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The heads of the four men at the table came around simultaneously. The
+eyes of two of them widened for an instant. Then Marras Cooms began
+laughing softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Now everything's happened!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Cooms," the commodore said testily, "I prefer not to be interrupted.
+Now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Can't be helped, commodore," Quillan said, moving forward, Perk
+shuffling along unhappily beside him. "I've got news for Movaine, and
+the news can't wait."</p>
+
+<p>"Movaine?" the commodore repeated, blue eyes bulging at Quillan.
+"Movaine! Cooms, who <i>is</i> this man?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're looking at Bad News Quillan," Cooms said. "A highjacking
+specialist, with somewhat numerous sidelines. But the point right now
+is that he isn't a member of the Brotherhood."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What!"</i> Velladon's big fist smashed down on the table. "<i>Now</i> what
+kind of a game ... how did he get <i>in</i> here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said mildly, "I oozed in through the north wall about
+a minute ago. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He checked, conscious of having created some kind of sensation. The
+four men at the table were staring up at him without moving. Baldy
+Perk appeared to be holding his breath. Then the commodore coughed,
+cleared his throat, drummed his fingers on the table.</p>
+
+<p>He said reflectively: "He could have news&mdash;good or bad&mdash;at that! For
+all of us." He chewed on one of his mustache tips, grinned suddenly up
+at Quillan. "Well, sit down, friend! Let's talk. You can't talk to
+Movaine, you see. Movaine's um, had an accident. Passed away suddenly
+half an hour ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry to hear it," Quillan said. "That's the sort of thing that
+happens so often in the Brotherhood." He swung a chair around, sat
+down facing the table. "You're looking well tonight, Fluel," he
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Fluel, lean and dapper in silver jacket and tight-fitting
+silver trousers, gave him a wintry smile, said nothing.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Now, then, friend," Velladon inquired confidentially, "just what was
+your business with Movaine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it will come to around twenty per cent of the take," Quillan
+informed him. "We won't argue about a half-million CR more or less.
+But around twenty per."</p>
+
+<p>The faces thoughtful. After some seconds, the commodore asked, "And
+who's we?"</p>
+
+<p>"A number of citizens," Quillan said, "who have been rather unhappy
+since discovering that you, too, are interested in Lady Pendrake and
+her pals. We'd gone to considerable expense and trouble to ... well,
+her ladyship was scheduled to show up in Mezmiali, you know. And now
+she isn't going to show up there. All right, that's business. Twenty
+per&mdash;no hard feelings. Otherwise, it won't do you a bit of good to
+blow up the Star and the liner. There'd still be loose talk&mdash;maybe
+other complications, too. You know how it goes. You wouldn't be happy,
+and neither would Yaco. Right?"</p>
+
+<p>The commodore's massive head turned back to Cooms. "How well do you
+know this man, Marras?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms grinned dryly. "Well enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he leveling?"</p>
+
+<p>"He'd be nuts to be here if he wasn't. And he isn't nuts&mdash;at least,
+not that way."</p>
+
+<p>"There might be a question about that," Fluel observed. He looked at
+the commodore. "Why not ask him for a couple of the names that are in
+it with him?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hagready and Boltan," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon chewed the other mustache tip. "I know Hagready. If he&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know both of them," Cooms said. "Boltan works highjacking crews out
+of Orado. Quillan operates there occasionally."</p>
+
+<p>"Pappy Boltan's an old business associate," Quillan agreed. "Reliable
+sort of a guy. Doesn't mind taking a few chances either."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon's protruding blue eyes measured him a moment. "We can check
+on those two, you know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Check away," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon nodded. "We will." He was silent for a second or two, then
+glanced over at Cooms. "There've been no leaks on our side," he
+remarked. "And they must have known about this for weeks! Of all the
+inept, bungling&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, don't be too hard on the Brotherhood, commodore," Quillan said.
+"Leaks happen. You ought to know."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?" Velladon snapped.</p>
+
+<p>"From what we heard, the Brotherhood's pulling you out of a hole here.
+You should feel rather kindly toward them."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore stared at him reflectively. Then he grinned. "Could be I
+should," he said, "Did you come here alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore nodded. "If you're bluffing, God help you. If you're
+not, your group's in. Twenty per. No time for haggling&mdash;we can raise
+Yaco's price to cover it." He stood up, and Ryter stood up with him.
+"Marras," the commodore went on, "tell him what's happened. If he's
+half as hot as he sounds, he's the boy to put on that job. Let him get
+in on a little of the work for the twenty per cent. Ryter, come on.
+We&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"One moment, sir," Quillan interrupted. He took Orca's gun by the
+muzzle from his pocket, held it out to Velladon. "One of your men lost
+this thing. The one outside the door. If you don't mind&mdash;he might pout
+if he doesn't get it back."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The fifth level of the Executive Block appeared to be, as Heraga had
+said, quite small. The tiny entry hall, on which two walk-in portals
+opened, led directly into the large room where the two Pendrake rest
+cubicles had been placed. One of the cubicles now stood open. To right
+and left, a narrow passage stretched away from the room, ending
+apparently in smaller rooms.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy Perk was perspiring profusely.</p>
+
+<p>"Now right here," he said in a low voice, "was where I was standing.
+Movaine was over there, on the right of the cubicle, and Cooms was
+beside him. Rubero was a little behind me, hanging on to the
+punk&mdash;that Kinmarten. An' the Duke"&mdash;he nodded back at the wide
+doorspace to the hall&mdash;"was standing back there.</p>
+
+<p>"All right. The punk's opened the cubicle a crack, looking like he's
+about to pass out while he's doin' it. This bearded guy, Eltak, stands
+in front of the cubicle, holding the gadget he controls the thing
+with&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the gadget now?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Marras Cooms' got it."</p>
+
+<p>"How does it work?"</p>
+
+<p>Baldy shook his head. "We can't figure it out. It's got all kinds of
+little knobs and dials on it. Push this one an' it squeaks, turn that
+one an' it buzzes. Like that."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "All right. What happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Movaine tells the old guy to go ahead an' do the demonstrating.
+The old guy sort of grins and fiddles with the gadget. The cubicle
+door pops open an' this thing comes pouring out. I never seen nothin'
+like it! It's like a barn door with dirty fur on it! It swirls up an'
+around an'&mdash;it wraps its upper end clean around poor Movaine. He never
+even screeches.</p>
+
+<p>"Then everything pops at once. The old guy is laughing like crazy, an'
+that half-smart Rubero drills him right through the head. I take one
+shot at the thing, low so's not to hit Movaine, an' then we're all
+running, I'm halfway to the hall when Cooms tears past me like a
+rocket. The Duke an' the others are already piling out through the
+portal. I get to the hall, and there's this terrific smack of sound in
+the room. I look back ... an' ... an'&mdash;" Baldy paused and gulped.</p>
+
+<p>"And what?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>"There, behind the cubicles, I see poor Movaine stickin' halfway out
+o' the wall!" Baldy reported in a hushed whisper.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Half</i>way out of the wall?"</p>
+
+<p>"From the waist up he's in it! From the waist down he's dangling into
+the room! I tell you, I never seen nothin' like it."</p>
+
+<p>"And this Hlat creature&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's gone. I figure the smack I heard was when it hit the wall
+flat, carrying Movaine. It went on into it. Movaine didn't&mdash;at least,
+the last half of him didn't."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said after a pause, "in a way, Movaine got his
+demonstration. The Hlats can move through solid matter and carry other
+objects along with them, as advertised. If Yaco can work out how it's
+done and build a gadget that does the same thing, they're getting the
+Hlats cheap. What happened then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I told Marras Cooms about Movaine, and he sent me and a half dozen
+other boys back up here with riot guns to see what we could do for
+him. Which was nothin', of course." Baldy gulped again. "We finally
+cut this end of him off with a beam and took it back down."</p>
+
+<p>"The thing didn't show up while you were here?"</p>
+
+<p>Baldy shuddered and said, "Naw."</p>
+
+<p>"And the technician ... Eltak ... was dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure. Hole in his head you could shove your fist through."</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody," Quillan observed, "ought to drill Rubero for that stupid
+trick!"</p>
+
+<p>"The Duke did&mdash;first thing after we got back to the fourth level."</p>
+
+<p>"So the Hlat's on the loose, and all we really have at the moment are
+the cubicles ... and Rest Warden Kinmarten. Where's he, by the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"He tried to take off when we got down to Level Four, and somebody
+cold-cocked him. The doc says he ought to be coming around again
+pretty soon."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted, shoved the Miam Devil Special into its holster, said,
+"O.K., you stay here where you can watch the room and those passages
+and the hall. If you feel the floor start moving under, scream. I'll
+take a look at the cubicle."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Lady Pendrake's cubicle was about half as big again as a standard one;
+but, aside from one detail, its outer settings, instruments, and
+operating devices appeared normal. The modification was a recess
+almost six feet long and a foot wide and deep, in one side, which
+could be opened either to the room or to the interior of the rest
+cubicle, but not simultaneously to both. Quillan already knew its
+purpose; the supposed other cubicle was a camouflaged food locker,
+containing fifty-pound slabs of sea beef, each of which represented a
+meal for the Hlat. The recess made it possible to feed it without
+allowing it to be seen, or, possibly, attempting to emerge.
+Kinmarten's nervousness, as reported by his wife, seemed
+understandable. Any rest warden might get disturbed over such a
+charge.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan asked over his shoulder, "Anyone find out yet why the things
+can't get out of the closed rest cubicle?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy Perk said. "Kinmarten says it's the cubicle's defense
+fields. They could get through the material. They can't get through
+the field."</p>
+
+<p>"Someone think to energize the Executive Block's battle fields?"
+Quillan inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah. Velladon took care of that before he came screaming up to the
+third level to argue with Cooms and Fluel."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/image_004.jpg" width="600" height="229" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>"So it can't slip out of the Block unless it shows itself down on the
+ground level when the entry lock's open."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy muttered. "But I dunno. Is that good?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked at him. "Well, we <i>would</i> like it back."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? There's fifty more coming in on the liner tonight."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't have the fifty yet. If someone louses up the detail&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yawk!" Baldy said faintly. There was a crash of sound as his riot gun
+went off. Quillan spun about, hair bristling, gun out. "What
+happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll swear," Baldy said, white-faced, "I saw something moving along
+that passage!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked, saw nothing, slowly replaced the gun. "Baldy," he
+said, "if you think you see it again, just say so. That's an order! If
+it comes at us, we get out of this level fast. But we don't shoot
+before we have to. If we kill it, it's no good to us. Got that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy said. "But I got an idea now, Bad News." He nodded at
+the other cubicle. "Let's leave that meat box open."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"If it's hungry," Baldy explained simply, "I'd sooner it wrapped
+itself around a few chunks of sea beef, an' not around me."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan punched him encouragingly in the shoulder. "Baldy," he said,
+"in your own way, you <i>have</i> had an idea! But we won't leave the meat
+box open. When Kinmarten wakes up, I want him to show me how to bait
+this cubicle with a piece of sea beef, so it'll snap shut if the Hlat
+goes inside. Meanwhile it won't hurt if it gets a little hungry."</p>
+
+<p>"That," said Baldy, "isn't the way <i>I</i> feel about it."</p>
+
+<p>"There must be around a hundred and fifty people in the Executive
+Block at present," Quillan said. "Look at it that way! Even if the
+thing keeps stuffing away, your odds are pretty good, Baldy."</p>
+
+<p>Baldy shuddered.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Aside from a dark bruise high on his forehead, Brock Kinmarten showed
+no direct effects of having been knocked out. However, his face was
+strained and his voice not entirely steady. It was obvious that the
+young rest warden had never been in a similarly unnerving situation
+before. But he was making a valiant effort not to appear frightened
+and, at the same time, to indicate that he would co-operate to the
+best of his ability with his captors.</p>
+
+<p>He'd regained consciousness by the time Quillan and Perk returned to
+the fourth level, and Quillan suggested bringing him to Marras Cooms'
+private quarters for questioning. The Brotherhood chief agreed; he was
+primarily interested in finding out how the Hlat-control device
+functioned.</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten shook his head. He knew nothing about the instrument, he
+said, except that it was called a Hlat-talker. It was very unfortunate
+that Eltak had been shot, because Eltak undoubtedly could have told
+them all they wanted to know about it. If what he had told Kinmarten
+was true, Eltak had been directly involved in the development of the
+device.</p>
+
+<p>"Was he some Federation scientist?" Cooms asked, fiddling absently
+with the mysterious cylindrical object.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," the young man said. "But&mdash;again if what he told me was the
+truth&mdash;he was the man who actually discovered these Hlats. At least,
+he was the first man to discover them who wasn't immediately killed by
+them."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms glanced thoughtfully at Quillan, then asked, "And where was
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten shook his head again. "He didn't tell me. And I didn't
+really want to know. I was anxious to get our convoy to its
+destination, and then to be relieved of the assignment. I ... well,
+I've been trained to act as Rest Warden to human beings, after all,
+not to monstrosities!" He produced an uncertain smile, glancing from
+one to the other of his interrogators. The smile promptly faded out
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"You've no idea at all then about the place they came from?" Cooms
+asked expressionlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes," Kinmarten said hastily. "Eltak talked a great deal about
+the Hlats, and actually&mdash;except for its location&mdash;gave me a fairly
+good picture of what the planet must be like. For one thing, it's an
+uncolonized world, of course. It must be terratype or very nearly so,
+because Eltak lived there for fifteen years with apparently only a
+minimum of equipment. The Hlats are confined to a single large
+island. He discovered them by accident and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What was he doing there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, sir, he came from Hyles-Frisian. He was a crim ... he'd been
+engaged in some form of piracy, and when the authorities began looking
+for him, he decided it would be best to get clean out of the Hub. He
+cracked up his ship on this world and couldn't leave again. When he
+discovered the Hlats and realized their peculiar ability, he kept out
+of their way and observed them. He found out they had a means of
+communicating with each other, and that he could duplicate it. That
+stopped them from harming him, and eventually, he said, he was using
+them like hunting dogs. They were accustomed to co-operating with one
+another, because when there was some animal around that was too large
+for one of them to handle, they would attack, it in a group...."</p>
+
+<p>He went on for another minute or two on the subject. The Hlats&mdash;the
+word meant "rock lion" in one of the Hyles-Frisian dialects,
+describing a carnivorous animal which had some superficial resemblance
+to the creatures Eltak had happened on&mdash;frequented the seacoast and
+submerged themselves in sand, rocks and debris, whipping up out of it
+to seize some food animal, and taking it down with them again to
+devour it at leisure.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan interrupted, "You heard what happened to the man it attacked
+on the fifth level?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Why would the thing have left him half outside the wall as it did?"</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten said that it must simply have been moving too fast. It could
+slip into and out of solid substances without a pause itself, but it
+needed a little time to restructure an object it was carrying in the same
+manner. No more time, however, than two or three seconds&mdash;depending more
+on the nature of the object than on its size, according to Eltak.</p>
+
+<p>"It can restructure <i>anything</i> in that manner?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten hesitated. "Well, sir, I don't know. I suppose there might
+be limitations on its ability. Eltak told me the one we were escorting
+had been the subject of extensive experimentation during the past
+year, and that the results are very satisfactory."</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose it carries a living man through a wall. Will the man still be
+alive when he comes out on the other side, assuming the Hlat doesn't
+kill him deliberately?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir. The process itself wouldn't hurt him."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Quillan glanced at Cooms. "You know," he said, "we might be letting
+Yaco off too cheaply!"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms raised an eyebrow warningly, and Quillan grinned. "Our friend
+will be learning about Yaco soon enough. Why did Eltak tell the
+creature to attack, Kinmarten?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sir, I don't know," Kinmarten said. "He was a man of rather violent
+habits. My impression, however, was that he was simply attempting to
+obtain a hostage."</p>
+
+<p>"How did he get off that island with the Hlat?"</p>
+
+<p>"A University League explorer was investigating the planet. Eltak
+contacted them and obtained the guarantee of a full pardon and a large
+cash settlement in return for what he could tell them about the Hlats.
+They took him and this one specimen along for experimentation."</p>
+
+<p>"What about the Hlats on the <i>Camelot</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Eltak said those had been quite recently trapped on the island."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms ran his fingers over the cylinder, producing a rapid series of
+squeaks and whistles. "That's one thing Yaco may not like," he
+observed. "They won't have a monopoly on the thing."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head. "Their scientists don't have to work through
+red tape like the U-League. By the time the news breaks&mdash;if the
+Federation ever intends to break it&mdash;Yaco will have at least a
+five-year start on everyone else. That's all an outfit like that
+needs." He looked at Kinmarten. "Any little thing you haven't thought
+to tell us, friend?" he inquired pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>A thin film of sweat showed suddenly on Kinmarten's forehead.</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," he said. "I've really told you everything I know. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Might try him under dope," Cooms said absently.</p>
+
+<p>"Uh-uh!" Quillan said, "I want him wide awake to help me bait the
+cubicle for the thing. Has Velladon shown any indication of becoming
+willing to co-operate in hunting it?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms gestured with his head. "Ask Fluel! I sent him down to try to
+patch things up with the commodore. He just showed up again."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan glanced around. The Duke was lounging in the doorway. He
+grinned slightly, said, "Velladon's still sore at us. But he'll talk
+to Quillan. Kinmarten here ... did he tell you his wife's on the
+Star?"</p>
+
+<p>Brock Kinmarten went utterly white. Cooms looked at him, said softly,
+"No, that must have slipped his mind."</p>
+
+<p>Fluel said, "Yeah, Well, she is. And Ryter says they'll have her
+picked up inside half an hour. When they bring her in, we really
+should check on how candid Kinmarten's been about everything."</p>
+
+<p>The rest warden said in a voice that shook uncontrollably, "Gentlemen,
+my wife knows absolutely nothing about these matters! I swear it!
+She&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood up. "Well, I'll go see if I can't get Velladon in a
+better mood. Are you keeping that Hlat-talker, Cooms?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms smiled. "I am."</p>
+
+<p>"Marras figures," the Duke's flat voice explained, "that if the thing
+comes into the room and he squeaks at it a few times, he won't get
+hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"That's possible," Cooms said, unruffled. "At any rate, I intend to
+hang on to it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I wouldn't play around with those buttons too much," Quillan
+observed.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>"You might get lucky and tap out some pattern that spells 'Come to
+chow' in the Hlat's vocabulary."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>There were considerably more men in evidence on Level Two than on the
+fourth, and fewer signs of nervousness. The Star men had been told of
+the Hlat's escape from its cubicle, but weren't taking it too
+seriously. Quillan was conducted to the commodore and favored with an
+alarmingly toothy grin. Ryter, the security chief, joined them a few
+seconds later. Apparently, Velladon had summoned him.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon said, "Ryter here's made a few transmitter calls. We hear
+Pappy Boltan pulled his outfit out of the Orado area about a month
+ago. Present whereabouts unknown. Hagready went off on some hush-hush
+job at around the same time."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan smiled. "Uh-huh! So he did."</p>
+
+<p>"We also," said Ryter, "learned a number of things about you
+personally." He produced a thin smile. "You lead a busy
+and&mdash;apparently&mdash;profitable life."</p>
+
+<p>"Business is fair," Quillan agreed. "But it can always be improved."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore turned on the toothy grin. "So all right," he growled,
+"you're clear. We rather liked what we learned. Eh, Ryter?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"This Brotherhood of Beldon, now&mdash;" The commodore shook his head
+heavily.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan was silent a moment. "They might be getting sloppy," he said.
+"I don't know. It's one possibility. They used to be a rather sharp
+outfit, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I'd heard!" Velladon chewed savagely on his mustache,
+asked finally, "What's another possibility?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan leaned back in his chair. "Just a feeling, so far. But the
+business with the cubicle upstairs might have angles that weren't
+mentioned."</p>
+
+<p>They looked at him thoughtfully. Ryter said, "Mind amplifying that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Cooms told me," Quillan said, "that Nome Lancion had given Movaine
+instructions to make a test with Lady Pendrake on the quiet and find
+out if those creatures actually can do what they're supposed to do. I
+think he was telling the truth. Nome tends to be overcautious when
+it's a really big deal. Unless he's sure of the Hlats, he wouldn't
+want to be involved in a thing like blowing up the Star and the
+liner."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore scowled absently. "Uh-huh," he said. "He knows we can't
+back out of it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"All right. The Brotherhood's full of ambitious men. Behind Lancion,
+Movaine was top man. Cooms behind him; Fluel behind Cooms. Suppose
+that Hlat-control device Cooms is hanging on to so tightly isn't as
+entirely incomprehensible as they make it out to be. Suppose Cooms
+makes a deal with Eltak. Eltak tickles the gadget, and the Hlat kills
+Movaine. Rubero immediately guns down Eltak&mdash;and is killed by Fluel a
+couple of minutes later, supposedly for blowing his top and killing
+the man who knew how to control the Hlat."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter cleared his throat. "Fluel was Movaine's gun," he observed.</p>
+
+<p>"So he was," Quillan said. "Would you like the Duke to be yours?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter grinned, shook his head. "No, thanks!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked back at Velladon. "How well are you actually covered
+against the Brotherhood?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>that</i>'s air-tight," the commodore said. "We've got 'em
+outgunned here. When the liner lands, we'll be about even. But Lancion
+won't start anything. We're too even. Once we're clear of the Star, we
+don't meet again. We deal with Yaco individually. The Brotherhood has
+the Hlats, and we have the trained Federation technicians accompanying
+them, who ... who&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Who alone are supposed to be able to inform Yaco how to control the
+Hlats," Ryter finished for him. The security chief's face was
+expressionless.</p>
+
+<p>"By God!" the commodore said softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's only a possibility that somebody's playing dirty," Quillan
+remarked. "We'd want to be sure of it. But if anyone can handle a Hlat
+with the control instrument, the Brotherhood has an advantage now that
+it isn't talking about&mdash;it can offer Yaco everything Yaco needs in one
+package. Of course, Yaco might still be willing to pay for the Hlat
+technicians. If it didn't, you and Ryter could make the same kind of
+trouble for it that my friends can."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The color was draining slowly from Velladon's face. "There's a
+difference," he said. "If we threaten to make trouble for Yaco, they'd
+see to it that our present employers learn that Ryter and I are still
+alive."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Mooleys, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Tough." Quillan knuckled his chin thoughtfully. "Well, let's put it
+this way then," he said. "My group doesn't have <i>that</i> kind of
+problem, but if things worked out so that we'd have something more
+substantial than nuisance value to offer Yaco, we'd prefer it, of
+course."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon nodded. "Very understandable! Under the circumstances,
+co-operation appears to be indicated, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I had in mind."</p>
+
+<p>"You've made a deal," Velladon said. "Any immediate suggestions?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked at his watch. "A couple. We don't want to make any
+mistake about this. It's still almost five hours before the <i>Camelot</i>
+pulls in, and until she does you're way ahead on firepower. I wouldn't
+make any accusations just now. But you might mention to Cooms you'd
+like to borrow the Hlat gadget to have it examined by some of your
+technical experts. The way he reacts might tell us something. If he
+balks, the matter shouldn't be pushed too hard at the moment&mdash;it's a
+tossup whether you or the Brotherhood has a better claim to the thing.</p>
+
+<p>"But then there's Kinmarten, the rest warden in charge of the cubicle.
+I talked with him while Cooms and Fluel were around, but he may have
+been briefed on what to say. Cooms mentioned doping him, which could
+be a convenient way to keeping him shut up, assuming he knows more
+than he's told. He's one of the personnel you're to offer Yaco. I
+think you can insist on having Kinmarten handed over to you
+immediately. It should be interesting again to see how Cooms reacts."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon's big head nodded vigorously. "Good idea!"</p>
+
+<p>"By the way," Quillan said, "Fluel mentioned you've been looking for
+Kinmarten's wife, the second rest warden on the Pendrake convoy. Found
+her yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a trace, so far," Ryter said.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a little surprising, too, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Under the circumstances," the commodore said, "it might not be
+surprising at all!" He had regained his color, was beginning to look
+angry. "If they&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said soothingly, "we don't <i>know</i>. It's just that
+things do seem to be adding up a little. Now, there's one other point.
+We should do something immediately about catching that Hlat."</p>
+
+<p>Velladon grunted and picked at his teeth with his thumbnail. "It would
+be best to get it back in its cubicle, of course. But I'm not worrying
+about it&mdash;just an animal, after all. Even the light hardware those
+Beldon fancy Dans carry should handle it. You use a man-sized gun, I
+see. So do I. If it shows up around here, it gets smeared, that's all.
+There're fifty more of the beasts on the <i>Camelot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "You're right on that. But there's the possibility
+that it is being controlled by the Brotherhood at present. If it is,
+it isn't just an animal any more. It could be turned into a thoroughly
+dangerous nuisance."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore thought a moment, nodded. "You're right, I suppose. What
+do you want to do about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Baiting the cubicle on the fifth level might work. Then there should
+be life-detectors in the Star's security supplies&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter nodded. "We have a couple of dozen of them, but not in the
+Executive Block. They were left in the security building."</p>
+
+<p>The commodore stood up. "You stay here with Ryter," he told Quillan.
+"There're a couple of other things I want to go over with you two.
+I'll order the life-detectors from the office here&mdash;second passage
+down, isn't it, Ryter?... And, Ryter, I have another idea. I'm pulling
+the man in space-armor off the subspace portal and detailing him to
+Level Five." He grinned at Quillan. "That boy's got a brace of
+grenades and built-in spray guns! If Cooms is thinking of pulling any
+funny stunts up there, he'll think again."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The commodore headed briskly down the narrow passageway, his big
+holstered gun slapping his thigh with every step. The two security
+guards stationed at the door to the second level office came to
+attention as he approached, saluted smartly. He grunted, went in
+without returning the salutes, and started over toward the ComWeb on a
+desk at the far end of the big room, skirting the long, dusty-looking
+black rug beside one wall.</p>
+
+<p>Velladon unbuckled his gun belt, placed the gun on the desk, sat down
+and switched on the ComWeb.</p>
+
+<p>Behind him, the black rug stirred silently and rose up.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"You called that one," Ryter was saying seven or eight minutes later,
+"almost too well!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head, poked at the commodore's gun on the desk with
+his finger, looked about the silent office and back at the door where
+a small group of security men stood staring in at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Three men gone without a sound!" he said. He indicated the glowing
+disk of the ComWeb. "He had time enough to turn it on, not time enough
+to make his call. Any chance of camouflaged portals in this section?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Ryter said. "I know the location of every portal in the
+Executive Block. No number of men could have taken Velladon and the
+two guards without a fight anyway. We'd have heard it. It didn't
+happen that way."</p>
+
+<p>"Which leaves," Quillan said, "one way it could have happened." He
+jerked his head toward the door. "Will those men keep quiet?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I tell them to."</p>
+
+<p>"Then play it like this. Two guards have vanished. The Hlat obviously
+did it. The thing's deadly. That'll keep every man in the group on the
+alert every instant from now on. But we don't say Velladon has
+vanished. He's outside in the Star at the moment, taking care of
+something."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter licked his lips. "What does that buy us?"</p>
+
+<p>"If the Brotherhood's responsible for this&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't take much stock in coincidences," Ryter said.</p>
+
+<p>"Neither do I. But the Hlat's an animal; it can't tell them it's
+carried out the job. If they don't realize we suspect them, it gives
+us some advantage. For the moment, we just carry on as planned, and
+get rid of the Hlat in one way or another as the first step. The
+thing's three times as dangerous as anyone suspected&mdash;except,
+apparently, the Brotherhood. Get the life-detectors over here as soon
+as you can, and slap a space-armor guard on the fifth level."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter hesitated, nodded. "All right."</p>
+
+<p>"Another thing," Quillan said, "Cooms may have the old trick in mind
+of working from the top down. If he can take you out along with a few
+other key men, he might have this outfit demoralized to the point of
+making up for the difference in the number of guns&mdash;especially if the
+Hlat's still on his team. You'd better keep a handful of the best boys
+you have around here glued to your back from now on."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter smiled bleakly. "Don't worry. I intend to. What about you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think they're planning on giving me any personal attention
+at the moment. My organization is outside, not here. And it would look
+odd to the Brotherhood if I started dragging a few Star guards around
+with me at this point."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's your funeral if you've guessed
+wrong."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"There was nothing," Quillan told Marras Cooms, "that you could
+actually put a finger on. It was just that the commodore and Ryter may
+have something up their sleeves. Velladon's looking too self-satisfied
+to suit me."</p>
+
+<p>The Brotherhood chief gnawed his lower lip reflectively. He seemed
+thoughtful, not too disturbed. Cooms might be thoroughly afraid of the
+escaped Hlat, but he wouldn't have reached his present position in
+Nome Lancion's organization if he had been easily frightened by what
+other men were planning.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "I warned Movaine that if Velladon learned we'd checked out
+the Hlat, he wasn't going to like it."</p>
+
+<p>"He doesn't," Quillan said. "He regards it as something pretty close
+to an attempted double cross."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms grinned briefly. "It was."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. The question is, what can he do about it? He's got you
+outgunned two to one, but if he's thinking of jumping you before
+Lancion gets here, he stands to lose more men than he can afford to
+without endangering the entire operation for himself."</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_005.jpg" width="300" height="876" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Cooms was silent a few seconds. "There's an unpleasant possibility
+which didn't occur to me until a short while ago," he said then. "The
+fact is that Velladon actually may have us outgunned here by something
+like four to one. If that's the case, he can afford to lose quite a
+few men. In fact, he'd prefer to."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan frowned. "<i>Four</i> to one? How's that?"</p>
+
+<p>Cooms said, "The commodore told us he intended to let only around half
+of the Seventh Star's security force in on the Hlat deal. The other
+half was supposed to have been dumped out of one of the subspace
+section's locks early today, without benefit of suits. We had no
+reason to disbelieve him. Velladon naturally would want to cut down
+the number of men who got in on the split with him to as many as he
+actually needed. But if he's been thinking about eliminating us from
+the game, those other men may still be alive and armed."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted. "I see. You know, that could explain something that
+looked a little odd to me."</p>
+
+<p>"What was that?" Cooms asked.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan said, "After they discovered down there that two of their
+guards were missing and decided the Hlat must have been on their
+level, I tried to get hold of the commodore again. Ryter told me
+Velladon won't be available for a while, that he's outside in the
+Star, taking care of something there. I wondered what could be
+important enough to get Velladon to leave the Executive Block at
+present, but&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother, I'm way ahead of you!" Cooms said. His expression hardened.
+"That doesn't look good. But at least he can't bring in reinforcements
+without tipping us off. We've got our own guards down with theirs at
+the entrance."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan gave him a glance, then nodded at the wall beyond them.
+"That's a portal over there, Marras. How many of them on this level?"</p>
+
+<p>"Three or four. Why? The outportals have been plugged, man! Sealed
+off. Fluel checked them over when we moved in."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure they're sealed." Quillan stood up, went to the portal, stood
+looking at the panel beside it a moment, then pressed on it here and
+there, and removed it. "Come over here, friend. I suppose portal
+work's been out of your line. I'll show you how fast a thing like that
+can get unplugged!" He slid a pocketbook-sized tool kit out of his
+belt, snapped it open. About a minute later, the lifeless VACANT sign
+above the portal flickered twice, then acquired a steady white glow.</p>
+
+<p>"Portal in operation," Quillan announced. "I'll seal it off again now.
+But that should give you the idea."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms' tongue flicked over his lips. "Could somebody portal through to
+this level from the Star while the exits are sealed here?"</p>
+
+<p>"If the mechanisms have been set for that purpose, the portals can be
+opened again at any time from the Star side. The Duke's an engineer of
+sorts, isn't he? Let him check on it. He should have been thinking of
+the point himself, as far as that goes. Anyway, Velladon can bring in
+as many men as he likes to his own level without using the main
+entrance." He considered. "I didn't see anything to indicate that he's
+started doing it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Marras Cooms shrugged irritably. "That means nothing! It would be easy
+enough to keep half a hundred men hidden away on any of the lower
+levels."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that's right. Well, if the commodore intends to play rough,
+you should have some warning anyway."</p>
+
+<p>"What kind of warning?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's Kinmarten and that Hlat-talking gadget, for example," Quillan
+pointed out. "Velladon would want both of those in his possession and
+out of the way where they can't get hurt before he starts any
+shooting."</p>
+
+<p>Cooms looked at him a few seconds. "Ryter," he said then, "sent half a
+dozen men up here for Kinmarten just after you got back! Velladon's
+supposed to deliver the Hlats' attendants to Yaco, so I let them have
+Kinmarten." He paused. "They asked for the Hlat-talker, too."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted. "Did you give them that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Quillan said after a moment, "that doesn't necessarily mean
+that we're in for trouble with the Star group. But it does mean, I
+think, that we'd better stay ready for it!" He stood up. "I'll get
+back down there and go on with the motions of getting the hunt for
+the Hlat organized. Velladon would sooner see the thing get caught,
+too, of course, so he shouldn't try to interfere with that. If I spot
+anything that looks suspicious, I'll get the word to you."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I never," said Orca, unconsciously echoing Baldy Perk, "saw anything
+like it!" The commodore's chunky little gunman was ashen-faced. The
+circle of Star men standing around him hardly looked happier. Most of
+them were staring down at the empty lower section of a suit of space
+armor which appeared to have been separated with a neat diagonal slice
+from its upper part.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's get it straight," Ryter said, a little unsteadily. "You say
+this half of the suit was lying against the wall like <i>that</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly," Quillan told him. "When we got up to the fifth level,
+the suit was stuck against the wall&mdash;like that&mdash;about eight feet above
+the floor. That was in the big room where the cubicles are. When
+Kinmarten and Orca and I finally got the suit worked away from the
+wall, I expected frankly that we'd find half the body of the guard
+still inside. But he'd vanished."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter cleared his throat. "Apparently," he said, "the creature drew
+the upper section of the suit into the wall by whatever means it uses,
+then stopped applying the transforming process to the metal, and
+simply moved on with the upper part of the suit and the man."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "That's what it looks like."</p>
+
+<p>"But he had <i>two grenades</i>!" Orca burst out. "He had sprayguns! How
+could it get him that way?"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," Quillan said, "grenades won't help you much if you don't
+spot what's moving up behind you!"</p>
+
+<p>Orca glared speechlessly at him. Ryter said, "All right! We've lost
+another man. We're not going to lose any more. We'll station no more
+guards on the fifth level. Now, get everyone who isn't on essential
+guard duty to the main room, and split 'em up into life-detector
+units. Five men to each detail, one to handle the detector, four to
+stay with him, guns out. If the thing comes back to this level, we
+want to have it spotted the instant it arrives. Orca, you stay
+here&mdash;and keep <i>your</i> gun out!"</p>
+
+<p>The men filed out hurriedly. Ryter turned to Quillan. "Were you able
+to get the cubicle baited?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "Kinmarten figured out how the thing should be set for
+the purpose. If the Hlat goes in after the sea beef, it's trapped. Of
+course, if the hunting it's been doing was for food, it mightn't be
+interested in the beef."</p>
+
+<p>"We don't know," Ryter said, "that the hunting it's been doing was for
+food."</p>
+
+<p>"No. Did you manage to get the control device from Cooms?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shook his head. "He's refused to hand it over."</p>
+
+<p>"If you tried to take it from him," Quillan said, "you might have a
+showdown on your hands."</p>
+
+<p>"And if this keeps on," Ryter said, "I may prefer a showdown! Another
+few rounds of trouble with the Hlat, and the entire operation could
+blow up in our faces! The men aren't used to that kind of thing. It's
+shaken them up. If we've got to take care of the Brotherhood, I'd
+rather do it while I still have an organized group. Where did you
+leave Kinmarten, by the way?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's back in the little room with his two guards," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he should be all right there. We can't spare&mdash;" Ryter's body
+jerked violently. "<i>What's that?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>There had been a single thudding crash somewhere in the level. Then
+shouts and cursing.</p>
+
+<p>"Main hall!" Quillan said. "Come on!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The main hall was a jumble of excitedly jabbering Star men when they
+arrived there. Guns waved about, and the various groups were showing a
+marked tendency to stand with their backs toward one another and their
+faces toward the walls.</p>
+
+<p>Ryter's voice rose in a shout that momentarily shut off the hubbub.
+"<i>What's going on here?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Men turned, hands pointed, voices babbled again. Someone nearby said
+sharply and distinctly, "... Saw it drop right out of the ceiling!"
+Farther down the hall, another group shifted aside enough to disclose
+it had been clustered about something which looked a little like the
+empty shell of a gigantic black beetle.</p>
+
+<p>The missing section of the suit of space armor had been returned. But
+not its occupant.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan moved back a step, turned, went back down the passage from
+which they had emerged, pulling the Miam Devil from its holster.
+Behind him the commotion continued; Ryter was shouting something about
+getting the life-detector units over there. Quillan went left down the
+first intersecting corridor, right again on the following one, keeping
+the gun slightly raised before him. Around the next corner, he saw the
+man on guard over the portal connecting the building levels facing
+him, gun pointed.</p>
+
+<p>"What happened?" the guard asked shakily.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head, coming up. "That thing got another one!"</p>
+
+<p>The guard breathed, "By God!" and lowered his gun a little. Quillan
+raised his a little, the Miam Devil grunted, and the guard sighed and
+went down. Quillan went past him along the hall, stopped two doors
+beyond the portal and rapped on the locked door.</p>
+
+<p>"Quillan here! Open up!"</p>
+
+<p>The door opened a crack, and one of Kinmarten's guards looked out
+questioningly. Quillan shot him through the head, slammed on into the
+room across the collapsing body, saw the second guard wheeling toward
+him, shot again, and slid the gun back into the holster. Kinmarten,
+standing beside a table six feet away, right hand gripping a heavy
+marble ashtray, was staring at him in white-faced shock.</p>
+
+<p>"Take it easy, chum!" Quillan said, turning toward him. "I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He ducked hurriedly as the ashtray came whirling through the air
+toward his head. An instant later, a large fist smacked the side of
+Kinmarten's jaw. The rest warden settled limply to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry to do that, pal," Quillan muttered, stooping over him. "Things
+are rough all over right now." He hauled Kinmarten upright, bent, and
+had the unconscious young man across his shoulder. The hall was still
+empty except for the body of the portal guard. Quillan laid Kinmarten
+on the carpet before the portal, hauled the guard off into the room,
+and pulled the door to the room shut behind him as he came out.
+Picking up Kinmarten, he stepped into the portal with him and jabbed
+the fifth level button. A moment later, he moved out into the small
+dim entry hall on the fifth level, the gun in his right hand again.</p>
+
+<p>He stood there silently for some seconds, looking about him listening.
+The baited cubicle yawned widely at him from the center of the big
+room. Nothing seemed to be stirring. Kinmarten went back to the floor.
+Quillan moved over to the panel which concealed the other portal's
+mechanisms.</p>
+
+<p>He had the outportal unsealed in considerably less than a minute this
+time, and slapped the panel gently back in place. He turned back to
+Kinmarten and started to bend down for him, then straightened quietly
+again, turning his head.</p>
+
+<p>Had there been a flicker of shadowy motion just then at the edge of
+his vision, behind the big black cube of the Hlat's food locker?
+Quillan remained perfectly still, the Miam Devil ready and every sense
+straining for an indication that the thing was there&mdash;or approaching
+stealthily now, gliding behind the surfaces of floor or ceiling or
+walls like an underwater swimmer.</p>
+
+<p>But half a minute passed and nothing else happened. He went down on
+one knee beside Kinmarten, the gun still in his right hand. With his
+left, he carefully wrestled the rest warden back up across his
+shoulder, came upright, moved three steps to the side, and disappeared
+in the outportal.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Reetal Destone unlocked the entry door to her suite and stepped
+hurriedly inside, letting the door slide shut behind her. She crossed
+the room to the ComWeb stand and switched on the playback. There was
+the succession of tinkling tones which indicated nothing had been
+recorded.</p>
+
+<p>She shut the instrument off again, passing her tongue lightly over her
+lips. No further messages from Heraga....</p>
+
+<p>And none from Quillan.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head, feeling a surge of sharp anxiety, glanced at her
+watch and told herself that, after all, less than two hours had passed
+since Quillan had gone into the Executive Block. Heraga reported there
+had been no indications of disturbance or excitement when he passed
+through the big entrance hall on his way out. So Quillan, at any
+rate, had succeeded in bluffing his way into the upper levels.</p>
+
+<p>It remained a desperate play, at best.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal went down the short passage to her bedroom. As she came into
+the room, her arms were caught from the side at the elbows, pulled
+suddenly and painfully together behind her. She stood still, frozen
+with shock.</p>
+
+<p>"In a hurry, sweetheart?" Fluel's flat voice said.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal managed a breathless giggle. "Duke! You startled me! How did
+you get in?"</p>
+
+<p>She felt one hand move up her arm to her shoulder. Then she was swung
+about deftly and irresistibly, held pinned back against the wall,
+still unable to move her arms.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her a moment, asked, "Where are you hiding it this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hiding what, Duke?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been told sweet little Reetal always carries a sweet little gun
+around with her in some shape or form or other."</p>
+
+<p>Reetal shook her head, her eyes widening. "Duke, what's the matter?
+I...."</p>
+
+<p>He let go of her suddenly, and his slap exploded against the side of
+her face. Reetal cried out, dropping her head between her hands.
+Immediately he had her wrists again, and her fingers were jerked away
+from the jeweled ornament in her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"So that's where it is!" Fluel said. "Thought it might be. Don't get
+funny again now, sweetheart. Just stay quiet."</p>
+
+<p>She stayed quiet, wincing a little as he plucked the glittering little
+device out of her hair. He turned it around in his fingers, examining
+it, smiled and slid it into an inside pocket, and took her arm again.
+"Let's go to the front room, Reetal," he said almost pleasantly.
+"We've got a few things to do."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>A minute later, she was seated sideways on a lounger, her wrists
+fastened right and left to its armrests. The Duke placed a pocket
+recorder on the floor beside her. "This is a crowded evening,
+sweetheart," he remarked, "which is lucky for you in a way. We'll have
+to rush things along a little. I'll snap the recorder on in a minute
+so you can answer questions&mdash;No, keep quiet. Just listen very closely
+now, so you'll know what the right answers are. If you get rattled and
+gum things up, the Duke's going to get annoyed with you."</p>
+
+<p>He sat down a few feet away from her, hitched his shoulders to
+straighten out the silver jacket, and lit a cigarette. "A little while
+after Bad News Quillan turned up just now," he went on, "a few things
+occurred to me. One of them was that a couple of years ago you and he
+were operating around Beldon at about the same time. I thought, well,
+maybe you knew each other; maybe not. And then&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," Reetal said uncertainly, "just what are you talking about? I
+don't know&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up." He reached over, tapped her knee lightly with his
+fingertips. "Of course, if you want to get slapped around, all right.
+Otherwise, don't interrupt again. Like I said, you're in luck; I don't
+have much time to spend here. You're getting off very easy. Now just
+listen.</p>
+
+<p>"Bad News knew a lot about our operation and had a story to explain
+that. If the story was straight, we couldn't touch him. But I was
+wondering about the two of you happening to be here on the Star again
+at the same time. A team maybe, eh? But he didn't mention you as being
+in on the deal. So what was the idea?</p>
+
+<p>"And then, sweetheart, I remembered something else&mdash;and that tied it
+in. Know that little jolt people sometimes get when they're dropping
+off to sleep? Of course. Know another time they sometimes get it? When
+they're snapping back out of a Moment of Truth, eh? I remembered
+suddenly I'd felt a little jump like that while we were talking
+to-day. Might have been a reflex of some kind. Of course, it didn't
+occur to me at the time you could be pulling a lousy stunt like that
+on old Duke. Why take a chance on getting your neck broken?</p>
+
+<p>"But, sweetheart, that's the tie-in! Quillan hasn't told it straight.
+He's got no backing. He's on his own. There's no gang outside
+somewhere that knows all about our little deal. He got his information
+right here, from you. And you got it from dumb old Duke, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," Reetal said quite calmly, "can I ask just one question?"</p>
+
+<p>He stared bleakly at her a moment, then grinned. "It's my night to be
+big-hearted, I guess. Go ahead."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not trying to argue. But it simply doesn't make sense. If I
+learned about this operation you're speaking of from you, what reason
+could I have to feed you Truth in the first place? There'd be almost a
+fifty-fifty chance that you'd spot it immediately. Why should I take
+such a risk? Don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>Fluel shrugged, dropped his cigarette and ground it carefully into the
+carpet with the tip of his shoe.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll start answering those questions yourself almost immediately,
+sweetheart! Let's not worry about that now. Let me finish. Something
+happened to Movaine couple of hours ago. Nobody's fault. And something
+else happened to Marras Cooms just now. That puts me in charge of the
+operation here. Nice, isn't it? When we found Cooms lying in the hall
+with a hole through his stupid head, I told Baldy Perk it looked like
+Bad News had thrown in with the Star boys and done it. Know Baldy?
+He's Cooms' personal gun. Not what you'd call bright, and he's mighty
+hot now about Cooms. I left him in charge on our level, with orders to
+get Quillan the next time he shows up there. Well and good. The boys
+know Bad News' rep too well to try asking him questions. They won't
+take chances with him. They'll just gun him down together the instant
+they see him."</p>
+
+<p>He paused to scuff his shoe over the mark the cigarette had left on
+the carpet, went on, "But there's Nome Lancion now. He kind of liked
+Cooms, and he might get suspicious. When there's a sudden vacancy in
+the organization like that. Nome takes a good look first at the man
+next in line. He likes to be sure the facts are as stated.</p>
+
+<p>"So now you know the kind of answers from you I want to hear go down
+on the recorder, sweetheart. And be sure they sound right. I don't
+want to waste time on replays. You and Quillan were here on the Star.
+You got some idea of what was happening, realized you were due to be
+vaporized along with the rest of them after we left. There was no way
+out of the jam for you unless you could keep the operation from being
+carried out. You don't, by the way, mention getting any of that
+information from me. I don't want Lancion to think I'm beginning to
+get dopey. You and Quillan just cooked up this story, and he managed
+to get into the Executive Block. The idea being to knock off as many
+of the leaders as he could, and mess things up."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Fluel picked up the recorder, stood up, and placed it on the chair.
+"That's all you have to remember. You're a smart girl; you can fill in
+the details any way you like. Now let's get started&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She stared at him silently for an instant, a muscle beginning to
+twitch in her cheek. "If I do that," she said, "if I give you a story
+Nome will like, what happens next?"</p>
+
+<p>Fluel shrugged. "Just what you're thinking happens next. You're a dead
+little girl right now, Reetal. Might as well get used to the idea.
+You'd be dead anyhow four, five hours from now, so that shouldn't make
+too much difference. What makes a lot of difference is just how
+unpleasant the thing can get."</p>
+
+<p>She drew a long breath. "Duke, I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You're stalling, sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>"Duke, give me a break. I really didn't know a thing about this. I&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He looked down at her for a moment. "I gave you a break," he said.
+"You've wasted it. Now we'll try it the other way. If we work a few
+squeals into the recording, that'll make it more convincing to
+Lancion. He'll figure little Reetal's the type who wouldn't spill a
+thing like that without a little pressure." He checked himself,
+grinned. "And that reminds me. When you're talking for the record, use
+your own voice."</p>
+
+<p>"My own voice?" she half whispered.</p>
+
+<p>"Nome will remember what you sound like&mdash;and I've heard that voice
+imitations are part of your stock in trade. You might think it was
+cute if Nome got to wondering after you were dead whether that really
+had been you talking. Don't try it, sweetheart."</p>
+
+<p>He brought a glove out of his jacket pocket, slipped it over his left
+hand, flexing his fingers to work it into position. Reetal's eyes
+fastened on the rounded metal tips capping thumb, forefinger and
+middle finger of the glove. Her face went gray.</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," she said, "No&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up." He brought out a strip of transparent plastic, moved over
+to her. The gloved hand went into her hair, gripped it, turned her
+face up. He laid the plastic gag lengthwise over her mouth, pressed it
+down and released it. Reetal closed her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll keep it shut," he said. "Now&mdash;" His right hand clamped about
+the back of her neck, forcing her head down and forward almost to her
+knees. The gloved left hand brushed her hair forwards, then its middle
+finger touched the skin at a point just above her shoulder blades.</p>
+
+<p>"Right there," Fluel said. The finger stiffened, drove down.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal jerked violently, twisted, squirmed sideways, wrists straining
+against the grip of the armrests. Her breath burst out of her
+nostrils, followed by squeezed, whining noises. The metal-capped
+finger continued to grind savagely against the nerve center it had
+found.</p>
+
+<p>"Thirty," Fluel said finally. He drew his hand back, pulled her
+upright again, peeled the gag away from her lips. "Only thirty
+seconds, sweetheart. Think you'd sooner play along now?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal's head nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine. Give you a minute to steady up. This doesn't really waste much
+time, you see&mdash;" He took up the recorder, sat down on the chair again,
+watching her. She was breathing raggedly and shallowly, eyes wide and
+incredulous. She didn't look at him.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke lit another cigarette.</p>
+
+<p>"Incidentally," he observed, "if you were stalling because you hoped
+old Bad News might show up, forget it. If the boys haven't gunned him
+down by now, he's tied up on a job the commodore gave him to do. He'll
+be busy another hour or two on that. He&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He checked himself. A central section of the wall paneling across the
+room from him had just dilated open. Old Bad News stood in the
+concealed suite portal, Rest Warden Kinmarten slung across his
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Both men moved instantly. Fluel's long legs bounced him sideways out
+of the chair, right hand darting under his coat, coming out with a
+gun. Quillan turned to the left to get Kinmarten out of the way. The
+big Miam Devil seemed to jump into his hand. Both guns spoke together.</p>
+
+<p>Fluel's gun thudded to the carpet. The Duke said, "Ah-aa-ah!" in a
+surprised voice, rolled up his eyes, and followed the gun down.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan said, stunned, "He was fast! I felt that one parting my hair."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>He became very solicitous then&mdash;after first ascertaining that Fluel
+had left the Executive Block unaccompanied, on personal business. He
+located a pain killer spray in Reetal's bedroom and applied it to the
+bruised point below the back of her neck. She was just beginning to
+relax gratefully, as the warm glow of the spray washed out the pain
+and the feeling of paralysis, when Kinmarten, lying on the carpet
+nearby, began to stir and mutter.</p>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 300px;">
+<img src="images/image_006.jpg" width="300" height="865" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Quillan hastily put down the spray.</p>
+
+<p>"Watch him!" he cautioned. "I'll be right back. If he sits up, yell.
+He's a bit wild at the moment. If he wakes up and sees the Duke lying
+there, he'll start climbing the walls."</p>
+
+<p>"What&mdash;" Reetal began. But he was gone down the hall.</p>
+
+<p>He returned immediately with a glass of water, went down on one knee
+beside Kinmarten, slid an arm under the rest warden's shoulder, and
+lifted him to a sitting position.</p>
+
+<p>"Wake up, old pal!" he said loudly. "Come on, wake up! Got something
+good for you here&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What are you giving him?" Reetal asked, cautiously massaging the back
+of her neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Knockout drops. I already had to lay him out once. We want to lock
+him up with his wife now, and if he comes to and tells her what's
+happened, they'll both be out of their minds by the time we come to
+let them out&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted himself. Kinmarten's eyelids were fluttering. Quillan
+raised the glass to his lips. "Here you are, pal," he said in a deep,
+soothing voice. "Drink it! It'll make you feel a lot better."</p>
+
+<p>Kinmarten swallowed obediently, swallowed again. His eyelids stopped
+fluttering. Quillan lowered him back to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>"That ought to do it," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"What," Reetal asked, "did happen? The Duke&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell you as much as I can after we get Kinmarten out of the way. I
+have to get back to the Executive Block. Things are sort of teetering
+on the edge there." He jerked his head at Fluel's body. "I want to
+know about him, too, of course. Think you can walk now?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal groaned. "I can try," she said.</p>
+
+<p>They found Solvey Kinmarten dissolved in tears once more. She flung
+herself on her husband's body when Quillan place him on the bed. "What
+have those <i>beasts</i> done to Brock?" she demanded fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing very bad," Quillan said soothingly. "He's, um, under sedation
+at the moment, that's all. We've got him away from them now, and he's
+safe ... look at it that way. You stay here and take care of him.
+We'll have the whole deal cleared up before morning, doll. Then you
+can both come out of hiding again." He gave her an encouraging wink.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so very grateful to both of you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No trouble, really. But we'd better get back to work on the thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Heck," Quillan said a few seconds later, as he and Reetal came out on
+the other side of the portal, "I feel like hell about those two. Nice
+little characters! Well, if the works blow up, they'll never know it."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>We</i>'ll know it," Reetal said meaningly. "Start talking."</p>
+
+<p>He rattled through a brief account of events in the Executive Block,
+listened to her report on the Duke's visit, scratched his jaw
+reflectively.</p>
+
+<p>"That might help!" he observed. "They're about ready to jump down
+each other's throats over there right now. A couple more pushes&mdash;" He
+stood staring down at the Duke's body for a moment. Blood soiled the
+back of the silver jacket, seeping out from a tear above the heart
+area. Quillan bent down, got his hands under Fluel's armpits, hauled
+the body upright.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal asked, startled, "What are you going to do with it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something useful, I think. And wouldn't that shock the Duke ... the
+first time he's been of any use to anybody. Zip through the Star's
+ComWeb directory, doll, and get me the call symbol for Level Four of
+the Executive Block!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Solvey Kinmarten dimmed the lights a trifle in the bedroom, went back
+to Brock, rearranged the pillows under his head, and bent down to
+place her lips tenderly to the large bruises on his forehead and the
+side of his jaw. Then she brought a chair up beside the bed, and sat
+down to watch him.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps a minute later, there was a slight noise behind her. Startled,
+she glanced around, saw something huge, black and shapeless moving
+swiftly across the carpet of the room toward her.</p>
+
+<p>Solvey quietly fainted.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Sure you know what to say?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal moistened her lips. "Just let me go over it in my mind once
+more." She was sitting on the floor, on the right side of the ComWeb
+stand, her face pale and intent, "You know," she said, "this makes me
+feel a little queasy somehow, Quillan! And suppose they don't fall for
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"They'll fall for it!" Quillan was on his knees in front of the stand,
+supporting Fluel's body, which was sprawled half across it, directly
+before the lit vision screen. An outflung arm hid the Duke's face from
+the screen. "You almost had <i>me</i> thinking I was listening to Fluel
+when you did the take-off of him this evening. A dying man can be
+expected to sound a little odd, anyway." He smiled at her
+encouragingly. "Ready now?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal nodded nervously, cleared her throat.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan reached across Fluel tapped out Level Four's call symbol on
+the instrument, ducked back down below the stand. After a moment,
+there was a click.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal produced a quavering, agonized groan. Somebody else gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Duke</i>!" Baldy Perk's voice shouted. "What's happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Baldy Perk!" Quillan whispered quickly.</p>
+
+<p>Reetal stammered hoarsely, "The c-c-commodore, Baldy! Shot me ... shot
+Marras! They're after ... Quillan ... now!"</p>
+
+<p>"I thought Bad News...." Baldy sounded stunned.</p>
+
+<p>"Was w-wrong, Baldy," Reetal croaked. "Bad News ... with us! Bad News ...
+pal! The c-c-comm&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the ComWeb stand the palm of Quillan's right hand thrust
+abruptly up and forward. The stand tilted, went crashing back to the
+floor. Fluel's body lurched over with it. The vision screen shattered.
+Baldy's roaring question was cut off abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"Great stuff, doll!" Quillan beamed, helping Reetal to her feet. "You
+sent shudders down my back!"</p>
+
+<p>"Down mine, too!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll get him out of here now. Ditch him in one of the shut-off
+sections. Then I'll get back to the Executive Block. If Ryter's
+thought to look into Kinmarten's room, they'll really be raving on
+both sides there now!"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that necessary?" Reetal asked. "For you to go back, I mean.
+Somebody besides Fluel might have become suspicious of you by now."</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter might," Quillan agreed. "He's looked like the sharpest of the
+lot right from the start. But we'll have to risk that. We've got all
+the making of a shooting war there now, but we've got to make sure it
+gets set off before somebody thinks of comparing notes. If I'm around,
+I'll keep jolting at their nerves."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you're right. Now, our group&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan nodded. "No need to hold off on that any longer, the way
+things are moving. Get on another ComWeb and start putting out those
+Mayday messages right now! As soon as you've rounded the boys up&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That might," Reetal said, "take a little less than an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"Fine. Then move them right into the Executive Block. With just a bit
+of luck, one hour from now should land them in the final stages of a
+beautiful battle on the upper levels. Give them my description and
+Ryter's, so we don't have accidents."</p>
+
+<p>"Why Ryter's?"</p>
+
+<p>"Found out he was the boy who took care of the bomb-planting detail.
+We want him alive. The others mightn't know where it's been tucked
+away. Heraga says the clerical staff and technicians in there are all
+wearing the white Star uniforms. Anyone else who isn't in one of those
+uniforms is fair game&mdash;" He paused. "Oh, and tip them off about the
+Hlat!&mdash;God only knows what that thing will be doing when the ruckus
+starts."</p>
+
+<p>"What about sending a few men in through the fifth level portal, the
+one you've unplugged?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan considered, shook his head. "No. Down on the ground level is
+where we want them. They'd have to portal there again from the fifth,
+and a portal is too easy to seal off and defend. Now let's get a
+blanket or something to tuck Fluel into. I don't want to feel
+conspicuous if I run into somebody on the way."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Quillan emerged cautiously from the fifth portal in the Executive
+Block a short while later, came to a sudden stop just outside it. In
+the big room beyond the entry hall, the door of the baited cubicle was
+closed, and the life-indicator on the door showed a bright steady
+green glow.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stared at it a moment, looking somewhat surprised, then went
+quietly into the room and bent to study the cubicle's instruments. A
+grin spread slowly over his face. The trap had been sprung. He glanced
+at the deep-rest setting and turned it several notches farther down.</p>
+
+<p>"Happy dreams, Lady Pendrake!" he murmured. "That takes care of you.
+What an appetite! And now&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>As the Level Four portal dilated open before him, a gun blazed from
+across the hall. Quillan flung himself out and down, rolled to the
+side, briefly aware of a litter of bodies and tumbled furniture
+farther up the hall. Then he was flat on the carpet, gun out before
+him, pointing back at the overturned, ripped couch against the far
+wall from which the fire had come.</p>
+
+<p>A hoarse voice bawled, "Bad News&mdash;hold it!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan hesitated, darting a glance right and left. Men lying about
+everywhere, the furnishings a shambles. "That you, Baldy?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah," Baldy Perk half sobbed. "I'm hurt&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"What happened?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Star</i> gang jumped us. Portaled in here&mdash;spitballs and riot guns! Bad
+News, we're clean wiped out! Everyone that was on this level&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood up, holstering the gun, went over to the couch and moved
+it carefully away from the wall. Baldy was crouched behind it,
+kneeling on the blood-soaked carpet, gun in his right hand. He lifted
+a white face, staring eyes, to Quillan.</p>
+
+<p>"Waitin' for 'em to come back," he muttered. "Man, I'm not for long!
+Got hit twice. Near passed out a couple of times already."</p>
+
+<p>"What about your boys on guard downstairs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Same thing there, I guess ... or they'd have showed up. They got
+Cooms and the Duke, too! Man, it all happened fast!"</p>
+
+<p>"And the crew on the freighter?"</p>
+
+<p>"Dunno about them."</p>
+
+<p>"You know the freighter's call number?"</p>
+
+<p>"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Never thought of that," Baldy said wearily. He
+seemed dazed now.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see if you can stand."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan helped the big man to his feet. Baldy hadn't bled too much
+outwardly, but he seemed to have estimated his own condition
+correctly. He wasn't for long. Quillan slid an arm under his
+shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's a ComWeb?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy blinked about. "Passage there&mdash;" His voice was beginning to
+thicken.</p>
+
+<p>The ComWeb was in the second room up the passage. Quillan eased Perk
+into the seat before it. Baldy's head lolled heavily forward, like a
+drunken man's. "What's the number?" Quillan asked.</p>
+
+<p>Baldy reflected a few seconds, blinking owlishly at the instrument,
+then told him. Quillan tapped out the number, flicked on the vision
+screen, then stood aside and back, beyond the screen's range.</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah, Perk?" a voice said some seconds later. "Hey, <i>Perk</i> ... Perk,
+what's with ya?"</p>
+
+<p>Baldy spat blood, grinned. "Shot&mdash;" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What?</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah." Baldy scowled, blinking. "Now, lessee&mdash;Oh, yeah. Star gang's
+gonna jump ya! Watch it!"</p>
+
+<p>"What?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah, watch&mdash;" Baldy coughed, laid his big head slowly down face
+forward on the ComWeb stand, and stopping moving.</p>
+
+<p>"Perk! Man, wake up! Perk!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan quietly took out the gun, reached behind the stand and blew
+the ComWeb apart. He wasn't certain what the freighter's crew would
+make of the sudden break in the connection, but they could hardly
+regard it as reassuring. He made a brief prowl then through the main
+sections of the level. Evidence everywhere of a short and furious
+struggle, a struggle between men panicked and enraged almost beyond
+any regard for self-preservation. It must have been over in minutes.
+He found that the big hall portal to the ground level had been sealed,
+whether before or after the shooting he couldn't know. There would
+have been around twenty members of the Brotherhood on the level. None
+of them had lived as long as Baldy Perk, but they seemed to have
+accounted for approximately an equal number of the Star's security
+force first.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Five Star men came piling out of the fifth level portal behind him a
+minute or two later, Ryter in the lead. Orca behind Ryter. All five
+held leveled guns.</p>
+
+<p>"You won't need the hardware," Quillan assured them. "It's harmless
+enough now. Come on in."</p>
+
+<p>They followed him silently up to the cubicle, stared comprehendingly
+at dials and indicators. "The thing's back inside there, all right!"
+Ryter said. He looked at Quillan. "Is this where you've been all the
+time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, Where else?" The others were forming a half-circle about him, a
+few paces back.</p>
+
+<p>"Taking quite a chance with that Hlat, weren't you?" Ryter remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Not too much. I thought of something." Quillan indicated the
+outportal in the hall. "I had my back against that. A portal's
+space-break, not solid matter. It couldn't come at me from behind. And
+if it attacked from any other angle"&mdash;he tapped the holstered Miam
+Devil lightly, and the gun in Orca's hand jerked upward a fraction of
+an inch&mdash;"There aren't many animals that can swallow more than a bolt
+or two from that baby and keep coming."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence. Then Orca said thoughtfully, "That would
+work!"</p>
+
+<p>"Did it see you?" Ryter asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It couldn't have. First <i>I</i> saw of it, it was sailing out from that
+corner over there. It slammed in after that chunk of sea beef so fast,
+it shook the cubicle. And that was that." He grinned. "Well, most of
+our troubles should be over now!"</p>
+
+<p>One of the men gave a brief, nervous laugh. Quillan looked at him
+curiously. "Something, chum?"</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shook his head. "Something is right! Come on downstairs again,
+Bad News. This time we have news for you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Brotherhood guards on the ground level had been taken by surprise
+and shot down almost without losses for the Star men. But the battle
+on the fourth level had cost more than the dead left up there. An
+additional number had returned with injures that were serious enough
+to make them useless for further work.</p>
+
+<p>"It's been expensive," Ryter admitted. "But one more attack by the
+Hlat would have left me with a panicked mob on my hands. If we'd
+realized it was going to trap itself&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I wasn't so sure that would work either," Quillan said. "Did you get
+Kinmarten back?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet. The chances are he's locked up somewhere on the fourth
+level. Now the Hlat's out of the way, some of the men have gone back
+up there to look for him. If Cooms thought he was important enough to
+start a fight over, I want him back."</p>
+
+<p>"How about the crew on the Beldon ship?" Quillan asked, "Have they
+been cleaned up?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," Ryter said. "We'll have to do that now, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"How many of them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Supposedly twelve. And that's probably what it is."</p>
+
+<p>"If they know or suspect what's happened," Quillan said, "twelve men
+can give a boarding party in a lock a remarkable amount of trouble."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter shrugged irritably. "I know, but there isn't much choice.
+Lancion's bringing in the other group on the <i>Camelot</i>. We don't want
+to have to handle both of them at the same time."</p>
+
+<p>"How are you planning to take the freighter?"</p>
+
+<p>"When the search party comes back down, we'll put every man we can
+spare from guard duty here on the job. They'll be instructed to be
+careful about it ... if they can wind up the matter within the next
+several hours, that will be early enough. We can't afford too many
+additional losses now. But we should come out with enough men to take
+care of Lancion and handle the shipment of Hlats. And that's what
+counts."</p>
+
+<p>"Like me to take charge of the boarding party?" Quillan inquired.
+"That sort of thing's been a kind of specialty of mine."</p>
+
+<p>Ryter looked at him without much expression on his face. "I understand
+that," he said. "But perhaps it would be better if you stayed up here
+with us."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>The search party came back down ten minutes later. They'd looked
+through every corner of the fourth level. Kinmarten wasn't there,
+either dead or alive. But one observant member of the group had
+discovered, first, that the Duke of Fluel was also not among those
+present, and, next that one of the four outportals on the level had
+been unsealed. The exit on which the portal was found to be set was in
+a currently unused hall in the General Office building on the other
+side of the Star. From that hall, almost every other section of the
+Star was within convenient portal range.</p>
+
+<p>None of the forty-odd people working in the main control office on the
+ground level had actually witnessed any shooting; but it was apparent
+that a number of them were uncomfortably aware that something quite
+extraordinary must be going on. They were a well-disciplined group,
+however. An occasional uneasy glance toward one of the armed men
+lounging along the walls, some anxious faces, were the only noticeable
+indications of tension. Now and then, there was a brief, low-pitched
+conversation at one of the desks.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood near the center of the office, Ryter and Orca a dozen
+feet from him on either side. Four Star guards were stationed along
+the walls. From the office one could see through a large doorspace cut
+through both sides of a hall directly into the adjoining transmitter
+room. Four more guards were in there. Aside from the men in the
+entrance hall and at the subspace portal, what was available at the
+moment of Ryter's security force was concentrated at this point.</p>
+
+<p>The arrangement made considerable sense; and Quillan gave no sign of
+being aware that the eyes of the guards shifted to him a little more
+frequently than to any other point in the office, or that none of them
+had moved his hand very far away from his gun since they had come in
+here. But that also made sense. In the general tension area of the
+Executive Block's ground level, a specific point of tension&mdash;highly
+charged though undetected by the non-involved personnel&mdash;was the one
+provided by the presence of Bad News Quillan here. Ryter was more than
+suspicious by now; the opened portal on the fourth level, the
+disappearance of Kinmarten and the Duke, left room for a wide variety
+of speculations. Few of those speculations could be very favorable to
+Bad News. Ryter obviously preferred to let things stand as they were
+until the Beldon freighter was taken and the major part of his group
+had returned from the subspace sections of the Star. At that time, Bad
+News could expect to come in for some very direct questioning by the
+security chief.</p>
+
+<p>The minutes dragged on. Under the circumstances, a glance at his watch
+could be enough to bring Ryter's uncertainties up to the explosion
+point, and Quillan also preferred to let things stand as they were for
+the moment. But he felt reasonably certain that over an hour had
+passed since he'd left Reetal; and so far there had been no hint of
+anything unusual occurring in the front part of the building. The
+murmur of voices in the main control office continued to eddy about
+him. There were indications that in the transmitter room across the
+hall messages had begun to be exchanged between the Star and the
+approaching liner.</p>
+
+<p>A man sitting at a desk near Quillan stood up presently, went out into
+the hall and disappeared. A short while later, the white-suited figure
+returned and picked up the interrupted work. Quillan's glance went
+over the clerk, shifted on. He felt something tighten up swiftly
+inside him. There was a considerable overall resemblance, but <i>that</i>
+wasn't the man who had left the office.</p>
+
+<p>Another minute or two went by. Then two other uniformed figures
+appeared at the opening to the hall, a sparse elderly man, a blond
+girl. They stood there talking earnestly together for some seconds,
+then came slowly down the aisle toward Quillan. It appeared to be an
+argument about some detail of her work. The girl frowned, stubbornly
+shaking her head. Near Quillan they separated, started off into
+different sections of the office. The girl, glancing back, still
+frowning, brushed against Ryter. She looked up at him, startled.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Ryter scowled irritably, started to say something, suddenly appeared
+surprised. Then his eyes went blank and his knees buckled under him.</p>
+
+<p>The clerk sitting at the nearby desk whistled shrilly.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan wheeled, gun out and up, toward the wall behind him. The two
+guards there were still lifting their guns. The Miam Devil grunted
+disapprovingly twice, and the guards went down. Noise crashed from the
+hall ... heavy sporting rifles. He turned again, saw the two other
+guards stumbling backward along the far wall. Feminine screaming
+erupted around the office as the staff dove out of sight behind desks,
+instrument stands and filing cabinets. The elderly man stood above
+Orca, a sap in his hand and a please smile on his face.</p>
+
+<p>In the hallway, four white-uniformed men had swung about and were
+pointing blazing rifles into the transmitter room. The racketing of
+the gunfire ended abruptly and the rifles were lowered again. The
+human din in the office began to diminish, turned suddenly into a
+shocked, strained silence. Quillan realized the blond girl was
+standing at his elbow.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you get the rest of them?" he asked quickly, in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Everyone who was on this level," Reetal told him. "There weren't many
+of them."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. But there's a sizable batch still in the subspace section. If
+we can get the bomb disarmed, we'll just leave them sealed up there.
+How long before you can bring Ryter around?"</p>
+
+<p>"He'll be able to talk in five minutes."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Quillan had been sitting for some little while in a very comfortable
+chair in what had been the commodore's personal suite on the Seventh
+Star, broodingly regarding the image of the <i>Camelot</i> in a huge wall
+screen. The liner was still over two hours' flight away but would
+arrive on schedule. On the Star, at least in the normspace section,
+everything was quiet, and in the main control offices and in the
+transmitter room normal working conditions had been restored.</p>
+
+<p>A room portal twenty feet away opened suddenly, and Reetal Destone
+stepped out.</p>
+
+<p>"So there you are!" she observed.</p>
+
+<div>
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_007_01.jpg" width="400" height="429" alt=""  />
+<img class="figleft" src="images/image_007_02.jpg" width="195" height="146" alt=""  />
+</div>
+
+<p>Quillan Looked mildly surprised, then grinned. "I'd hate to have to
+try to hide from you!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m!" said Reetal. She smiled. "What are you drinking?"</p>
+
+<p>He nodded at an open liquor cabinet near the screen. "Velladon was
+leaving some excellent stuff behind. Join me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m." She went to the cabinet, looked over the bottles, made her
+selection and filled a glass. "One has the impression," she remarked,
+"that you <i>were</i> hiding from me."</p>
+
+<p>"One does? I'd have to be losing my cotton-picking mind&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Not necessarily." Reetal brought the drink over to his chair, sat
+down on the armrest with it. "You might just have a rather
+embarrassing problem to get worked out before you give little Reetal a
+chance to start asking questions about it."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked surprised. "What gave you that notion?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," Reetal said, "adding things up gave me that notion.... Care to
+hear what the things were?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead, doll."</p>
+
+<p>"First," said Reetal, "I understand that a while ago, after you'd first
+sent me off to do some little job for you, you were in the transmitter
+room having a highly private&mdash;shielded and scrambled&mdash;conversation with
+somebody on board the <i>Camelot</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes," Quillan said. "I was talking to the ship's security
+office. They're arranging to have a Federation police boat pick up
+what's left of the commodore's boys and the Brotherhood in the
+subspace section.</p>
+
+<p>"And that," said Reetal, "is where that embarrassing little problem
+begins. Next, I noticed, as I say, that you were showing this tendency
+to avoid a chance for a private talk between us. And after thinking
+about that for a little, and also about a few other things which came
+to mind at around that time, I went to see Ryter."</p>
+
+<p>"Now why&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal ran her fingers soothingly through his hair. "Let me finish,
+big boy. I found Ryter and Orca in a highly nervous condition. And do
+you know why they're nervous? They're convinced that some time before
+the <i>Camelot</i> gets here, you're going to do them both in."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m," said Quillan.</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter," she went on, "besides being nervous, is also very bitter. In
+retrospect, he says, it's all very plain what you've done here. You
+and your associates&mdash;a couple of tough boys named Hagready and Boltan,
+and others not identified&mdash;are also after these Hlats. The Duke made
+some mention of that, too, you remember. The commodore and Ryter
+bought the story you told them because a transmitter check produced
+the information that Hagready and Boltan had, in fact, left their
+usual work areas and gone off on some highly secret business about a
+month ago.</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter feels that your proposition&mdash;to let your gang in on the deal
+for twenty per cent, or else&mdash;was made in something less than good
+faith. He's concluded that when you learned of the operation being
+planned by Velladon and the Brotherhood, you and your pals decided to
+obstruct them and take the Hlats for delivery to Yaco yourselves,
+without cutting anybody in. He figures that someone like Hagready or
+Boltan is coming in on the <i>Camelot</i> with a flock of sturdy henchmen
+to do just that. You, personally, rushed to the Seventh Star to
+interfere as much as you could here. Ryter admits reluctantly that
+you did an extremely good job of interfering. He says it's now obvious
+that every move you made since you showed up had the one purpose of
+setting the Star group and the Brotherhood at each other's throats.
+And now that they've practically wiped each other out, you and your
+associates can go on happily with your original plans.</p>
+
+<p>"But, of course, you can't do that if Ryter and Orca are picked up
+alive by the Federation cops. The boys down in the subspace section
+don't matter; they're ordinary gunhands and all they know is that you
+were somebody who showed up on the scene. But Ryter could, and
+certainly would, talk&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, he's too imaginative," Quillan said, taking a swallow of his
+drink. "I never heard of the Hlats before I got here. As I told you,
+I'm on an entirely different kind of job at the moment. I had to make
+up some kind of story to get an in with the boys, that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"So you're not going to knock those two weasels off?"</p>
+
+<p>"No such intentions. I don't mind them sweating about it till the Feds
+arrive, but that's it."</p>
+
+<p>"What about Boltan and Hagready?"</p>
+
+<p>"What about them? I did happen to know that if anyone started asking
+questions about those two, he'd learn that neither had been near his
+regular beat for close to a month."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet!" Reetal said cryptically.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m," she said. "Bad News Quillan! A really tough boy, for sure.
+You know, I didn't believe for an instant that you were after the
+Hlats&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal said, "I've been on a couple of operations with you, and you'd
+be surprised how much I've picked up about you from time to time on
+the side. Swiping a shipment of odd animals and selling them to Yaco,
+that could be Bad News, in character. Selling a couple of hundred
+human beings&mdash;like Brock and Solvey Kinmarten&mdash;to go along with the
+animals to an outfit like Yaco would not be in character."</p>
+
+<p>"So I have a heart of gold," Quillan said.</p>
+
+<p>"So you fell all over your own big feet about half a minute ago!"
+Reetal told him. "Bad News Quillan&mdash;with no interest whatsoever in the
+Hlats&mdash;still couldn't afford to let Ryter live to talk about him to
+the Feds, big boy!"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked reflective for a moment. "Dirty trick!" he observed.
+"For that, you might freshen up my glass."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Reetal took both glasses over to the liquor cabinet, freshened them
+up, and settled down on the armrest of the chair again. "So there
+we're back to the embarrassing little problem," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Ryter?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, idiot. We both know that Ryter is headed for Rehabilitation.
+Fifteen years or so of it, as a guess. The problem is little Reetal
+who has now learned a good deal more than she was ever intended to
+learn. Does she head for Rehabilitation, too?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan took a swallow of his drink and set the glass down again. "Are
+you suggesting," he inquired, "that I might be, excuse the expression,
+a cop?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal patted his head. "Bad News Quillan! Let's look back at his
+record. What do we find? A shambles, mainly. Smashed-up organizations,
+outfits, gangs. Top-level crooks with suddenly vacant expressions and
+unexplained holes in their heads. Why go on? The name is awfully well
+earned! And nobody realizing anything because the ones who do realize
+it suddenly ... well, where <i>are</i> Boltan Hagready at the moment."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan sighed. "Since you keep bringing it up&mdash;Hagready played it
+smart, so he's in Rehabilitation. Be cute if Ryter ran into him there
+some day. Pappy Boltan didn't want to play it smart. I'm not enough of
+a philosopher to make a guess at where he might be at present. But I
+knew he wouldn't be talking."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," Reetal said, "we've got that straight. Bad News is
+Intelligence of some kind. Federation maybe, or maybe one of the
+services. It doesn't matter, really, I suppose. Now, what about me?"</p>
+
+<p>He reached out and tapped his glass with a fingertip. "That about you,
+doll. You filled it. I'm drinking it. I may not think quite as fast as
+you do, but I still think. Would I take a drink from a somewhat
+lawless and very clever lady who really believed I had her lined up
+for Rehabilitation? Or who'd be at all likely to blab out something
+that would ruin an old pal's reputation?"</p>
+
+<p>Reetal ran her fingers through his hair again. "I noticed the deal
+with the drink," she said. "I guess I just wanted to hear you say it.
+You don't tell on me, I don't tell on you. Is that it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it," Quillan said. "What Ryter and Orca want to tell the Feds
+doesn't matter. It stops there, the Feds will have the word on me
+before they arrive. By the way, did you go wake up the Kinmartens
+yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not yet," Reetal said. "Too busy getting the office help soothed down
+and back to work."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, lets finish these drinks and go do that, then. The little
+doll's almost bound to be asleep by now, but she might still be
+sitting there biting nervously at her pretty knuckles."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Major Hesler Quillan of Space Scout Intelligence, was looking unhappy.
+"We're still searching for them everywhere," he explained to Klayung,
+"but it's a virtual certainty that the Hlat got them shortly before it
+was trapped."</p>
+
+<p>Klayung, a stringy, white-haired old gentleman, was an operator of the
+Psychology Service, in charge of the shipment of Hlats the <i>Camelot</i>
+had brought in. He and Quillan were waiting in the vestibule of the
+Seventh Star's rest cubicle vaults for Lady Pendrake's cubicle to be
+brought over from the Executive Block.</p>
+
+<p>Klayung said reflectively, "Couldn't the criminals with who you were
+dealing here have hidden the couple away somewhere?"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head. "There's no way they could have located them
+so quickly. I made half a dozen portal switches when I was taking
+Kinmarten to the suite. It would take something with a Hlat's
+abilities to follow me over that route and stay undetected. And it
+must be an unusually cunning animal to decide to stay out of sight
+until I'd led it where it wanted to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, they're intelligent enough," Klayung agreed absently. "Their
+average basic I.Q. is probably higher than that of human beings. A
+somewhat different type of mentality, of course. Well, when the
+cubicle arrives, I'll question the Hlat and we'll find out."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan looked at him. "Those control devices make it possible to hold
+two-way conversations with the things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not exactly," Klayung said. "You see, major, the government
+authorities who were concerned with the discovery of the Hlats
+realized it would be almost impossible to keep some information about
+them from getting out. The specimen which was here on the Star has
+been stationed at various scientific institutions for the past year; a
+rather large number of people were involved in investigating it and
+experimenting with it. In consequence, several little legends about
+them have been deliberately built up. The legends aren't entirely
+truthful, so they help to keep the actual facts about the Hlats
+satisfactorily vague.</p>
+
+<p>"The Hlat-talker is such a legend. Actually, the device does nothing.
+The Hlats respond to telepathic stimuli, both among themselves and
+from other beings, eventually begin to correlate such stimuli with the
+meanings of human speech."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you&mdash;" Quillan began.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Eltak, their discoverer, was a fairly good natural telepath. If
+he hadn't been abysmally lazy, he might have been very good at it. I
+carry a variety of the Service's psionic knick-knacks about with me,
+which gets me somewhat comparable results."</p>
+
+<p>He broke off as the vestibule portal dilated widely. Lady Pendrake's
+cubicle floated through, directed by two gravity crane operators
+behind it. Klayung stood up.</p>
+
+<p>"Set it there for the present, please," he directed the operators. "We
+may call for you later if it needs to be moved again."</p>
+
+<p>He waited until the portal had closed behind the men before walking
+over to the cubicle. He examined the settings and readings at some
+length.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m, yes," he said, straightening finally. His expression became
+absent for a few seconds; then he went on. "I'm beginning to grasp the
+situation, I believe. Let me tell you a few things about the Hlats,
+major. For one, they form quite pronounced likes and dislikes. Eltak,
+for example, would have been described by most of his fellow men as a
+rather offensive person. But the Hlats actually became rather fond of
+him during the fifteen or so years he lived on their island.</p>
+
+<p>"That's one point. The other has to do with their level of
+intelligence. We discovered on the way out here that our charges had
+gained quite as comprehensive an understanding of the functioning of
+the cubicles that had been constructed for them as any human who was
+not a technical specialist might do. And&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He interrupted himself, stood rubbing his chin for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, actually," he said, "that should be enough to prepare you for a
+look inside the Hlat's cubicle."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan gave him a somewhat surprised glance. "I've been told it's
+ugly as sin," he remarked. "But I've seen some fairly revolting
+looking monsters before this."</p>
+
+<p>Klayung coughed. "That's not exactly what I meant," he said. "I ...
+well, let's just open the thing up. Would you mind, major?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all." Quillan stepped over to the side of the cubicle,
+unlocked the door switch and pulled it over. They both moved back a
+few feet before the front of the cubicle. A soft humming came for some
+seconds from the door's mechanisms; then it suddenly swung open.
+Quillan stooped to glance inside, straightened instantly again, hair
+bristling.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Where is it?</i>" he demanded, the Miam Devil out in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>Klayung looked at him thoughtfully. "Not very far away, I believe. But
+I can assure you, major, that it hasn't the slightest intention of
+attacking us&mdash;or anybody else&mdash;at present."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan grunted, looked back into the cubicle. At the far end, the
+Kinmartens lay side by side, their faces composed. They appeared to be
+breathing regularly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Klayung said, "they're alive and unharmed." He rubbed his chin
+again. "And I think it would be best if we simply closed the cubicle
+now. Later we can call a doctor over from the hospital to put them
+under sedation before they're taken out. They've both had thoroughly
+unnerving experiences, and it would be advisable to awaken them
+gradually to avoid emotional shock."</p>
+
+<p>He moved over to the side of the cubicle, turned the door switch back
+again. "And now for the rest of it," he said. "We may as well sit down
+again, major. This may take a little time."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Let's look at the thing for a moment from the viewpoint of the Hlat,"
+he resumed when he was once more comfortably seated. "Eltak's death
+took it by surprise. It hadn't at that point grasped what the
+situation in the Executive Block was like. It took itself out of sight
+for the moment, killing one of the gang leaders in the process, then
+began prowling about the various levels of the building, picking up
+information from the minds and conversation of the men it encountered.
+In a fairly short time, it learned enough to understand what was
+planned by the criminals; and it arrived at precisely your own
+conclusion ... that it might be possible to reduce and demoralize the
+gangs to the extent that they would no longer be able to carry out
+their plan. It began a systematic series of attacks on them with that
+end in mind.</p>
+
+<p>"But meanwhile you had come into the picture. The Hlat was rather
+puzzled by your motive at first because there appeared to be an
+extraordinary degree of discrepancy between what you were saying and
+what you were thinking. But after observing your activities for a
+while, it began to comprehend what you were trying to do. It realized
+that your approach was more likely to succeed than its own, and that
+further action on its side might interfere with your plans. But there
+remained one thing for it to do.</p>
+
+<p>"I may tell you in confidence, major, that another legend which has
+been spread about these Hlats is their supposed inability to escape
+from the cubicles. Even their attendants are supplied with this
+particular bit of misinformation. Actually, the various force fields
+in the cubicles don't hamper them in the least. The cubicles are
+designed simply to protect the Hlats and keep them from being seen;
+and rest cubicles, of course, can be taken anywhere without arousing
+undue curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"You mentioned that the Kinmartens very likable young people. The Hlat
+had the same feeling about them; they were the only human beings aside
+from Eltak with whose minds it had become quite familiar. There was no
+assurance at this point that the plans to prevent a bomb from being
+exploded in the Star would be successful, and the one place where
+human beings could hope to survive such an explosion was precisely the
+interior of the Hlat's cubicle, which had been constructed to
+safeguard its occupant against any kind of foreseeable accident.</p>
+
+<p>"So the Hlat sprang your cubicle trap, removed the bait, carried the
+Kinmartens inside, and whipped out of the cubicle again before the
+rest current could take effect on it. It concluded correctly that
+everyone would decide it had been recaptured. After that, it moved
+about the Executive Block, observing events there and prepared to take
+action again if that appeared to be advisable. When you had concluded
+your operation successfully, it remained near the cubicle, waiting for
+me to arrive."</p>
+
+<p>Quillan shook his head. "That's quite an animal!" he observed after
+some seconds. "You say, it's in our general vicinity now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," Klayung said. "It followed the cubicle down here, and has been
+drifting about the walls of the vestibule while we ... well, while I
+talked."</p>
+
+<p>"Why doesn't it show itself?"</p>
+
+<p>Klayung cleared his throat. "For two reasons," he said. "One is that
+rather large gun you're holding on your knees. It saw you use it
+several times, and after all the shooting in the Executive Block, you
+see&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Quillan slid the Miam Devil into its holster. "Sorry," he said. "Force
+of habit, I guess. Actually, of course, I've understood for some
+minutes now that I wasn't ... well, what's the other reason?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid," Klayung said, "that you offended it with your remark
+about its appearance. Hlats may have their share of vanity. At any
+rate, it seems to be sulking."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Quillan. "Well, I'm sure," he went on rather loudly, "that
+it understands I received the description from a prejudiced source.
+I'm quite willing to believe it was highly inaccurate."</p>
+
+<p>"Hm-m-m," said Klayung. "That seems to have done it, major. The wall
+directly across from us&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Something like a ripple passed along the side wall of the vestibule.
+Then the wall darkened suddenly, turned black. Quillan blinked, and
+the Hlat came into view. It hung, spread out like a spider, along half
+the length of the vestibule wall. Something like a huge, hairy amoeba
+in overall appearance, though the physical structures under the
+coarse, black pelt must be of very unamoeba-like complexity. No eyes
+were in sight, but Quillan had the impression of being regarded
+steadily. Here and there, along the edges and over the surface of the
+body, were a variety of flexible extensions.</p>
+
+<p>Quillan stood up, hitched his gun belt into position, and started over
+toward the wall.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Pendrake," he said, "honored to meet you. Could we shake hands?"</p>
+
+<h3>The End</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Lion Loose
+
+Author: James H. Schmitz
+
+Illustrator: Schoenherr
+
+Release Date: November 17, 2009 [EBook #30493]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LION LOOSE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         Transcriber's Note:
+
+  This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction October 1961.
+  Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
+  on this publication was renewed.
+
+
+
+                                 LION
+
+                                LOOSE
+
+
+                         By JAMES H. SCHMITZ
+
+
+     _The most dangerous of animals is not the biggest and
+      fiercest--but the one that's hardest to stop. Add
+      intelligence to that ... and you may come to a wrong
+      conclusion as to what the worst menace is...._
+
+
+                     _Illustrated by Schoenherr_
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+For twelve years at a point where three major shipping routes of the
+Federation of the Hub crossed within a few hours' flight of one
+another, the Seventh Star Hotel had floated in space, a great golden
+sphere, gleaming softly in the void through its translucent shells of
+battle plastic. The Star had been designed to be much more than a
+convenient transfer station for travelers and freight; for some years
+after it was opened to the public, it retained a high rating among
+the more exotic pleasure resorts of the Hub. The Seventh Star Hotel
+was the place to have been that season, and the celebrities and fat
+cats converged on it with their pals and hangers-on. The Star blazed
+with life, excitement, interstellar scandals, tinkled with streams of
+credits dancing in from a thousand worlds. In short, it had started
+out as a paying proposition.
+
+But gradually things changed. The Star's entertainment remained as
+delightfully outrageous as ever, the cuisine as excellent; the
+accommodations and service were still above reproach. The fleecing, in
+general, became no less expertly painless. But one had _been_ there.
+By its eighth year, the Star was dated. Now, in its twelfth, it lived
+soberly off the liner and freighter trade, four fifths of the guest
+suites shut down, the remainder irregularly occupied between ship
+departures.
+
+And in another seven hours, if the plans of certain men went through,
+the Seventh Star Hotel would abruptly wink out of existence.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some fifty or sixty early diners were scattered about the tables on
+the garden terraces of Phalagon House, the Seventh Star Hotel's most
+exclusive eatery. One of them had just finished his meal, sat smoking
+and regarding a spiraling flow of exquisitely indicated female figures
+across the garden's skyscape with an air of friendly approval. He was
+a large and muscular young man, deeply tanned, with shoulders of
+impressive thickness, an aquiline nose, and dark, reflective eyes.
+
+After a minute or two, he yawned comfortably, put out the cigarette,
+and pushed his chair back from the table. As he came to his feet,
+there was a soft bell-note from the table ComWeb. He hesitated, said,
+"Go ahead."
+
+"Is intrusion permitted?" the ComWeb inquired.
+
+"Depends," the guest said. "Who's calling?"
+
+"The name is Reetal Destone."
+
+He grinned, appeared pleasantly surprised. "Put the lady through."
+
+There was a brief silence. Then a woman's voice inquired softly,
+"Quillan?"
+
+"Right here, doll! Where--"
+
+"Seal the ComWeb, Quillan."
+
+He reached down to the instrument, tapped the seal button, said, "All
+right. We're private."
+
+"Probably," the woman's voice said. "But better scramble this, too. I
+want to be very sure no one's listening."
+
+Quillan grunted, slid his left hand into an inner coat pocket, briefly
+fingered a device of the approximate size and shape of a cigarette,
+drew his hand out again. "Scrambling!" he announced. "Now, what--"
+
+"Mayday, Quillan," the soft voice said. "Can you come immediately?"
+
+Quillan's face went expressionless. "Of course. Is it urgent?"
+
+"I'm in no present danger. But we'd better waste no time."
+
+"Is it going to take real hardware? I'm carrying a finger gun at the
+moment."
+
+"Then go to your rooms and pick up something useful," Reetal said.
+"This should take real hardware, all right."
+
+"All right. Then where do I go?"
+
+"I'll meet you at your door. I know where it is."
+
+When Quillan arrived, she was standing before the door to his suite, a
+tall blonde in a sleeveless black and gold sheath; a beautiful body, a
+warm, lovely, humorous face. The warmth and humor were real, but
+masked a mind as impersonally efficient as a computer, and a taste for
+high and dangerous living. When Quillan had last met Reetal Destone, a
+year and a half before, the taste was being satisfied in industrial
+espionage. He hadn't heard of her activities since then.
+
+She smiled thoughtfully at him as he came up. "I'll wait outside," she
+said. "We're not talking here."
+
+Quillan nodded, went on into his living room, selected a gun belt and
+holstered gun from a suitcase, fastened the belt around his waist
+under the coat, and came out. "Now what?"
+
+"First a little portal-hopping--"
+
+He followed her across the corridor and into a tube portal, watched as
+she tapped out a setting. The exit light flashed a moment later; they
+stepped out into a vacant lounge elsewhere in the same building,
+crossed it, entered another portal. After three more shifts, they
+emerged into a long hall, dimly lit, heavily carpeted. There was no
+one in sight.
+
+"Last stop," Reetal said. She glanced up at his face. "We're on the
+other side of the Star now, in one of the sections they've closed up.
+I've established a kind of emergency headquarters here. The Star's
+nearly broke, did you know?"
+
+"I'd heard of it."
+
+"That appears to be part of the reason for what's going on."
+
+Quillan said, "What's going on?"
+
+Reetal slid her arm through his, said, "Come on. That's my, hm-m-m,
+unregistered suite over there. Big boy, it's very, very selfish of me,
+but I was extremely glad to detect your name on the list of newly
+arrived guests just now! As to what's going on ... the _Camelot_
+berths here at midnight, you know."
+
+Quillan nodded. "I've some business with one of her passengers."
+
+Reetal bent to unlock the entrance door to the indicated suite. "The
+way it looks now," she remarked, "the odds are pretty high that you're
+not going to keep that appointment."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because shortly after the _Camelot_ docks and something's been
+unloaded from her, the _Camelot_ and the Seventh Star Hotel are
+scheduled to go _poof!_ together. Along with you, me, and some twelve
+thousand other people. And, so far, I haven't been able to think of a
+good way to keep it from happening."
+
+Quillan was silent a moment. "Who's scheduling the poof?" he asked.
+
+"Some old acquaintances of ours are among them. Come on in. What
+they're doing comes under the heading of destroying the evidence."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+She locked the door behind them, said, "Just a moment," went over to
+the paneled wall, turned down a tiny silver switch. "Room portal," she
+said, nodding at the wall. "It might come in handy. I keep it turned
+off most of the time."
+
+"Why are you turning it on now?" Quillan asked.
+
+"One of the Star's stewards is working on this with me. He'll be along
+as soon as he can get away. Now I'll give you the whole thing as
+briefly as I can. The old acquaintances I mentioned are some boys of
+the Brotherhood of Beldon. Movaine's here; he's got Marras Cooms and
+Fluel with him, and around thirty of the Brotherhood's top guns. Nome
+Lancion's coming in on the _Camelot_ in person tonight to take charge.
+Obviously, with all that brass on the job, they're after something
+very big. Just what it is, I don't yet know. I've got one clue, but a
+rather puzzling one. Tell you about that later. Do you know Velladon?"
+
+"The commodore here?" Quillan nodded. "I've never met him but I know
+who he is."
+
+Reetal said, "He's been manager of the Seventh Star Hotel for the past
+nine years. He's involved in the Beldon outfit's operation. So is the
+chief of the Star's private security force--his name's Ryter--and half
+a dozen other Star executives. They've got plenty of firepower, too;
+close to half the entire security force, I understand, including all
+the officers. That would come to nearly seventy men. There's reason to
+believe the rest of the force was disarmed and murdered by them in the
+subspace section of the Star about twelve hours ago. They haven't been
+seen since then.
+
+"Now, Velladon, aside from his share in whatever they're after, has
+another reason for wanting to wipe out the Star in an unexplained
+blowup. There I have definite information. Did you know the Mooley
+brothers owned the Star?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I've been working for the Mooleys the past eight months," Reetal
+said, "checking up on employees at Velladon's level for indications of
+graft. And it appears the commodore had been robbing them blind here
+for at least several years."
+
+"Sort of risky thing to try with the Mooleys, from what I hear,"
+Quillan remarked.
+
+"Yes. Very. Velladon had reason to be getting a little desperate about
+that. Two men were planted here a month ago. One of them is Sher
+Heraga, the steward I told you about. The other man came in as a
+bookkeeper. Two weeks ago, Heraga got word out that the bookkeeper had
+disappeared. Velladon and Ryter apparently got wise to what he was
+trying to do. So the Mooleys sent me here to find out exactly what was
+going on before they took action. I arrived four days ago."
+
+She gave a regretful little headshake. "I waited almost a day before
+contacting Heraga. It seemed advisable to move very cautiously in the
+matter. But that made it a little too late to do anything. Quillan,
+for the past three days, the Seventh Star Hotel has been locked up
+like a bank vault. And except for ourselves, only the people who are
+in on the plot are aware of it."
+
+"The message transmitters are inoperative?" he asked.
+
+Reetal nodded. "The story is that a gravitic storm center in the area
+has disrupted transmissions completely for the time being."
+
+"What about incoming ships?"
+
+"Yours was the only one scheduled before the _Camelot_ arrives. It
+left again eight hours ago. Nobody here had been let on board. The
+guests who wanted to apply for outgoing berths were told there were
+none open, that they'd have to wait for the _Camelot_."
+
+She went over to a desk, unlocked a drawer, took out a sheaf of
+papers, and handed one of them to Quillan. "That's the layout of the
+Star," she said. "This five-level building over by the shell is the
+Executive Block. The Brotherhood and the commodore's men moved in
+there this morning. The Block is the Star's defense center. It's
+raid-proofed, contains the control officers and the transmitter and
+armament rooms. About the standard arrangement. While they hold the
+Executive Block, they have absolute control of the Star."
+
+"If it's the defense center, it should be practically impossible to do
+anything about them there," Quillan agreed. "They could close it up,
+and dump the air out of the rest of the Star in a minute, if they had
+to. But there must be ... well, what about the lifeboats in the
+subspace section--and our pals must have a getaway ship stashed away
+somewhere?"
+
+"They have two ships," Reetal said. "A souped-up armed freighter the
+Brotherhood came in on, and a large armed yacht which seems to be the
+commodore's personal property. Unfortunately, they're both in subspace
+locks."
+
+"Why unfortunately?"
+
+"Because they've sealed off subspace. Try portaling down there, and
+you'll find yourself looking at a battle-plastic bulkhead. There's no
+way of getting either to those ships or to the lifeboats."
+
+Quillan lifted his eyebrows. "And _that_ hasn't caused any comment?
+What about the maintenance crews, the warehouse men, the--"
+
+"All the work crews were hauled out of subspace this morning," Reetal
+said. "On the quiet, the Star's employees have been told that a gang
+of raiders was spotted in the warehouse area, and is at present
+cornered there. Naturally, the matter isn't to be mentioned to the
+guests, to avoid arousing unnecessary concern. And that explains
+everything very neatly. The absence of the security men, and why
+subspace is sealed off. Why the Executive Block is under guard, and
+can't be entered--and why the technical and office personnel in there
+don't come out, and don't communicate out. They've been put on
+emergency status, officially."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Yunk," Quillan said disgustedly after a moment. "This begins to look
+like a hopeless situation, doll!"
+
+"True."
+
+"Let's see now--"
+
+Reetal interrupted, "There is one portal still open to subspace.
+That's in the Executive Block, of course, and Heraga reports it's
+heavily guarded."
+
+"How does he know?"
+
+"The Block's getting its meals from Phalagon House. He floated a diner
+in there a few hours ago."
+
+"Well," Quillan said, brightening, "perhaps a deft flavoring of
+poison--"
+
+Reetal shook her head. "I checked over the hospital stocks. Not a
+thing there that wouldn't be spotted at once. Unless we can clobber
+them thoroughly, we can't afford to make them suspicious with a trick
+like that."
+
+"Poison would be a bit rough on the office help, too," Quillan
+conceded. "They wouldn't be in on the deal."
+
+"No, they're not. They're working under guard."
+
+"Gas ... no, I suppose not. It would take too long to whip up
+something that could turn the trick." Quillan glanced at his watch.
+"If the _Camelot_ docks at midnight, we've around six and a half hours
+left, doll! And I don't find myself coming up with any brilliant
+ideas. What have you thought of?"
+
+Reetal hesitated a moment. "Nothing very brilliant either," she said
+then. "But there are two things we might try as a last resort."
+
+"Let's hear them."
+
+"I know a number of people registered in the Star at present who'd be
+carrying personal weapons. If they were told the facts, I could
+probably line up around twenty who'd be willing to make a try to get
+into the Executive Block, and take over either the control offices or
+the transmitter room. If we got a warning out to the _Camelot_, that
+would break up the plot. Of course, it wouldn't necessarily save the
+Star."
+
+"No," Quillan said, "but it's worth trying if we can't think of
+something better. How would you get them inside?"
+
+"We could crowd twenty men into one of those diner trucks, and Heraga
+could take us in."
+
+"What kind of people are your pals?"
+
+"A few smugglers and confidence men I've had connections with. Fairly
+good boys for this sort of thing. Then there's an old millionaire
+sportsman, with a party of six, waiting to transfer to the _Camelot_
+for a safari on Jontarou. Old Philmarron isn't all there, in my
+opinion, but he's dead game and loves any kind of a ruckus. We can
+count on him and his friends, if they're not too drunk at the moment.
+Still ... that's not too many to set against something less than a
+hundred professional guns, even though some of them must be down on
+the two ships."
+
+"No, not enough." Quillan looked thoughtful. "What's the other idea?"
+
+"Let the cat out of the bag generally. Tell the guests and the
+employees out here what's going on, and see if somebody can think of
+something that might be done."
+
+He shook his head. "What you'd set off with that would be anywhere
+between a riot and a panic. The boys in the Executive Block would
+simply give us the breathless treatment. Apparently, they prefer to
+have everything looking quiet and normal when the _Camelot_ gets
+here--"
+
+"But they don't have to play it that way," Reetal agreed. "We might be
+dead for hours before the liner docks. If they keep the landing lock
+closed until what they want has been unloaded, nobody on the _Camelot_
+would realize what had happened before it was too late."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There was a moment's silence. Then Quillan said, "You mentioned you'd
+picked up a clue to what they're after. What was that?"
+
+"Well, that's a curious thing," Reetal said. "On the trip out here, a
+young girl name of Solvey Kinmarten attached herself to me. She didn't
+want to talk much, but I gathered she was newly married, and that her
+husband was on board and was neglecting her. She's an appealing little
+thing, and she seemed so forlorn and upset that I adopted her for the
+rest of the run. After we arrived, of course, I pretty well forgot
+about the Kinmartens and their troubles.
+
+"A few hours ago, Solvey suddenly came bursting into the suite where
+I'm registered. She was shaking all over. After I calmed her down a
+bit, she spilled out her story. She and her husband, Brock Kinmarten,
+are rest wardens. With another man named Eltak, whom Solvey describes
+as 'some sort of crazy old coot,' they're assigned to escort two
+deluxe private rest cubicles to a very exclusive sanatorium on
+Mezmiali. But Brock told Solvey at the beginning of the trip that this
+was a very unusual assignment, that he didn't want her even to come
+near the cubicles. That wouldn't have bothered her so much, she says,
+but on the way here Brock became increasingly irritable and
+absent-minded. She knew he was worrying about the cubicles, and she
+began to wonder whether they weren't involved in something illegal.
+The pay was very high; they're both getting almost twice the regular
+warden fee for the job. One day, she found an opportunity to do a
+little investigating.
+
+"The cubicles are registered respectively to a Lady Pendrake and a
+Major Pendrake. Lady Pendrake appears to be genuine; the cubicle is
+unusually large and constructed somewhat differently from the ones
+with which Solvey was familiar, but it was clear that it had an
+occupant. However, the life indicator on 'Major Pendrake's cubicle
+registered zero when she switched it on. If there was something inside
+it, it wasn't a living human being.
+
+"That was all she learned at the time, because she was afraid Brock
+might catch her in the cubicle room. Here in the Star, the cubicles
+were taken to a suite reserved for Lady Pendrake. The other man,
+Eltak, stayed in the suite with the cubicles, while the Kinmartens
+were given other quarters. However, Brock was still acting oddly and
+spending most of his time in the Pendrake suite. So this morning,
+Solvey swiped his key to the suite and slipped in when she knew the
+two men had left it."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"She'd barely got there when she heard Brock and Eltak at the door
+again. She ran into the next room, and hid in a closet. Suddenly there
+was a commotion in the front room, and Solvey realized that men from
+the Star's security force had arrived and were arresting Brock and
+Eltak. They hauled both of them away, then floated the cubicles out
+and on a carrier and took them off too, locking the suite behind them.
+
+"Solvey was in a complete panic, sure that she and Brock had become
+involved in some serious breach of the Warden Code. She waited a few
+minutes, then slipped out of the Pendrake suite, and looked me up to
+see if I couldn't help them. I had Heraga check, and he reported that
+the Kinmarten suite was under observation. Evidently, they wanted to
+pick up the girl, too. So I tucked her away in one of the suites in
+this section, and gave her something to put her to sleep. She's there
+now."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan said, "And where are the prisoners and the cubicles?"
+
+"In the Executive Block."
+
+"How do you know?"
+
+Reetal smiled briefly. "The Duke of Fluel told me."
+
+"Huh? The Brotherhood knows you're here?"
+
+"Relax," Reetal said. "Nobody but Heraga knows I'm working for the
+Mooleys. I told the Duke I had a big con deal set up when the
+_Camelot_ came in--I even suggested he might like to get in on it. He
+laughed, and said he had other plans. But he won't mention to anyone
+that I'm here."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because," Reetal said dryly, "what the Duke is planning to get in on
+is an hour of tender dalliance. Before the _Camelot_ arrives,
+necessarily. The cold-blooded little skunk!" She hesitated a moment;
+when she spoke again, her voice had turned harsh and nasal, wicked
+amusement sounding through it. "Sort of busy at the moment,
+sweetheart, but we might find time for a drink or two later on in the
+evening, eh?"
+
+Quillan grunted. "You're as good at the voice imitations as ever. How
+did you find out about the cubicles?"
+
+"I took a chance and fed him a Moment of Truth."
+
+"With Fluel," Quillan said thoughtfully, "that was taking a chance!"
+
+"Believe me, I was aware of it! I've run into card-carrying sadists
+before, but the Duke's the only one who scares me silly. But it did
+work. He dropped in for a about a minute and a half, and came out
+without noticing a thing. Meanwhile, I'd got the answers to a few
+questions. The bomb with which they're planning to mop up behind them
+already has been planted up here in the normspace section. Fluel
+didn't know where; armaments experts took care of it. It's armed now.
+There's a firing switch on each of their ships, and both switches have
+to be tripped before the thing goes off. Part of what they're after is
+in those Pendrake rest cubicles--"
+
+"Part of it?" Quillan asked.
+
+"Uh-huh. An even hundred similar cubicles will be unloaded from the
+_Camelot_--the bulk of the haul; which is why Nome Lancion is
+supervising things on the liner. I started to ask what was in the
+cubicles, but I saw Fluel was beginning to lose that blank look they
+have under Truth, and switched back to light chitchat just before he
+woke up. Yaco's paying for the job--or rather, it _will_ pay for the
+stuff, on delivery, and no questions asked."
+
+"That's not very much help, is it?" Quillan said after a moment.
+"Something a big crooked industrial combine like Yaco thinks it can
+use--"
+
+"It must expect to be able to use it to extremely good advantage,"
+Reetal said. "The Brotherhood will collect thirty million credits for
+their part of the operation. The commodore's group presumably won't do
+any worse." She glanced past Quillan toward the room portal. "It's
+O.K., Heraga! Come in."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sher Heraga was a lean, dark-skinned little man with a badly bent
+nose, black curly hair, and a nervous look. He regretted, he said,
+that he hadn't been able to uncover anything which might be a lead to
+the location of the bomb. Apparently, it wasn't even being guarded.
+And, of course, a bomb of the size required here would be quite easy
+to conceal.
+
+"If they haven't placed guards over it," Reetal agreed, "it'll take
+blind luck to spot it! Unless we can get hold of one of the men who
+knows where it's planted--"
+
+There was silence for some seconds. Then Quillan said, "Well, if we
+can't work out a good plan, we'd better see what we can do with one of
+the bad ones. Are the commodore's security men wearing uniforms?"
+
+Heraga shook his head, "Not the ones I saw."
+
+"Then here's an idea," Quillan said. "As things stand, barging into
+the Executive Block with a small armed group can't accomplish much. It
+might be more interesting than sitting around and waiting to be blown
+up, but it still would be suicide. However, if we could get things
+softened up and disorganized in there first--"
+
+"Softened up and disorganized how?" Reetal asked.
+
+"We can use that notion you had of having Heraga float in another
+diner. This time, I'm on board--in a steward's uniform, in case the
+guards check."
+
+"They didn't the first time," Heraga said.
+
+"Sloppy of them. Well, they're just gun hands. Anyway, once we're
+inside I shuck off the uniform and get out. Heraga delivers his
+goodies, and leaves again--"
+
+Reetal gave him a look. "You'll get shot down the instant you're seen,
+dope!"
+
+"I think not. There're two groups in there--around a hundred men in
+all--and they haven't had time to get well acquainted yet. I'll have
+my gun in sight, and anyone who sees me should figure I belong to the
+other group, until I run into one of the Brotherhood boys who knows me
+personally."
+
+"Then that's when you get shot down. I understand the last time you
+and the Duke of Fluel met, he woke up with lumps."
+
+"The Duke doesn't love me," Quillan admitted. "But there's nothing
+personal between me and Movaine or Marras Cooms--and I'll have a
+message for Movaine."
+
+"What kind of a message?"
+
+"I'll have to play that by ear a little. It depends on how things
+look in there. But I have a few ideas, based on what you've learned of
+the operation. Now, just what I can do when I get that far, I don't
+know yet. I'll simply try to louse the deal up as much as I can. That
+may take time, and, of course, it might turn out to be impossible to
+get word out to you."
+
+"So what do we do meanwhile?" Reetal asked. "If we start lining up our
+attack group immediately, and then there's no action for another five
+or six hours, there's always the chance of a leak, with around twenty
+people in the know."
+
+"And if there's a leak," Quillan agreed, "we've probably had it. No,
+you'd better wait with that! If I'm not out, and you haven't heard
+from me before the _Camelot_'s actually due to dock, Heraga can still
+take the group--everyone but yourself--in as scheduled."
+
+"Why everyone but me?" Reetal asked.
+
+"If nothing else works, you might find some way of getting a warning
+to the liner's security force after they've docked. It isn't much of a
+possibility, but we can't afford to throw it away."
+
+"Yes, I see." Reetal looked reflective. "What do you think, Heraga?"
+
+The little man shrugged. "You told me that Mr. Quillan is not
+inexperienced in dealing with, ah, his enemies. If he feels he might
+accomplish something in the Executive Block, I'm in favor of the plan.
+The situation certainly could hardly become worse."
+
+"That's the spirit!" Quillan approved. "The positive outlook--that's
+what a think like this mainly takes. Can you arrange for the diner and
+the uniform?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Heraga said, "I've had myself put in charge of that detail,
+naturally."
+
+"Then what can you tell me about the Executive Block's layout?"
+
+Reetal stood up. "Come over to the desk," she said. "We've got
+diagrams."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"The five levels, as you see," Heraga was explaining a few moments
+later, "are built directly into the curve of the Star's shells. Level
+Five, on the top, is therefore quite small. The other levels are
+fairly extensive. Two, Three, and Four could each accommodate a
+hundred men comfortably. These levels contain mainly living quarters,
+private offices, and the like. The Brotherhood men appear to be
+occupying the fourth level, Velladon's group the second. The third may
+be reserved for meetings between representatives of the two groups.
+All three of these levels are connected by single-exit portals to the
+large entrance area on the ground level.
+
+"The portals stood open when I went in earlier today, and there were
+about twenty armed men lounging about the entrance hall. I recognized
+approximately half of them as being members of the Star's security
+force. The others were unfamiliar." Heraga cleared his throat. "There
+is a possibility that the two groups do not entirely trust each
+other."
+
+Quillan nodded. "If they're playing around with something like sixty
+million CR, anybody would have to be crazy to trust the Brotherhood of
+Beldon. The transmitter room and the control officers are guarded,
+too?"
+
+"Yes, but not heavily," Heraga said. "There seem to be only a few men
+stationed at each of those points. Ostensibly, they're there as a
+safe-guard--in case the imaginary raiders attempt to break out of the
+subspace section."
+
+"What's the arrangement of the ordinary walk-in tube portals in the
+Executive Block?"
+
+"There is one which interconnects the five levels. On each of the
+lower levels, there are, in addition, several portals which lead out
+to various points in the Seventh Star Hotel. On the fifth level, there
+is only one portal of this kind. Except for the portal which operates
+between the different levels in the Executive Block, all of them have
+been rendered unusable at present."
+
+"Unusable in what way?"
+
+"They have been sealed off on the Executive Block side."
+
+"Can you get me a diagram of the entry and exit systems those outgoing
+portals connect with?" Quillan asked. "I might turn one of them usable
+again."
+
+"Yes, I can do that."
+
+"How about the communication possibilities?"
+
+"The ComWeb system is functioning normally on the second, third, and
+fourth levels. It has been shut off on the first level--to avoid the
+spread of 'alarming rumors' by office personnel. There is no ComWeb on
+the fifth level."
+
+Reetal said, "We'll shift our operating headquarters back to my
+registered suite then. The ComWebs are turned off in these vacant
+sections. I'll stay in the other suite in case you find a chance to
+signal in."
+
+Heraga left a few minutes later to make his arrangements. Reetal
+smiled at Quillan, a little dubiously.
+
+"Good luck, guy," she said. "Anything else to settle before you start
+off?"
+
+Quillan nodded. "Couple of details. If you're going to be in your
+regular suite, and Fluel finds himself with some idle time on hand, he
+might show up for the dalliance you mentioned."
+
+Reetal's smile changed slightly. Her left hand fluffed the hair at the
+back of her head, flicked down again. There was a tiny click, and
+Quillan looked at a small jeweled hair-clasp in her palm, its needle
+beak pointing at him.
+
+"It hasn't got much range," Reetal said, "but within ten feet it will
+scramble the Duke's brains just as thoroughly as they need to be
+scrambled."
+
+"Good enough," Quillan said. "Just don't give that boy the ghost of a
+chance, doll. He has a rep for playing very unnice games with the
+ladies."
+
+"I know his reputation." Reetal replaced the tiny gun in her hair.
+"Anything else?"
+
+"Yes. Let's look in on the Kinmarten chick for a moment. If she's
+awake, she may have remembered something or other by now that she
+didn't think to tell you."
+
+They found Solvey Kinmarten awake, and tearfully glad to see Reetal.
+Quillan was introduced as a member of the legal profession who would
+do what he could for Solvey and her husband. Solvey frowned prettily,
+trying very hard to remember anything that might be of use. But it
+appeared that she had told Reetal all she knew.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The blue and white Phalagon House diner, driven by Heraga, was
+admitted without comment into the Executive Block. It floated on
+unchallenged through the big entry hall and into a corridor.
+Immediately behind the first turn of the corridor, the diner paused a
+few seconds. Its side door opened and closed. The diner moved on.
+
+Quillan, coatless and with the well-worn butt of a big Miam Devil
+Special protruding from the holster on his right hip, came briskly
+back along the corridor. Between fifteen and twenty men, their guns
+also conspicuously in evidence, were scattered about the entrance
+hall, expressions and attitudes indicating a curious mixture of
+boredom and uneasy tension. The eyes of about half of them swiveled
+around to Quillan when he came into the hall; then, with one
+exception, they looked indifferently away again.
+
+The exception, leaning against the wall near the three open portals to
+the upper levels, continued to stare as Quillan came toward him,
+forehead creased in a deep scowl as if he were painfully ransacking
+his mind for something. Quillan stopped in front of him.
+
+"Chum," he asked, "any idea where Movaine is at the moment? They just
+give me this message for him--"
+
+Still scowling, the other scratched his chin and blinked. "Uh ...
+dunno for sure," he said after a moment. "He oughta be in the third
+level conference room with the rest of 'em. Uh ... dunno you oughta
+barge in there right now, pal! The commodore's _reee-lly_ hot about
+somethin'!"
+
+Quillan looked worried. "Gotta chance it, I guess! Message is pretty
+important, they say--" He turned, went through the center portal of
+the three, abruptly found himself walking along a wide, well-lit hall.
+
+Nobody in sight here, or in the first intersecting passage he came to.
+When he reached the next passage, he heard voices on the right, turned
+toward them, went by a string of closed doors on both sides until,
+forty feet on, the passage angled again and opened into a long,
+high-ceilinged room. The voices came through an open door on the right
+side of the room. Standing against the wall beside the door were two
+men whose heads turned sharply toward Quillan as he appeared in the
+passage. The short, chunky one scowled. The big man next to him, the
+top of whose head had been permanently seared clear of hair years
+before by a near miss from a blaster, dropped his jaw slowly. His eyes
+popped.
+
+"My God!" he said.
+
+"Movaine in there, Baldy?" Quillan inquired, coming up.
+
+"Movaine! He ... you ... how--"
+
+The chunky man took out his gun, waved it negligently at Quillan.
+"Tell the ape to blow, Perk. He isn't wanted here."
+
+"Ape?" Quillan asked softly. His right hand moved, had the gun by the
+barrel, twisted, reversed the gun, jammed it back with some violence
+into the chunky man's stomach. "Ape?" he repeated. The chunky man went
+white.
+
+"Bad News--" Baldy Perk breathed. "Take it easy! That's Orca. He's the
+commodore's torpedo. How--"
+
+"Where's Movaine?"
+
+"Movaine ... he ... uh--"
+
+"All right, he's not here. And Lancion can't have arrived yet. Is
+Cooms in there?"
+
+"Yeah," Baldy Perk said weakly. "Cooms is in there, Quillan."
+
+"Let's go in." Quillan withdrew the gun, slid it into a pocket, smiled
+down at Orca. "Get it back from your boss, slob. Be seeing you!"
+
+Orca's voice was a husky whisper.
+
+"You will, friend! You will!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The conference room was big and sparsely furnished. Four men sat at
+the long table in its center. Quillan knew two of them--Marras Cooms,
+second in command of the Beldon Brotherhood's detachment here, and the
+Duke of Fluel, Movaine's personal gun. Going by Heraga's
+descriptions, the big, florid-faced man with white hair and flowing
+white mustaches who was doing the talking was Velladon, the commodore;
+while the fourth man, younger, wiry, with thinning black hair
+plastered back across his skull, would be Ryter, chief of the Star's
+security force.
+
+"What I object to primarily is that the attempt was made without
+obtaining my consent, and secretly," Velladon was saying, with a
+toothy grin but in a voice that shook with open fury. "And now it's
+been made and bungled, you have a nerve asking for our help. The
+problem is yours--and you better take care of it fast! I can't spare
+Ryter. If--"
+
+"Cooms," Baldy Perk broke in desperately from the door, "Bad News
+Quillan's here an'--"
+
+The heads of the four men at the table came around simultaneously. The
+eyes of two of them widened for an instant. Then Marras Cooms began
+laughing softly.
+
+"Now everything's happened!" he said.
+
+"Cooms," the commodore said testily, "I prefer not to be interrupted.
+Now--"
+
+"Can't be helped, commodore," Quillan said, moving forward, Perk
+shuffling along unhappily beside him. "I've got news for Movaine, and
+the news can't wait."
+
+"Movaine?" the commodore repeated, blue eyes bulging at Quillan.
+"Movaine! Cooms, who _is_ this man?"
+
+"You're looking at Bad News Quillan," Cooms said. "A highjacking
+specialist, with somewhat numerous sidelines. But the point right now
+is that he isn't a member of the Brotherhood."
+
+"_What!"_ Velladon's big fist smashed down on the table. "_Now_ what
+kind of a game ... how did he get _in_ here?"
+
+"Well," Quillan said mildly, "I oozed in through the north wall about
+a minute ago. I--"
+
+He checked, conscious of having created some kind of sensation. The
+four men at the table were staring up at him without moving. Baldy
+Perk appeared to be holding his breath. Then the commodore coughed,
+cleared his throat, drummed his fingers on the table.
+
+He said reflectively: "He could have news--good or bad--at that! For
+all of us." He chewed on one of his mustache tips, grinned suddenly up
+at Quillan. "Well, sit down, friend! Let's talk. You can't talk to
+Movaine, you see. Movaine's um, had an accident. Passed away suddenly
+half an hour ago."
+
+"Sorry to hear it," Quillan said. "That's the sort of thing that
+happens so often in the Brotherhood." He swung a chair around, sat
+down facing the table. "You're looking well tonight, Fluel," he
+observed.
+
+The Duke of Fluel, lean and dapper in silver jacket and tight-fitting
+silver trousers, gave him a wintry smile, said nothing.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Now, then, friend," Velladon inquired confidentially, "just what was
+your business with Movaine?"
+
+"Well, it will come to around twenty per cent of the take," Quillan
+informed him. "We won't argue about a half-million CR more or less.
+But around twenty per."
+
+The faces thoughtful. After some seconds, the commodore asked, "And
+who's we?"
+
+"A number of citizens," Quillan said, "who have been rather unhappy
+since discovering that you, too, are interested in Lady Pendrake and
+her pals. We'd gone to considerable expense and trouble to ... well,
+her ladyship was scheduled to show up in Mezmiali, you know. And now
+she isn't going to show up there. All right, that's business. Twenty
+per--no hard feelings. Otherwise, it won't do you a bit of good to
+blow up the Star and the liner. There'd still be loose talk--maybe
+other complications, too. You know how it goes. You wouldn't be happy,
+and neither would Yaco. Right?"
+
+The commodore's massive head turned back to Cooms. "How well do you
+know this man, Marras?"
+
+Cooms grinned dryly. "Well enough."
+
+"Is he leveling?"
+
+"He'd be nuts to be here if he wasn't. And he isn't nuts--at least,
+not that way."
+
+"There might be a question about that," Fluel observed. He looked at
+the commodore. "Why not ask him for a couple of the names that are in
+it with him?"
+
+"Hagready and Boltan," Quillan said.
+
+Velladon chewed the other mustache tip. "I know Hagready. If he--"
+
+"I know both of them," Cooms said. "Boltan works highjacking crews out
+of Orado. Quillan operates there occasionally."
+
+"Pappy Boltan's an old business associate," Quillan agreed. "Reliable
+sort of a guy. Doesn't mind taking a few chances either."
+
+Velladon's protruding blue eyes measured him a moment. "We can check
+on those two, you know--"
+
+"Check away," Quillan said.
+
+Velladon nodded. "We will." He was silent for a second or two, then
+glanced over at Cooms. "There've been no leaks on our side," he
+remarked. "And they must have known about this for weeks! Of all the
+inept, bungling--"
+
+"Ah, don't be too hard on the Brotherhood, commodore," Quillan said.
+"Leaks happen. You ought to know."
+
+"What do you mean?" Velladon snapped.
+
+"From what we heard, the Brotherhood's pulling you out of a hole here.
+You should feel rather kindly toward them."
+
+The commodore stared at him reflectively. Then he grinned. "Could be I
+should," he said, "Did you come here alone?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The commodore nodded. "If you're bluffing, God help you. If you're
+not, your group's in. Twenty per. No time for haggling--we can raise
+Yaco's price to cover it." He stood up, and Ryter stood up with him.
+"Marras," the commodore went on, "tell him what's happened. If he's
+half as hot as he sounds, he's the boy to put on that job. Let him get
+in on a little of the work for the twenty per cent. Ryter, come on.
+We--"
+
+"One moment, sir," Quillan interrupted. He took Orca's gun by the
+muzzle from his pocket, held it out to Velladon. "One of your men lost
+this thing. The one outside the door. If you don't mind--he might pout
+if he doesn't get it back."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The fifth level of the Executive Block appeared to be, as Heraga had
+said, quite small. The tiny entry hall, on which two walk-in portals
+opened, led directly into the large room where the two Pendrake rest
+cubicles had been placed. One of the cubicles now stood open. To right
+and left, a narrow passage stretched away from the room, ending
+apparently in smaller rooms.
+
+Baldy Perk was perspiring profusely.
+
+"Now right here," he said in a low voice, "was where I was standing.
+Movaine was over there, on the right of the cubicle, and Cooms was
+beside him. Rubero was a little behind me, hanging on to the
+punk--that Kinmarten. An' the Duke"--he nodded back at the wide
+doorspace to the hall--"was standing back there.
+
+"All right. The punk's opened the cubicle a crack, looking like he's
+about to pass out while he's doin' it. This bearded guy, Eltak, stands
+in front of the cubicle, holding the gadget he controls the thing
+with--"
+
+"Where's the gadget now?" Quillan asked.
+
+"Marras Cooms' got it."
+
+"How does it work?"
+
+Baldy shook his head. "We can't figure it out. It's got all kinds of
+little knobs and dials on it. Push this one an' it squeaks, turn that
+one an' it buzzes. Like that."
+
+Quillan nodded. "All right. What happened?"
+
+"Well, Movaine tells the old guy to go ahead an' do the demonstrating.
+The old guy sort of grins and fiddles with the gadget. The cubicle
+door pops open an' this thing comes pouring out. I never seen nothin'
+like it! It's like a barn door with dirty fur on it! It swirls up an'
+around an'--it wraps its upper end clean around poor Movaine. He never
+even screeches.
+
+"Then everything pops at once. The old guy is laughing like crazy, an'
+that half-smart Rubero drills him right through the head. I take one
+shot at the thing, low so's not to hit Movaine, an' then we're all
+running, I'm halfway to the hall when Cooms tears past me like a
+rocket. The Duke an' the others are already piling out through the
+portal. I get to the hall, and there's this terrific smack of sound in
+the room. I look back ... an' ... an'--" Baldy paused and gulped.
+
+"And what?" Quillan asked.
+
+"There, behind the cubicles, I see poor Movaine stickin' halfway out
+o' the wall!" Baldy reported in a hushed whisper.
+
+"_Half_way out of the wall?"
+
+"From the waist up he's in it! From the waist down he's dangling into
+the room! I tell you, I never seen nothin' like it."
+
+"And this Hlat creature--"
+
+"That's gone. I figure the smack I heard was when it hit the wall
+flat, carrying Movaine. It went on into it. Movaine didn't--at least,
+the last half of him didn't."
+
+"Well," Quillan said after a pause, "in a way, Movaine got his
+demonstration. The Hlats can move through solid matter and carry other
+objects along with them, as advertised. If Yaco can work out how it's
+done and build a gadget that does the same thing, they're getting the
+Hlats cheap. What happened then?"
+
+"I told Marras Cooms about Movaine, and he sent me and a half dozen
+other boys back up here with riot guns to see what we could do for
+him. Which was nothin', of course." Baldy gulped again. "We finally
+cut this end of him off with a beam and took it back down."
+
+"The thing didn't show up while you were here?"
+
+Baldy shuddered and said, "Naw."
+
+"And the technician ... Eltak ... was dead?"
+
+"Sure. Hole in his head you could shove your fist through."
+
+"Somebody," Quillan observed, "ought to drill Rubero for that stupid
+trick!"
+
+"The Duke did--first thing after we got back to the fourth level."
+
+"So the Hlat's on the loose, and all we really have at the moment are
+the cubicles ... and Rest Warden Kinmarten. Where's he, by the way?"
+
+"He tried to take off when we got down to Level Four, and somebody
+cold-cocked him. The doc says he ought to be coming around again
+pretty soon."
+
+Quillan grunted, shoved the Miam Devil Special into its holster, said,
+"O.K., you stay here where you can watch the room and those passages
+and the hall. If you feel the floor start moving under, scream. I'll
+take a look at the cubicle."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Lady Pendrake's cubicle was about half as big again as a standard one;
+but, aside from one detail, its outer settings, instruments, and
+operating devices appeared normal. The modification was a recess
+almost six feet long and a foot wide and deep, in one side, which
+could be opened either to the room or to the interior of the rest
+cubicle, but not simultaneously to both. Quillan already knew its
+purpose; the supposed other cubicle was a camouflaged food locker,
+containing fifty-pound slabs of sea beef, each of which represented a
+meal for the Hlat. The recess made it possible to feed it without
+allowing it to be seen, or, possibly, attempting to emerge.
+Kinmarten's nervousness, as reported by his wife, seemed
+understandable. Any rest warden might get disturbed over such a
+charge.
+
+Quillan asked over his shoulder, "Anyone find out yet why the things
+can't get out of the closed rest cubicle?"
+
+"Yeah," Baldy Perk said. "Kinmarten says it's the cubicle's defense
+fields. They could get through the material. They can't get through
+the field."
+
+"Someone think to energize the Executive Block's battle fields?"
+Quillan inquired.
+
+"Yeah. Velladon took care of that before he came screaming up to the
+third level to argue with Cooms and Fluel."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"So it can't slip out of the Block unless it shows itself down on the
+ground level when the entry lock's open."
+
+"Yeah," Baldy muttered. "But I dunno. Is that good?"
+
+Quillan looked at him. "Well, we _would_ like it back."
+
+"Why? There's fifty more coming in on the liner tonight."
+
+"We don't have the fifty yet. If someone louses up the detail--"
+
+"Yawk!" Baldy said faintly. There was a crash of sound as his riot gun
+went off. Quillan spun about, hair bristling, gun out. "What
+happened?"
+
+"I'll swear," Baldy said, white-faced, "I saw something moving along
+that passage!"
+
+Quillan looked, saw nothing, slowly replaced the gun. "Baldy," he
+said, "if you think you see it again, just say so. That's an order! If
+it comes at us, we get out of this level fast. But we don't shoot
+before we have to. If we kill it, it's no good to us. Got that?"
+
+"Yeah," Baldy said. "But I got an idea now, Bad News." He nodded at
+the other cubicle. "Let's leave that meat box open."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"If it's hungry," Baldy explained simply, "I'd sooner it wrapped
+itself around a few chunks of sea beef, an' not around me."
+
+Quillan punched him encouragingly in the shoulder. "Baldy," he said,
+"in your own way, you _have_ had an idea! But we won't leave the meat
+box open. When Kinmarten wakes up, I want him to show me how to bait
+this cubicle with a piece of sea beef, so it'll snap shut if the Hlat
+goes inside. Meanwhile it won't hurt if it gets a little hungry."
+
+"That," said Baldy, "isn't the way _I_ feel about it."
+
+"There must be around a hundred and fifty people in the Executive
+Block at present," Quillan said. "Look at it that way! Even if the
+thing keeps stuffing away, your odds are pretty good, Baldy."
+
+Baldy shuddered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Aside from a dark bruise high on his forehead, Brock Kinmarten showed
+no direct effects of having been knocked out. However, his face was
+strained and his voice not entirely steady. It was obvious that the
+young rest warden had never been in a similarly unnerving situation
+before. But he was making a valiant effort not to appear frightened
+and, at the same time, to indicate that he would co-operate to the
+best of his ability with his captors.
+
+He'd regained consciousness by the time Quillan and Perk returned to
+the fourth level, and Quillan suggested bringing him to Marras Cooms'
+private quarters for questioning. The Brotherhood chief agreed; he was
+primarily interested in finding out how the Hlat-control device
+functioned.
+
+Kinmarten shook his head. He knew nothing about the instrument, he
+said, except that it was called a Hlat-talker. It was very unfortunate
+that Eltak had been shot, because Eltak undoubtedly could have told
+them all they wanted to know about it. If what he had told Kinmarten
+was true, Eltak had been directly involved in the development of the
+device.
+
+"Was he some Federation scientist?" Cooms asked, fiddling absently
+with the mysterious cylindrical object.
+
+"No, sir," the young man said. "But--again if what he told me was the
+truth--he was the man who actually discovered these Hlats. At least,
+he was the first man to discover them who wasn't immediately killed by
+them."
+
+Cooms glanced thoughtfully at Quillan, then asked, "And where was
+that?"
+
+Kinmarten shook his head again. "He didn't tell me. And I didn't
+really want to know. I was anxious to get our convoy to its
+destination, and then to be relieved of the assignment. I ... well,
+I've been trained to act as Rest Warden to human beings, after all,
+not to monstrosities!" He produced an uncertain smile, glancing from
+one to the other of his interrogators. The smile promptly faded out
+again.
+
+"You've no idea at all then about the place they came from?" Cooms
+asked expressionlessly.
+
+"Oh, yes," Kinmarten said hastily. "Eltak talked a great deal about
+the Hlats, and actually--except for its location--gave me a fairly
+good picture of what the planet must be like. For one thing, it's an
+uncolonized world, of course. It must be terratype or very nearly so,
+because Eltak lived there for fifteen years with apparently only a
+minimum of equipment. The Hlats are confined to a single large
+island. He discovered them by accident and--"
+
+"What was he doing there?"
+
+"Well, sir, he came from Hyles-Frisian. He was a crim ... he'd been
+engaged in some form of piracy, and when the authorities began looking
+for him, he decided it would be best to get clean out of the Hub. He
+cracked up his ship on this world and couldn't leave again. When he
+discovered the Hlats and realized their peculiar ability, he kept out
+of their way and observed them. He found out they had a means of
+communicating with each other, and that he could duplicate it. That
+stopped them from harming him, and eventually, he said, he was using
+them like hunting dogs. They were accustomed to co-operating with one
+another, because when there was some animal around that was too large
+for one of them to handle, they would attack, it in a group...."
+
+He went on for another minute or two on the subject. The Hlats--the
+word meant "rock lion" in one of the Hyles-Frisian dialects,
+describing a carnivorous animal which had some superficial resemblance
+to the creatures Eltak had happened on--frequented the seacoast and
+submerged themselves in sand, rocks and debris, whipping up out of it
+to seize some food animal, and taking it down with them again to
+devour it at leisure.
+
+Quillan interrupted, "You heard what happened to the man it attacked
+on the fifth level?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Why would the thing have left him half outside the wall as it did?"
+
+Kinmarten said that it must simply have been moving too fast. It could
+slip into and out of solid substances without a pause itself, but it
+needed a little time to restructure an object it was carrying in the same
+manner. No more time, however, than two or three seconds--depending more
+on the nature of the object than on its size, according to Eltak.
+
+"It can restructure _anything_ in that manner?" Quillan asked.
+
+Kinmarten hesitated. "Well, sir, I don't know. I suppose there might
+be limitations on its ability. Eltak told me the one we were escorting
+had been the subject of extensive experimentation during the past
+year, and that the results are very satisfactory."
+
+"Suppose it carries a living man through a wall. Will the man still be
+alive when he comes out on the other side, assuming the Hlat doesn't
+kill him deliberately?"
+
+"Yes, sir. The process itself wouldn't hurt him."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan glanced at Cooms. "You know," he said, "we might be letting
+Yaco off too cheaply!"
+
+Cooms raised an eyebrow warningly, and Quillan grinned. "Our friend
+will be learning about Yaco soon enough. Why did Eltak tell the
+creature to attack, Kinmarten?"
+
+"Sir, I don't know," Kinmarten said. "He was a man of rather violent
+habits. My impression, however, was that he was simply attempting to
+obtain a hostage."
+
+"How did he get off that island with the Hlat?"
+
+"A University League explorer was investigating the planet. Eltak
+contacted them and obtained the guarantee of a full pardon and a large
+cash settlement in return for what he could tell them about the Hlats.
+They took him and this one specimen along for experimentation."
+
+"What about the Hlats on the _Camelot_?"
+
+"Eltak said those had been quite recently trapped on the island."
+
+Cooms ran his fingers over the cylinder, producing a rapid series of
+squeaks and whistles. "That's one thing Yaco may not like," he
+observed. "They won't have a monopoly on the thing."
+
+Quillan shook his head. "Their scientists don't have to work through
+red tape like the U-League. By the time the news breaks--if the
+Federation ever intends to break it--Yaco will have at least a
+five-year start on everyone else. That's all an outfit like that
+needs." He looked at Kinmarten. "Any little thing you haven't thought
+to tell us, friend?" he inquired pleasantly.
+
+A thin film of sweat showed suddenly on Kinmarten's forehead.
+
+"No, sir," he said. "I've really told you everything I know. I--"
+
+"Might try him under dope," Cooms said absently.
+
+"Uh-uh!" Quillan said, "I want him wide awake to help me bait the
+cubicle for the thing. Has Velladon shown any indication of becoming
+willing to co-operate in hunting it?"
+
+Cooms gestured with his head. "Ask Fluel! I sent him down to try to
+patch things up with the commodore. He just showed up again."
+
+Quillan glanced around. The Duke was lounging in the doorway. He
+grinned slightly, said, "Velladon's still sore at us. But he'll talk
+to Quillan. Kinmarten here ... did he tell you his wife's on the
+Star?"
+
+Brock Kinmarten went utterly white. Cooms looked at him, said softly,
+"No, that must have slipped his mind."
+
+Fluel said, "Yeah, Well, she is. And Ryter says they'll have her
+picked up inside half an hour. When they bring her in, we really
+should check on how candid Kinmarten's been about everything."
+
+The rest warden said in a voice that shook uncontrollably, "Gentlemen,
+my wife knows absolutely nothing about these matters! I swear it!
+She--"
+
+Quillan stood up. "Well, I'll go see if I can't get Velladon in a
+better mood. Are you keeping that Hlat-talker, Cooms?"
+
+Cooms smiled. "I am."
+
+"Marras figures," the Duke's flat voice explained, "that if the thing
+comes into the room and he squeaks at it a few times, he won't get
+hurt."
+
+"That's possible," Cooms said, unruffled. "At any rate, I intend to
+hang on to it."
+
+"Well, I wouldn't play around with those buttons too much," Quillan
+observed.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"You might get lucky and tap out some pattern that spells 'Come to
+chow' in the Hlat's vocabulary."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There were considerably more men in evidence on Level Two than on the
+fourth, and fewer signs of nervousness. The Star men had been told of
+the Hlat's escape from its cubicle, but weren't taking it too
+seriously. Quillan was conducted to the commodore and favored with an
+alarmingly toothy grin. Ryter, the security chief, joined them a few
+seconds later. Apparently, Velladon had summoned him.
+
+Velladon said, "Ryter here's made a few transmitter calls. We hear
+Pappy Boltan pulled his outfit out of the Orado area about a month
+ago. Present whereabouts unknown. Hagready went off on some hush-hush
+job at around the same time."
+
+Quillan smiled. "Uh-huh! So he did."
+
+"We also," said Ryter, "learned a number of things about you
+personally." He produced a thin smile. "You lead a busy
+and--apparently--profitable life."
+
+"Business is fair," Quillan agreed. "But it can always be improved."
+
+The commodore turned on the toothy grin. "So all right," he growled,
+"you're clear. We rather liked what we learned. Eh, Ryter?"
+
+Ryter nodded.
+
+"This Brotherhood of Beldon, now--" The commodore shook his head
+heavily.
+
+Quillan was silent a moment. "They might be getting sloppy," he said.
+"I don't know. It's one possibility. They used to be a rather sharp
+outfit, you know."
+
+"That's what I'd heard!" Velladon chewed savagely on his mustache,
+asked finally, "What's another possibility?"
+
+Quillan leaned back in his chair. "Just a feeling, so far. But the
+business with the cubicle upstairs might have angles that weren't
+mentioned."
+
+They looked at him thoughtfully. Ryter said, "Mind amplifying that?"
+
+"Cooms told me," Quillan said, "that Nome Lancion had given Movaine
+instructions to make a test with Lady Pendrake on the quiet and find
+out if those creatures actually can do what they're supposed to do. I
+think he was telling the truth. Nome tends to be overcautious when
+it's a really big deal. Unless he's sure of the Hlats, he wouldn't
+want to be involved in a thing like blowing up the Star and the
+liner."
+
+The commodore scowled absently. "Uh-huh," he said. "He knows we can't
+back out of it--"
+
+"All right. The Brotherhood's full of ambitious men. Behind Lancion,
+Movaine was top man. Cooms behind him; Fluel behind Cooms. Suppose
+that Hlat-control device Cooms is hanging on to so tightly isn't as
+entirely incomprehensible as they make it out to be. Suppose Cooms
+makes a deal with Eltak. Eltak tickles the gadget, and the Hlat kills
+Movaine. Rubero immediately guns down Eltak--and is killed by Fluel a
+couple of minutes later, supposedly for blowing his top and killing
+the man who knew how to control the Hlat."
+
+Ryter cleared his throat. "Fluel was Movaine's gun," he observed.
+
+"So he was," Quillan said. "Would you like the Duke to be yours?"
+
+Ryter grinned, shook his head. "No, thanks!"
+
+Quillan looked back at Velladon. "How well are you actually covered
+against the Brotherhood?"
+
+"Well, _that_'s air-tight," the commodore said. "We've got 'em
+outgunned here. When the liner lands, we'll be about even. But Lancion
+won't start anything. We're too even. Once we're clear of the Star, we
+don't meet again. We deal with Yaco individually. The Brotherhood has
+the Hlats, and we have the trained Federation technicians accompanying
+them, who ... who--"
+
+"Who alone are supposed to be able to inform Yaco how to control the
+Hlats," Ryter finished for him. The security chief's face was
+expressionless.
+
+"By God!" the commodore said softly.
+
+"Well, it's only a possibility that somebody's playing dirty," Quillan
+remarked. "We'd want to be sure of it. But if anyone can handle a Hlat
+with the control instrument, the Brotherhood has an advantage now that
+it isn't talking about--it can offer Yaco everything Yaco needs in one
+package. Of course, Yaco might still be willing to pay for the Hlat
+technicians. If it didn't, you and Ryter could make the same kind of
+trouble for it that my friends can."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The color was draining slowly from Velladon's face. "There's a
+difference," he said. "If we threaten to make trouble for Yaco, they'd
+see to it that our present employers learn that Ryter and I are still
+alive."
+
+"That's the Mooleys, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Tough." Quillan knuckled his chin thoughtfully. "Well, let's put it
+this way then," he said. "My group doesn't have _that_ kind of
+problem, but if things worked out so that we'd have something more
+substantial than nuisance value to offer Yaco, we'd prefer it, of
+course."
+
+Velladon nodded. "Very understandable! Under the circumstances,
+co-operation appears to be indicated, eh?"
+
+"That's what I had in mind."
+
+"You've made a deal," Velladon said. "Any immediate suggestions?"
+
+Quillan looked at his watch. "A couple. We don't want to make any
+mistake about this. It's still almost five hours before the _Camelot_
+pulls in, and until she does you're way ahead on firepower. I wouldn't
+make any accusations just now. But you might mention to Cooms you'd
+like to borrow the Hlat gadget to have it examined by some of your
+technical experts. The way he reacts might tell us something. If he
+balks, the matter shouldn't be pushed too hard at the moment--it's a
+tossup whether you or the Brotherhood has a better claim to the thing.
+
+"But then there's Kinmarten, the rest warden in charge of the cubicle.
+I talked with him while Cooms and Fluel were around, but he may have
+been briefed on what to say. Cooms mentioned doping him, which could
+be a convenient way to keeping him shut up, assuming he knows more
+than he's told. He's one of the personnel you're to offer Yaco. I
+think you can insist on having Kinmarten handed over to you
+immediately. It should be interesting again to see how Cooms reacts."
+
+Velladon's big head nodded vigorously. "Good idea!"
+
+"By the way," Quillan said, "Fluel mentioned you've been looking for
+Kinmarten's wife, the second rest warden on the Pendrake convoy. Found
+her yet?"
+
+"Not a trace, so far," Ryter said.
+
+"That's a little surprising, too, isn't it?"
+
+"Under the circumstances," the commodore said, "it might not be
+surprising at all!" He had regained his color, was beginning to look
+angry. "If they--"
+
+"Well," Quillan said soothingly, "we don't _know_. It's just that
+things do seem to be adding up a little. Now, there's one other point.
+We should do something immediately about catching that Hlat."
+
+Velladon grunted and picked at his teeth with his thumbnail. "It would
+be best to get it back in its cubicle, of course. But I'm not worrying
+about it--just an animal, after all. Even the light hardware those
+Beldon fancy Dans carry should handle it. You use a man-sized gun, I
+see. So do I. If it shows up around here, it gets smeared, that's all.
+There're fifty more of the beasts on the _Camelot_."
+
+Quillan nodded. "You're right on that. But there's the possibility
+that it is being controlled by the Brotherhood at present. If it is,
+it isn't just an animal any more. It could be turned into a thoroughly
+dangerous nuisance."
+
+The commodore thought a moment, nodded. "You're right, I suppose. What
+do you want to do about it?"
+
+"Baiting the cubicle on the fifth level might work. Then there should
+be life-detectors in the Star's security supplies--"
+
+Ryter nodded. "We have a couple of dozen of them, but not in the
+Executive Block. They were left in the security building."
+
+The commodore stood up. "You stay here with Ryter," he told Quillan.
+"There're a couple of other things I want to go over with you two.
+I'll order the life-detectors from the office here--second passage
+down, isn't it, Ryter?... And, Ryter, I have another idea. I'm pulling
+the man in space-armor off the subspace portal and detailing him to
+Level Five." He grinned at Quillan. "That boy's got a brace of
+grenades and built-in spray guns! If Cooms is thinking of pulling any
+funny stunts up there, he'll think again."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The commodore headed briskly down the narrow passageway, his big
+holstered gun slapping his thigh with every step. The two security
+guards stationed at the door to the second level office came to
+attention as he approached, saluted smartly. He grunted, went in
+without returning the salutes, and started over toward the ComWeb on a
+desk at the far end of the big room, skirting the long, dusty-looking
+black rug beside one wall.
+
+Velladon unbuckled his gun belt, placed the gun on the desk, sat down
+and switched on the ComWeb.
+
+Behind him, the black rug stirred silently and rose up.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"You called that one," Ryter was saying seven or eight minutes later,
+"almost too well!"
+
+Quillan shook his head, poked at the commodore's gun on the desk with
+his finger, looked about the silent office and back at the door where
+a small group of security men stood staring in at them.
+
+"Three men gone without a sound!" he said. He indicated the glowing
+disk of the ComWeb. "He had time enough to turn it on, not time enough
+to make his call. Any chance of camouflaged portals in this section?"
+
+"No," Ryter said. "I know the location of every portal in the
+Executive Block. No number of men could have taken Velladon and the
+two guards without a fight anyway. We'd have heard it. It didn't
+happen that way."
+
+"Which leaves," Quillan said, "one way it could have happened." He
+jerked his head toward the door. "Will those men keep quiet?"
+
+"If I tell them to."
+
+"Then play it like this. Two guards have vanished. The Hlat obviously
+did it. The thing's deadly. That'll keep every man in the group on the
+alert every instant from now on. But we don't say Velladon has
+vanished. He's outside in the Star at the moment, taking care of
+something."
+
+Ryter licked his lips. "What does that buy us?"
+
+"If the Brotherhood's responsible for this--"
+
+"I don't take much stock in coincidences," Ryter said.
+
+"Neither do I. But the Hlat's an animal; it can't tell them it's
+carried out the job. If they don't realize we suspect them, it gives
+us some advantage. For the moment, we just carry on as planned, and
+get rid of the Hlat in one way or another as the first step. The
+thing's three times as dangerous as anyone suspected--except,
+apparently, the Brotherhood. Get the life-detectors over here as soon
+as you can, and slap a space-armor guard on the fifth level."
+
+Ryter hesitated, nodded. "All right."
+
+"Another thing," Quillan said, "Cooms may have the old trick in mind
+of working from the top down. If he can take you out along with a few
+other key men, he might have this outfit demoralized to the point of
+making up for the difference in the number of guns--especially if the
+Hlat's still on his team. You'd better keep a handful of the best boys
+you have around here glued to your back from now on."
+
+Ryter smiled bleakly. "Don't worry. I intend to. What about you?"
+
+"I don't think they're planning on giving me any personal attention
+at the moment. My organization is outside, not here. And it would look
+odd to the Brotherhood if I started dragging a few Star guards around
+with me at this point."
+
+Ryter shrugged. "Suit yourself. It's your funeral if you've guessed
+wrong."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"There was nothing," Quillan told Marras Cooms, "that you could
+actually put a finger on. It was just that the commodore and Ryter may
+have something up their sleeves. Velladon's looking too self-satisfied
+to suit me."
+
+The Brotherhood chief gnawed his lower lip reflectively. He seemed
+thoughtful, not too disturbed. Cooms might be thoroughly afraid of the
+escaped Hlat, but he wouldn't have reached his present position in
+Nome Lancion's organization if he had been easily frightened by what
+other men were planning.
+
+He said, "I warned Movaine that if Velladon learned we'd checked out
+the Hlat, he wasn't going to like it."
+
+"He doesn't," Quillan said. "He regards it as something pretty close
+to an attempted double cross."
+
+Cooms grinned briefly. "It was."
+
+"Of course. The question is, what can he do about it? He's got you
+outgunned two to one, but if he's thinking of jumping you before
+Lancion gets here, he stands to lose more men than he can afford to
+without endangering the entire operation for himself."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Cooms was silent a few seconds. "There's an unpleasant possibility
+which didn't occur to me until a short while ago," he said then. "The
+fact is that Velladon actually may have us outgunned here by something
+like four to one. If that's the case, he can afford to lose quite a
+few men. In fact, he'd prefer to."
+
+Quillan frowned. "_Four_ to one? How's that?"
+
+Cooms said, "The commodore told us he intended to let only around half
+of the Seventh Star's security force in on the Hlat deal. The other
+half was supposed to have been dumped out of one of the subspace
+section's locks early today, without benefit of suits. We had no
+reason to disbelieve him. Velladon naturally would want to cut down
+the number of men who got in on the split with him to as many as he
+actually needed. But if he's been thinking about eliminating us from
+the game, those other men may still be alive and armed."
+
+Quillan grunted. "I see. You know, that could explain something that
+looked a little odd to me."
+
+"What was that?" Cooms asked.
+
+Quillan said, "After they discovered down there that two of their
+guards were missing and decided the Hlat must have been on their
+level, I tried to get hold of the commodore again. Ryter told me
+Velladon won't be available for a while, that he's outside in the
+Star, taking care of something there. I wondered what could be
+important enough to get Velladon to leave the Executive Block at
+present, but--"
+
+"Brother, I'm way ahead of you!" Cooms said. His expression hardened.
+"That doesn't look good. But at least he can't bring in reinforcements
+without tipping us off. We've got our own guards down with theirs at
+the entrance."
+
+Quillan gave him a glance, then nodded at the wall beyond them.
+"That's a portal over there, Marras. How many of them on this level?"
+
+"Three or four. Why? The outportals have been plugged, man! Sealed
+off. Fluel checked them over when we moved in."
+
+"Sure they're sealed." Quillan stood up, went to the portal, stood
+looking at the panel beside it a moment, then pressed on it here and
+there, and removed it. "Come over here, friend. I suppose portal
+work's been out of your line. I'll show you how fast a thing like that
+can get unplugged!" He slid a pocketbook-sized tool kit out of his
+belt, snapped it open. About a minute later, the lifeless VACANT sign
+above the portal flickered twice, then acquired a steady white glow.
+
+"Portal in operation," Quillan announced. "I'll seal it off again now.
+But that should give you the idea."
+
+Cooms' tongue flicked over his lips. "Could somebody portal through to
+this level from the Star while the exits are sealed here?"
+
+"If the mechanisms have been set for that purpose, the portals can be
+opened again at any time from the Star side. The Duke's an engineer of
+sorts, isn't he? Let him check on it. He should have been thinking of
+the point himself, as far as that goes. Anyway, Velladon can bring in
+as many men as he likes to his own level without using the main
+entrance." He considered. "I didn't see anything to indicate that he's
+started doing it--"
+
+Marras Cooms shrugged irritably. "That means nothing! It would be easy
+enough to keep half a hundred men hidden away on any of the lower
+levels."
+
+"I suppose that's right. Well, if the commodore intends to play rough,
+you should have some warning anyway."
+
+"What kind of warning?"
+
+"There's Kinmarten and that Hlat-talking gadget, for example," Quillan
+pointed out. "Velladon would want both of those in his possession and
+out of the way where they can't get hurt before he starts any
+shooting."
+
+Cooms looked at him a few seconds. "Ryter," he said then, "sent half a
+dozen men up here for Kinmarten just after you got back! Velladon's
+supposed to deliver the Hlats' attendants to Yaco, so I let them have
+Kinmarten." He paused. "They asked for the Hlat-talker, too."
+
+Quillan grunted. "Did you give them that?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Well," Quillan said after a moment, "that doesn't necessarily mean
+that we're in for trouble with the Star group. But it does mean, I
+think, that we'd better stay ready for it!" He stood up. "I'll get
+back down there and go on with the motions of getting the hunt for
+the Hlat organized. Velladon would sooner see the thing get caught,
+too, of course, so he shouldn't try to interfere with that. If I spot
+anything that looks suspicious, I'll get the word to you."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I never," said Orca, unconsciously echoing Baldy Perk, "saw anything
+like it!" The commodore's chunky little gunman was ashen-faced. The
+circle of Star men standing around him hardly looked happier. Most of
+them were staring down at the empty lower section of a suit of space
+armor which appeared to have been separated with a neat diagonal slice
+from its upper part.
+
+"Let's get it straight," Ryter said, a little unsteadily. "You say
+this half of the suit was lying against the wall like _that_?"
+
+"Not exactly," Quillan told him. "When we got up to the fifth level,
+the suit was stuck against the wall--like that--about eight feet above
+the floor. That was in the big room where the cubicles are. When
+Kinmarten and Orca and I finally got the suit worked away from the
+wall, I expected frankly that we'd find half the body of the guard
+still inside. But he'd vanished."
+
+Ryter cleared his throat. "Apparently," he said, "the creature drew
+the upper section of the suit into the wall by whatever means it uses,
+then stopped applying the transforming process to the metal, and
+simply moved on with the upper part of the suit and the man."
+
+Quillan nodded. "That's what it looks like."
+
+"But he had _two grenades_!" Orca burst out. "He had sprayguns! How
+could it get him that way?"
+
+"Brother," Quillan said, "grenades won't help you much if you don't
+spot what's moving up behind you!"
+
+Orca glared speechlessly at him. Ryter said, "All right! We've lost
+another man. We're not going to lose any more. We'll station no more
+guards on the fifth level. Now, get everyone who isn't on essential
+guard duty to the main room, and split 'em up into life-detector
+units. Five men to each detail, one to handle the detector, four to
+stay with him, guns out. If the thing comes back to this level, we
+want to have it spotted the instant it arrives. Orca, you stay
+here--and keep _your_ gun out!"
+
+The men filed out hurriedly. Ryter turned to Quillan. "Were you able
+to get the cubicle baited?"
+
+Quillan nodded. "Kinmarten figured out how the thing should be set for
+the purpose. If the Hlat goes in after the sea beef, it's trapped. Of
+course, if the hunting it's been doing was for food, it mightn't be
+interested in the beef."
+
+"We don't know," Ryter said, "that the hunting it's been doing was for
+food."
+
+"No. Did you manage to get the control device from Cooms?"
+
+Ryter shook his head. "He's refused to hand it over."
+
+"If you tried to take it from him," Quillan said, "you might have a
+showdown on your hands."
+
+"And if this keeps on," Ryter said, "I may prefer a showdown! Another
+few rounds of trouble with the Hlat, and the entire operation could
+blow up in our faces! The men aren't used to that kind of thing. It's
+shaken them up. If we've got to take care of the Brotherhood, I'd
+rather do it while I still have an organized group. Where did you
+leave Kinmarten, by the way?"
+
+"He's back in the little room with his two guards," Quillan said.
+
+"Well, he should be all right there. We can't spare--" Ryter's body
+jerked violently. "_What's that?_"
+
+There had been a single thudding crash somewhere in the level. Then
+shouts and cursing.
+
+"Main hall!" Quillan said. "Come on!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The main hall was a jumble of excitedly jabbering Star men when they
+arrived there. Guns waved about, and the various groups were showing a
+marked tendency to stand with their backs toward one another and their
+faces toward the walls.
+
+Ryter's voice rose in a shout that momentarily shut off the hubbub.
+"_What's going on here?_"
+
+Men turned, hands pointed, voices babbled again. Someone nearby said
+sharply and distinctly, "... Saw it drop right out of the ceiling!"
+Farther down the hall, another group shifted aside enough to disclose
+it had been clustered about something which looked a little like the
+empty shell of a gigantic black beetle.
+
+The missing section of the suit of space armor had been returned. But
+not its occupant.
+
+Quillan moved back a step, turned, went back down the passage from
+which they had emerged, pulling the Miam Devil from its holster.
+Behind him the commotion continued; Ryter was shouting something about
+getting the life-detector units over there. Quillan went left down the
+first intersecting corridor, right again on the following one, keeping
+the gun slightly raised before him. Around the next corner, he saw the
+man on guard over the portal connecting the building levels facing
+him, gun pointed.
+
+"What happened?" the guard asked shakily.
+
+Quillan shook his head, coming up. "That thing got another one!"
+
+The guard breathed, "By God!" and lowered his gun a little. Quillan
+raised his a little, the Miam Devil grunted, and the guard sighed and
+went down. Quillan went past him along the hall, stopped two doors
+beyond the portal and rapped on the locked door.
+
+"Quillan here! Open up!"
+
+The door opened a crack, and one of Kinmarten's guards looked out
+questioningly. Quillan shot him through the head, slammed on into the
+room across the collapsing body, saw the second guard wheeling toward
+him, shot again, and slid the gun back into the holster. Kinmarten,
+standing beside a table six feet away, right hand gripping a heavy
+marble ashtray, was staring at him in white-faced shock.
+
+"Take it easy, chum!" Quillan said, turning toward him. "I--"
+
+He ducked hurriedly as the ashtray came whirling through the air
+toward his head. An instant later, a large fist smacked the side of
+Kinmarten's jaw. The rest warden settled limply to the floor.
+
+"Sorry to do that, pal," Quillan muttered, stooping over him. "Things
+are rough all over right now." He hauled Kinmarten upright, bent, and
+had the unconscious young man across his shoulder. The hall was still
+empty except for the body of the portal guard. Quillan laid Kinmarten
+on the carpet before the portal, hauled the guard off into the room,
+and pulled the door to the room shut behind him as he came out.
+Picking up Kinmarten, he stepped into the portal with him and jabbed
+the fifth level button. A moment later, he moved out into the small
+dim entry hall on the fifth level, the gun in his right hand again.
+
+He stood there silently for some seconds, looking about him listening.
+The baited cubicle yawned widely at him from the center of the big
+room. Nothing seemed to be stirring. Kinmarten went back to the floor.
+Quillan moved over to the panel which concealed the other portal's
+mechanisms.
+
+He had the outportal unsealed in considerably less than a minute this
+time, and slapped the panel gently back in place. He turned back to
+Kinmarten and started to bend down for him, then straightened quietly
+again, turning his head.
+
+Had there been a flicker of shadowy motion just then at the edge of
+his vision, behind the big black cube of the Hlat's food locker?
+Quillan remained perfectly still, the Miam Devil ready and every sense
+straining for an indication that the thing was there--or approaching
+stealthily now, gliding behind the surfaces of floor or ceiling or
+walls like an underwater swimmer.
+
+But half a minute passed and nothing else happened. He went down on
+one knee beside Kinmarten, the gun still in his right hand. With his
+left, he carefully wrestled the rest warden back up across his
+shoulder, came upright, moved three steps to the side, and disappeared
+in the outportal.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reetal Destone unlocked the entry door to her suite and stepped
+hurriedly inside, letting the door slide shut behind her. She crossed
+the room to the ComWeb stand and switched on the playback. There was
+the succession of tinkling tones which indicated nothing had been
+recorded.
+
+She shut the instrument off again, passing her tongue lightly over her
+lips. No further messages from Heraga....
+
+And none from Quillan.
+
+She shook her head, feeling a surge of sharp anxiety, glanced at her
+watch and told herself that, after all, less than two hours had passed
+since Quillan had gone into the Executive Block. Heraga reported there
+had been no indications of disturbance or excitement when he passed
+through the big entrance hall on his way out. So Quillan, at any
+rate, had succeeded in bluffing his way into the upper levels.
+
+It remained a desperate play, at best.
+
+Reetal went down the short passage to her bedroom. As she came into
+the room, her arms were caught from the side at the elbows, pulled
+suddenly and painfully together behind her. She stood still, frozen
+with shock.
+
+"In a hurry, sweetheart?" Fluel's flat voice said.
+
+Reetal managed a breathless giggle. "Duke! You startled me! How did
+you get in?"
+
+She felt one hand move up her arm to her shoulder. Then she was swung
+about deftly and irresistibly, held pinned back against the wall,
+still unable to move her arms.
+
+He looked at her a moment, asked, "Where are you hiding it this time?"
+
+"Hiding what, Duke?"
+
+"I've been told sweet little Reetal always carries a sweet little gun
+around with her in some shape or form or other."
+
+Reetal shook her head, her eyes widening. "Duke, what's the matter?
+I...."
+
+He let go of her suddenly, and his slap exploded against the side of
+her face. Reetal cried out, dropping her head between her hands.
+Immediately he had her wrists again, and her fingers were jerked away
+from the jeweled ornament in her hair.
+
+"So that's where it is!" Fluel said. "Thought it might be. Don't get
+funny again now, sweetheart. Just stay quiet."
+
+She stayed quiet, wincing a little as he plucked the glittering little
+device out of her hair. He turned it around in his fingers, examining
+it, smiled and slid it into an inside pocket, and took her arm again.
+"Let's go to the front room, Reetal," he said almost pleasantly.
+"We've got a few things to do."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A minute later, she was seated sideways on a lounger, her wrists
+fastened right and left to its armrests. The Duke placed a pocket
+recorder on the floor beside her. "This is a crowded evening,
+sweetheart," he remarked, "which is lucky for you in a way. We'll have
+to rush things along a little. I'll snap the recorder on in a minute
+so you can answer questions--No, keep quiet. Just listen very closely
+now, so you'll know what the right answers are. If you get rattled and
+gum things up, the Duke's going to get annoyed with you."
+
+He sat down a few feet away from her, hitched his shoulders to
+straighten out the silver jacket, and lit a cigarette. "A little while
+after Bad News Quillan turned up just now," he went on, "a few things
+occurred to me. One of them was that a couple of years ago you and he
+were operating around Beldon at about the same time. I thought, well,
+maybe you knew each other; maybe not. And then--"
+
+"Duke," Reetal said uncertainly, "just what are you talking about? I
+don't know--"
+
+"Shut up." He reached over, tapped her knee lightly with his
+fingertips. "Of course, if you want to get slapped around, all right.
+Otherwise, don't interrupt again. Like I said, you're in luck; I don't
+have much time to spend here. You're getting off very easy. Now just
+listen.
+
+"Bad News knew a lot about our operation and had a story to explain
+that. If the story was straight, we couldn't touch him. But I was
+wondering about the two of you happening to be here on the Star again
+at the same time. A team maybe, eh? But he didn't mention you as being
+in on the deal. So what was the idea?
+
+"And then, sweetheart, I remembered something else--and that tied it
+in. Know that little jolt people sometimes get when they're dropping
+off to sleep? Of course. Know another time they sometimes get it? When
+they're snapping back out of a Moment of Truth, eh? I remembered
+suddenly I'd felt a little jump like that while we were talking
+to-day. Might have been a reflex of some kind. Of course, it didn't
+occur to me at the time you could be pulling a lousy stunt like that
+on old Duke. Why take a chance on getting your neck broken?
+
+"But, sweetheart, that's the tie-in! Quillan hasn't told it straight.
+He's got no backing. He's on his own. There's no gang outside
+somewhere that knows all about our little deal. He got his information
+right here, from you. And you got it from dumb old Duke, eh?"
+
+"Duke," Reetal said quite calmly, "can I ask just one question?"
+
+He stared bleakly at her a moment, then grinned. "It's my night to be
+big-hearted, I guess. Go ahead."
+
+"I'm not trying to argue. But it simply doesn't make sense. If I
+learned about this operation you're speaking of from you, what reason
+could I have to feed you Truth in the first place? There'd be almost a
+fifty-fifty chance that you'd spot it immediately. Why should I take
+such a risk? Don't you see?"
+
+Fluel shrugged, dropped his cigarette and ground it carefully into the
+carpet with the tip of his shoe.
+
+"You'll start answering those questions yourself almost immediately,
+sweetheart! Let's not worry about that now. Let me finish. Something
+happened to Movaine couple of hours ago. Nobody's fault. And something
+else happened to Marras Cooms just now. That puts me in charge of the
+operation here. Nice, isn't it? When we found Cooms lying in the hall
+with a hole through his stupid head, I told Baldy Perk it looked like
+Bad News had thrown in with the Star boys and done it. Know Baldy?
+He's Cooms' personal gun. Not what you'd call bright, and he's mighty
+hot now about Cooms. I left him in charge on our level, with orders to
+get Quillan the next time he shows up there. Well and good. The boys
+know Bad News' rep too well to try asking him questions. They won't
+take chances with him. They'll just gun him down together the instant
+they see him."
+
+He paused to scuff his shoe over the mark the cigarette had left on
+the carpet, went on, "But there's Nome Lancion now. He kind of liked
+Cooms, and he might get suspicious. When there's a sudden vacancy in
+the organization like that. Nome takes a good look first at the man
+next in line. He likes to be sure the facts are as stated.
+
+"So now you know the kind of answers from you I want to hear go down
+on the recorder, sweetheart. And be sure they sound right. I don't
+want to waste time on replays. You and Quillan were here on the Star.
+You got some idea of what was happening, realized you were due to be
+vaporized along with the rest of them after we left. There was no way
+out of the jam for you unless you could keep the operation from being
+carried out. You don't, by the way, mention getting any of that
+information from me. I don't want Lancion to think I'm beginning to
+get dopey. You and Quillan just cooked up this story, and he managed
+to get into the Executive Block. The idea being to knock off as many
+of the leaders as he could, and mess things up."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Fluel picked up the recorder, stood up, and placed it on the chair.
+"That's all you have to remember. You're a smart girl; you can fill in
+the details any way you like. Now let's get started--"
+
+She stared at him silently for an instant, a muscle beginning to
+twitch in her cheek. "If I do that," she said, "if I give you a story
+Nome will like, what happens next?"
+
+Fluel shrugged. "Just what you're thinking happens next. You're a dead
+little girl right now, Reetal. Might as well get used to the idea.
+You'd be dead anyhow four, five hours from now, so that shouldn't make
+too much difference. What makes a lot of difference is just how
+unpleasant the thing can get."
+
+She drew a long breath. "Duke, I--"
+
+"You're stalling, sweetheart."
+
+"Duke, give me a break. I really didn't know a thing about this. I--"
+
+He looked down at her for a moment. "I gave you a break," he said.
+"You've wasted it. Now we'll try it the other way. If we work a few
+squeals into the recording, that'll make it more convincing to
+Lancion. He'll figure little Reetal's the type who wouldn't spill a
+thing like that without a little pressure." He checked himself,
+grinned. "And that reminds me. When you're talking for the record, use
+your own voice."
+
+"My own voice?" she half whispered.
+
+"Nome will remember what you sound like--and I've heard that voice
+imitations are part of your stock in trade. You might think it was
+cute if Nome got to wondering after you were dead whether that really
+had been you talking. Don't try it, sweetheart."
+
+He brought a glove out of his jacket pocket, slipped it over his left
+hand, flexing his fingers to work it into position. Reetal's eyes
+fastened on the rounded metal tips capping thumb, forefinger and
+middle finger of the glove. Her face went gray.
+
+"Duke," she said, "No--"
+
+"Shut up." He brought out a strip of transparent plastic, moved over
+to her. The gloved hand went into her hair, gripped it, turned her
+face up. He laid the plastic gag lengthwise over her mouth, pressed it
+down and released it. Reetal closed her eyes.
+
+"That'll keep it shut," he said. "Now--" His right hand clamped about
+the back of her neck, forcing her head down and forward almost to her
+knees. The gloved left hand brushed her hair forwards, then its middle
+finger touched the skin at a point just above her shoulder blades.
+
+"Right there," Fluel said. The finger stiffened, drove down.
+
+Reetal jerked violently, twisted, squirmed sideways, wrists straining
+against the grip of the armrests. Her breath burst out of her
+nostrils, followed by squeezed, whining noises. The metal-capped
+finger continued to grind savagely against the nerve center it had
+found.
+
+"Thirty," Fluel said finally. He drew his hand back, pulled her
+upright again, peeled the gag away from her lips. "Only thirty
+seconds, sweetheart. Think you'd sooner play along now?"
+
+Reetal's head nodded.
+
+"Fine. Give you a minute to steady up. This doesn't really waste much
+time, you see--" He took up the recorder, sat down on the chair again,
+watching her. She was breathing raggedly and shallowly, eyes wide and
+incredulous. She didn't look at him.
+
+The Duke lit another cigarette.
+
+"Incidentally," he observed, "if you were stalling because you hoped
+old Bad News might show up, forget it. If the boys haven't gunned him
+down by now, he's tied up on a job the commodore gave him to do. He'll
+be busy another hour or two on that. He--"
+
+He checked himself. A central section of the wall paneling across the
+room from him had just dilated open. Old Bad News stood in the
+concealed suite portal, Rest Warden Kinmarten slung across his
+shoulder.
+
+Both men moved instantly. Fluel's long legs bounced him sideways out
+of the chair, right hand darting under his coat, coming out with a
+gun. Quillan turned to the left to get Kinmarten out of the way. The
+big Miam Devil seemed to jump into his hand. Both guns spoke together.
+
+Fluel's gun thudded to the carpet. The Duke said, "Ah-aa-ah!" in a
+surprised voice, rolled up his eyes, and followed the gun down.
+
+Quillan said, stunned, "He was fast! I felt that one parting my hair."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He became very solicitous then--after first ascertaining that Fluel
+had left the Executive Block unaccompanied, on personal business. He
+located a pain killer spray in Reetal's bedroom and applied it to the
+bruised point below the back of her neck. She was just beginning to
+relax gratefully, as the warm glow of the spray washed out the pain
+and the feeling of paralysis, when Kinmarten, lying on the carpet
+nearby, began to stir and mutter.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Quillan hastily put down the spray.
+
+"Watch him!" he cautioned. "I'll be right back. If he sits up, yell.
+He's a bit wild at the moment. If he wakes up and sees the Duke lying
+there, he'll start climbing the walls."
+
+"What--" Reetal began. But he was gone down the hall.
+
+He returned immediately with a glass of water, went down on one knee
+beside Kinmarten, slid an arm under the rest warden's shoulder, and
+lifted him to a sitting position.
+
+"Wake up, old pal!" he said loudly. "Come on, wake up! Got something
+good for you here--"
+
+"What are you giving him?" Reetal asked, cautiously massaging the back
+of her neck.
+
+"Knockout drops. I already had to lay him out once. We want to lock
+him up with his wife now, and if he comes to and tells her what's
+happened, they'll both be out of their minds by the time we come to
+let them out--"
+
+He interrupted himself. Kinmarten's eyelids were fluttering. Quillan
+raised the glass to his lips. "Here you are, pal," he said in a deep,
+soothing voice. "Drink it! It'll make you feel a lot better."
+
+Kinmarten swallowed obediently, swallowed again. His eyelids stopped
+fluttering. Quillan lowered him back to the floor.
+
+"That ought to do it," he said.
+
+"What," Reetal asked, "did happen? The Duke--"
+
+"Tell you as much as I can after we get Kinmarten out of the way. I
+have to get back to the Executive Block. Things are sort of teetering
+on the edge there." He jerked his head at Fluel's body. "I want to
+know about him, too, of course. Think you can walk now?"
+
+Reetal groaned. "I can try," she said.
+
+They found Solvey Kinmarten dissolved in tears once more. She flung
+herself on her husband's body when Quillan place him on the bed. "What
+have those _beasts_ done to Brock?" she demanded fiercely.
+
+"Nothing very bad," Quillan said soothingly. "He's, um, under sedation
+at the moment, that's all. We've got him away from them now, and he's
+safe ... look at it that way. You stay here and take care of him.
+We'll have the whole deal cleared up before morning, doll. Then you
+can both come out of hiding again." He gave her an encouraging wink.
+
+"I'm so very grateful to both of you--"
+
+"No trouble, really. But we'd better get back to work on the thing."
+
+"Heck," Quillan said a few seconds later, as he and Reetal came out on
+the other side of the portal, "I feel like hell about those two. Nice
+little characters! Well, if the works blow up, they'll never know it."
+
+"_We_'ll know it," Reetal said meaningly. "Start talking."
+
+He rattled through a brief account of events in the Executive Block,
+listened to her report on the Duke's visit, scratched his jaw
+reflectively.
+
+"That might help!" he observed. "They're about ready to jump down
+each other's throats over there right now. A couple more pushes--" He
+stood staring down at the Duke's body for a moment. Blood soiled the
+back of the silver jacket, seeping out from a tear above the heart
+area. Quillan bent down, got his hands under Fluel's armpits, hauled
+the body upright.
+
+Reetal asked, startled, "What are you going to do with it?"
+
+"Something useful, I think. And wouldn't that shock the Duke ... the
+first time he's been of any use to anybody. Zip through the Star's
+ComWeb directory, doll, and get me the call symbol for Level Four of
+the Executive Block!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Solvey Kinmarten dimmed the lights a trifle in the bedroom, went back
+to Brock, rearranged the pillows under his head, and bent down to
+place her lips tenderly to the large bruises on his forehead and the
+side of his jaw. Then she brought a chair up beside the bed, and sat
+down to watch him.
+
+Perhaps a minute later, there was a slight noise behind her. Startled,
+she glanced around, saw something huge, black and shapeless moving
+swiftly across the carpet of the room toward her.
+
+Solvey quietly fainted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Sure you know what to say?" Quillan asked.
+
+Reetal moistened her lips. "Just let me go over it in my mind once
+more." She was sitting on the floor, on the right side of the ComWeb
+stand, her face pale and intent, "You know," she said, "this makes me
+feel a little queasy somehow, Quillan! And suppose they don't fall for
+it?"
+
+"They'll fall for it!" Quillan was on his knees in front of the stand,
+supporting Fluel's body, which was sprawled half across it, directly
+before the lit vision screen. An outflung arm hid the Duke's face from
+the screen. "You almost had _me_ thinking I was listening to Fluel
+when you did the take-off of him this evening. A dying man can be
+expected to sound a little odd, anyway." He smiled at her
+encouragingly. "Ready now?"
+
+Reetal nodded nervously, cleared her throat.
+
+Quillan reached across Fluel tapped out Level Four's call symbol on
+the instrument, ducked back down below the stand. After a moment,
+there was a click.
+
+Reetal produced a quavering, agonized groan. Somebody else gasped.
+
+"_Duke_!" Baldy Perk's voice shouted. "What's happened?"
+
+"Baldy Perk!" Quillan whispered quickly.
+
+Reetal stammered hoarsely, "The c-c-commodore, Baldy! Shot me ... shot
+Marras! They're after ... Quillan ... now!"
+
+"I thought Bad News...." Baldy sounded stunned.
+
+"Was w-wrong, Baldy," Reetal croaked. "Bad News ... with us! Bad News ...
+pal! The c-c-comm--"
+
+Beneath the ComWeb stand the palm of Quillan's right hand thrust
+abruptly up and forward. The stand tilted, went crashing back to the
+floor. Fluel's body lurched over with it. The vision screen shattered.
+Baldy's roaring question was cut off abruptly.
+
+"Great stuff, doll!" Quillan beamed, helping Reetal to her feet. "You
+sent shudders down my back!"
+
+"Down mine, too!"
+
+"I'll get him out of here now. Ditch him in one of the shut-off
+sections. Then I'll get back to the Executive Block. If Ryter's
+thought to look into Kinmarten's room, they'll really be raving on
+both sides there now!"
+
+"Is that necessary?" Reetal asked. "For you to go back, I mean.
+Somebody besides Fluel might have become suspicious of you by now."
+
+"Ryter might," Quillan agreed. "He's looked like the sharpest of the
+lot right from the start. But we'll have to risk that. We've got all
+the making of a shooting war there now, but we've got to make sure it
+gets set off before somebody thinks of comparing notes. If I'm around,
+I'll keep jolting at their nerves."
+
+"I suppose you're right. Now, our group--"
+
+Quillan nodded. "No need to hold off on that any longer, the way
+things are moving. Get on another ComWeb and start putting out those
+Mayday messages right now! As soon as you've rounded the boys up--"
+
+"That might," Reetal said, "take a little less than an hour."
+
+"Fine. Then move them right into the Executive Block. With just a bit
+of luck, one hour from now should land them in the final stages of a
+beautiful battle on the upper levels. Give them my description and
+Ryter's, so we don't have accidents."
+
+"Why Ryter's?"
+
+"Found out he was the boy who took care of the bomb-planting detail.
+We want him alive. The others mightn't know where it's been tucked
+away. Heraga says the clerical staff and technicians in there are all
+wearing the white Star uniforms. Anyone else who isn't in one of those
+uniforms is fair game--" He paused. "Oh, and tip them off about the
+Hlat!--God only knows what that thing will be doing when the ruckus
+starts."
+
+"What about sending a few men in through the fifth level portal, the
+one you've unplugged?"
+
+Quillan considered, shook his head. "No. Down on the ground level is
+where we want them. They'd have to portal there again from the fifth,
+and a portal is too easy to seal off and defend. Now let's get a
+blanket or something to tuck Fluel into. I don't want to feel
+conspicuous if I run into somebody on the way."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan emerged cautiously from the fifth portal in the Executive
+Block a short while later, came to a sudden stop just outside it. In
+the big room beyond the entry hall, the door of the baited cubicle was
+closed, and the life-indicator on the door showed a bright steady
+green glow.
+
+Quillan stared at it a moment, looking somewhat surprised, then went
+quietly into the room and bent to study the cubicle's instruments. A
+grin spread slowly over his face. The trap had been sprung. He glanced
+at the deep-rest setting and turned it several notches farther down.
+
+"Happy dreams, Lady Pendrake!" he murmured. "That takes care of you.
+What an appetite! And now--"
+
+As the Level Four portal dilated open before him, a gun blazed from
+across the hall. Quillan flung himself out and down, rolled to the
+side, briefly aware of a litter of bodies and tumbled furniture
+farther up the hall. Then he was flat on the carpet, gun out before
+him, pointing back at the overturned, ripped couch against the far
+wall from which the fire had come.
+
+A hoarse voice bawled, "Bad News--hold it!"
+
+Quillan hesitated, darting a glance right and left. Men lying about
+everywhere, the furnishings a shambles. "That you, Baldy?" he asked.
+
+"Yeah," Baldy Perk half sobbed. "I'm hurt--"
+
+"What happened?"
+
+"_Star_ gang jumped us. Portaled in here--spitballs and riot guns! Bad
+News, we're clean wiped out! Everyone that was on this level--"
+
+Quillan stood up, holstering the gun, went over to the couch and moved
+it carefully away from the wall. Baldy was crouched behind it,
+kneeling on the blood-soaked carpet, gun in his right hand. He lifted
+a white face, staring eyes, to Quillan.
+
+"Waitin' for 'em to come back," he muttered. "Man, I'm not for long!
+Got hit twice. Near passed out a couple of times already."
+
+"What about your boys on guard downstairs?"
+
+"Same thing there, I guess ... or they'd have showed up. They got
+Cooms and the Duke, too! Man, it all happened fast!"
+
+"And the crew on the freighter?"
+
+"Dunno about them."
+
+"You know the freighter's call number?"
+
+"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure. Never thought of that," Baldy said wearily. He
+seemed dazed now.
+
+"Let's see if you can stand."
+
+Quillan helped the big man to his feet. Baldy hadn't bled too much
+outwardly, but he seemed to have estimated his own condition
+correctly. He wasn't for long. Quillan slid an arm under his
+shoulders.
+
+"Where's a ComWeb?" he asked.
+
+Baldy blinked about. "Passage there--" His voice was beginning to
+thicken.
+
+The ComWeb was in the second room up the passage. Quillan eased Perk
+into the seat before it. Baldy's head lolled heavily forward, like a
+drunken man's. "What's the number?" Quillan asked.
+
+Baldy reflected a few seconds, blinking owlishly at the instrument,
+then told him. Quillan tapped out the number, flicked on the vision
+screen, then stood aside and back, beyond the screen's range.
+
+"Yeah, Perk?" a voice said some seconds later. "Hey, _Perk_ ... Perk,
+what's with ya?"
+
+Baldy spat blood, grinned. "Shot--" he said.
+
+"_What?_"
+
+"Yeah." Baldy scowled, blinking. "Now, lessee--Oh, yeah. Star gang's
+gonna jump ya! Watch it!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Yeah, watch--" Baldy coughed, laid his big head slowly down face
+forward on the ComWeb stand, and stopping moving.
+
+"Perk! Man, wake up! Perk!"
+
+Quillan quietly took out the gun, reached behind the stand and blew
+the ComWeb apart. He wasn't certain what the freighter's crew would
+make of the sudden break in the connection, but they could hardly
+regard it as reassuring. He made a brief prowl then through the main
+sections of the level. Evidence everywhere of a short and furious
+struggle, a struggle between men panicked and enraged almost beyond
+any regard for self-preservation. It must have been over in minutes.
+He found that the big hall portal to the ground level had been sealed,
+whether before or after the shooting he couldn't know. There would
+have been around twenty members of the Brotherhood on the level. None
+of them had lived as long as Baldy Perk, but they seemed to have
+accounted for approximately an equal number of the Star's security
+force first.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Five Star men came piling out of the fifth level portal behind him a
+minute or two later, Ryter in the lead. Orca behind Ryter. All five
+held leveled guns.
+
+"You won't need the hardware," Quillan assured them. "It's harmless
+enough now. Come on in."
+
+They followed him silently up to the cubicle, stared comprehendingly
+at dials and indicators. "The thing's back inside there, all right!"
+Ryter said. He looked at Quillan. "Is this where you've been all the
+time?"
+
+"Sure, Where else?" The others were forming a half-circle about him, a
+few paces back.
+
+"Taking quite a chance with that Hlat, weren't you?" Ryter remarked.
+
+"Not too much. I thought of something." Quillan indicated the
+outportal in the hall. "I had my back against that. A portal's
+space-break, not solid matter. It couldn't come at me from behind. And
+if it attacked from any other angle"--he tapped the holstered Miam
+Devil lightly, and the gun in Orca's hand jerked upward a fraction of
+an inch--"There aren't many animals that can swallow more than a bolt
+or two from that baby and keep coming."
+
+There was a moment's silence. Then Orca said thoughtfully, "That would
+work!"
+
+"Did it see you?" Ryter asked.
+
+"It couldn't have. First _I_ saw of it, it was sailing out from that
+corner over there. It slammed in after that chunk of sea beef so fast,
+it shook the cubicle. And that was that." He grinned. "Well, most of
+our troubles should be over now!"
+
+One of the men gave a brief, nervous laugh. Quillan looked at him
+curiously. "Something, chum?"
+
+Ryter shook his head. "Something is right! Come on downstairs again,
+Bad News. This time we have news for you--"
+
+The Brotherhood guards on the ground level had been taken by surprise
+and shot down almost without losses for the Star men. But the battle
+on the fourth level had cost more than the dead left up there. An
+additional number had returned with injures that were serious enough
+to make them useless for further work.
+
+"It's been expensive," Ryter admitted. "But one more attack by the
+Hlat would have left me with a panicked mob on my hands. If we'd
+realized it was going to trap itself--"
+
+"I wasn't so sure that would work either," Quillan said. "Did you get
+Kinmarten back?"
+
+"Not yet. The chances are he's locked up somewhere on the fourth
+level. Now the Hlat's out of the way, some of the men have gone back
+up there to look for him. If Cooms thought he was important enough to
+start a fight over, I want him back."
+
+"How about the crew on the Beldon ship?" Quillan asked, "Have they
+been cleaned up?"
+
+"No," Ryter said. "We'll have to do that now, of course."
+
+"How many of them?"
+
+"Supposedly twelve. And that's probably what it is."
+
+"If they know or suspect what's happened," Quillan said, "twelve men
+can give a boarding party in a lock a remarkable amount of trouble."
+
+Ryter shrugged irritably. "I know, but there isn't much choice.
+Lancion's bringing in the other group on the _Camelot_. We don't want
+to have to handle both of them at the same time."
+
+"How are you planning to take the freighter?"
+
+"When the search party comes back down, we'll put every man we can
+spare from guard duty here on the job. They'll be instructed to be
+careful about it ... if they can wind up the matter within the next
+several hours, that will be early enough. We can't afford too many
+additional losses now. But we should come out with enough men to take
+care of Lancion and handle the shipment of Hlats. And that's what
+counts."
+
+"Like me to take charge of the boarding party?" Quillan inquired.
+"That sort of thing's been a kind of specialty of mine."
+
+Ryter looked at him without much expression on his face. "I understand
+that," he said. "But perhaps it would be better if you stayed up here
+with us."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The search party came back down ten minutes later. They'd looked
+through every corner of the fourth level. Kinmarten wasn't there,
+either dead or alive. But one observant member of the group had
+discovered, first, that the Duke of Fluel was also not among those
+present, and, next that one of the four outportals on the level had
+been unsealed. The exit on which the portal was found to be set was in
+a currently unused hall in the General Office building on the other
+side of the Star. From that hall, almost every other section of the
+Star was within convenient portal range.
+
+None of the forty-odd people working in the main control office on the
+ground level had actually witnessed any shooting; but it was apparent
+that a number of them were uncomfortably aware that something quite
+extraordinary must be going on. They were a well-disciplined group,
+however. An occasional uneasy glance toward one of the armed men
+lounging along the walls, some anxious faces, were the only noticeable
+indications of tension. Now and then, there was a brief, low-pitched
+conversation at one of the desks.
+
+Quillan stood near the center of the office, Ryter and Orca a dozen
+feet from him on either side. Four Star guards were stationed along
+the walls. From the office one could see through a large doorspace cut
+through both sides of a hall directly into the adjoining transmitter
+room. Four more guards were in there. Aside from the men in the
+entrance hall and at the subspace portal, what was available at the
+moment of Ryter's security force was concentrated at this point.
+
+The arrangement made considerable sense; and Quillan gave no sign of
+being aware that the eyes of the guards shifted to him a little more
+frequently than to any other point in the office, or that none of them
+had moved his hand very far away from his gun since they had come in
+here. But that also made sense. In the general tension area of the
+Executive Block's ground level, a specific point of tension--highly
+charged though undetected by the non-involved personnel--was the one
+provided by the presence of Bad News Quillan here. Ryter was more than
+suspicious by now; the opened portal on the fourth level, the
+disappearance of Kinmarten and the Duke, left room for a wide variety
+of speculations. Few of those speculations could be very favorable to
+Bad News. Ryter obviously preferred to let things stand as they were
+until the Beldon freighter was taken and the major part of his group
+had returned from the subspace sections of the Star. At that time, Bad
+News could expect to come in for some very direct questioning by the
+security chief.
+
+The minutes dragged on. Under the circumstances, a glance at his watch
+could be enough to bring Ryter's uncertainties up to the explosion
+point, and Quillan also preferred to let things stand as they were for
+the moment. But he felt reasonably certain that over an hour had
+passed since he'd left Reetal; and so far there had been no hint of
+anything unusual occurring in the front part of the building. The
+murmur of voices in the main control office continued to eddy about
+him. There were indications that in the transmitter room across the
+hall messages had begun to be exchanged between the Star and the
+approaching liner.
+
+A man sitting at a desk near Quillan stood up presently, went out into
+the hall and disappeared. A short while later, the white-suited figure
+returned and picked up the interrupted work. Quillan's glance went
+over the clerk, shifted on. He felt something tighten up swiftly
+inside him. There was a considerable overall resemblance, but _that_
+wasn't the man who had left the office.
+
+Another minute or two went by. Then two other uniformed figures
+appeared at the opening to the hall, a sparse elderly man, a blond
+girl. They stood there talking earnestly together for some seconds,
+then came slowly down the aisle toward Quillan. It appeared to be an
+argument about some detail of her work. The girl frowned, stubbornly
+shaking her head. Near Quillan they separated, started off into
+different sections of the office. The girl, glancing back, still
+frowning, brushed against Ryter. She looked up at him, startled.
+
+"I'm sorry," she said.
+
+Ryter scowled irritably, started to say something, suddenly appeared
+surprised. Then his eyes went blank and his knees buckled under him.
+
+The clerk sitting at the nearby desk whistled shrilly.
+
+Quillan wheeled, gun out and up, toward the wall behind him. The two
+guards there were still lifting their guns. The Miam Devil grunted
+disapprovingly twice, and the guards went down. Noise crashed from the
+hall ... heavy sporting rifles. He turned again, saw the two other
+guards stumbling backward along the far wall. Feminine screaming
+erupted around the office as the staff dove out of sight behind desks,
+instrument stands and filing cabinets. The elderly man stood above
+Orca, a sap in his hand and a please smile on his face.
+
+In the hallway, four white-uniformed men had swung about and were
+pointing blazing rifles into the transmitter room. The racketing of
+the gunfire ended abruptly and the rifles were lowered again. The
+human din in the office began to diminish, turned suddenly into a
+shocked, strained silence. Quillan realized the blond girl was
+standing at his elbow.
+
+"Did you get the rest of them?" he asked quickly, in a low voice.
+
+"Everyone who was on this level," Reetal told him. "There weren't many
+of them."
+
+"I know. But there's a sizable batch still in the subspace section. If
+we can get the bomb disarmed, we'll just leave them sealed up there.
+How long before you can bring Ryter around?"
+
+"He'll be able to talk in five minutes."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quillan had been sitting for some little while in a very comfortable
+chair in what had been the commodore's personal suite on the Seventh
+Star, broodingly regarding the image of the _Camelot_ in a huge wall
+screen. The liner was still over two hours' flight away but would
+arrive on schedule. On the Star, at least in the normspace section,
+everything was quiet, and in the main control offices and in the
+transmitter room normal working conditions had been restored.
+
+A room portal twenty feet away opened suddenly, and Reetal Destone
+stepped out.
+
+"So there you are!" she observed.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Quillan Looked mildly surprised, then grinned. "I'd hate to have to
+try to hide from you!" he said.
+
+"Hm-m-m!" said Reetal. She smiled. "What are you drinking?"
+
+He nodded at an open liquor cabinet near the screen. "Velladon was
+leaving some excellent stuff behind. Join me?"
+
+"Hm-m-m." She went to the cabinet, looked over the bottles, made her
+selection and filled a glass. "One has the impression," she remarked,
+"that you _were_ hiding from me."
+
+"One does? I'd have to be losing my cotton-picking mind--"
+
+"Not necessarily." Reetal brought the drink over to his chair, sat
+down on the armrest with it. "You might just have a rather
+embarrassing problem to get worked out before you give little Reetal a
+chance to start asking questions about it."
+
+Quillan looked surprised. "What gave you that notion?"
+
+"Oh," Reetal said, "adding things up gave me that notion.... Care to
+hear what the things were?"
+
+"Go ahead, doll."
+
+"First," said Reetal, "I understand that a while ago, after you'd first
+sent me off to do some little job for you, you were in the transmitter
+room having a highly private--shielded and scrambled--conversation with
+somebody on board the _Camelot_."
+
+"Why, yes," Quillan said. "I was talking to the ship's security
+office. They're arranging to have a Federation police boat pick up
+what's left of the commodore's boys and the Brotherhood in the
+subspace section.
+
+"And that," said Reetal, "is where that embarrassing little problem
+begins. Next, I noticed, as I say, that you were showing this tendency
+to avoid a chance for a private talk between us. And after thinking
+about that for a little, and also about a few other things which came
+to mind at around that time, I went to see Ryter."
+
+"Now why--?"
+
+Reetal ran her fingers soothingly through his hair. "Let me finish,
+big boy. I found Ryter and Orca in a highly nervous condition. And do
+you know why they're nervous? They're convinced that some time before
+the _Camelot_ gets here, you're going to do them both in."
+
+"Hm-m-m," said Quillan.
+
+"Ryter," she went on, "besides being nervous, is also very bitter. In
+retrospect, he says, it's all very plain what you've done here. You
+and your associates--a couple of tough boys named Hagready and Boltan,
+and others not identified--are also after these Hlats. The Duke made
+some mention of that, too, you remember. The commodore and Ryter
+bought the story you told them because a transmitter check produced
+the information that Hagready and Boltan had, in fact, left their
+usual work areas and gone off on some highly secret business about a
+month ago.
+
+"Ryter feels that your proposition--to let your gang in on the deal
+for twenty per cent, or else--was made in something less than good
+faith. He's concluded that when you learned of the operation being
+planned by Velladon and the Brotherhood, you and your pals decided to
+obstruct them and take the Hlats for delivery to Yaco yourselves,
+without cutting anybody in. He figures that someone like Hagready or
+Boltan is coming in on the _Camelot_ with a flock of sturdy henchmen
+to do just that. You, personally, rushed to the Seventh Star to
+interfere as much as you could here. Ryter admits reluctantly that
+you did an extremely good job of interfering. He says it's now obvious
+that every move you made since you showed up had the one purpose of
+setting the Star group and the Brotherhood at each other's throats.
+And now that they've practically wiped each other out, you and your
+associates can go on happily with your original plans.
+
+"But, of course, you can't do that if Ryter and Orca are picked up
+alive by the Federation cops. The boys down in the subspace section
+don't matter; they're ordinary gunhands and all they know is that you
+were somebody who showed up on the scene. But Ryter could, and
+certainly would, talk--"
+
+"Ah, he's too imaginative," Quillan said, taking a swallow of his
+drink. "I never heard of the Hlats before I got here. As I told you,
+I'm on an entirely different kind of job at the moment. I had to make
+up some kind of story to get an in with the boys, that's all."
+
+"So you're not going to knock those two weasels off?"
+
+"No such intentions. I don't mind them sweating about it till the Feds
+arrive, but that's it."
+
+"What about Boltan and Hagready?"
+
+"What about them? I did happen to know that if anyone started asking
+questions about those two, he'd learn that neither had been near his
+regular beat for close to a month."
+
+"I'll bet!" Reetal said cryptically.
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Hm-m-m," she said. "Bad News Quillan! A really tough boy, for sure.
+You know, I didn't believe for an instant that you were after the
+Hlats--"
+
+"Why not?"
+
+Reetal said, "I've been on a couple of operations with you, and you'd
+be surprised how much I've picked up about you from time to time on
+the side. Swiping a shipment of odd animals and selling them to Yaco,
+that could be Bad News, in character. Selling a couple of hundred
+human beings--like Brock and Solvey Kinmarten--to go along with the
+animals to an outfit like Yaco would not be in character."
+
+"So I have a heart of gold," Quillan said.
+
+"So you fell all over your own big feet about half a minute ago!"
+Reetal told him. "Bad News Quillan--with no interest whatsoever in the
+Hlats--still couldn't afford to let Ryter live to talk about him to
+the Feds, big boy!"
+
+Quillan looked reflective for a moment. "Dirty trick!" he observed.
+"For that, you might freshen up my glass."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Reetal took both glasses over to the liquor cabinet, freshened them
+up, and settled down on the armrest of the chair again. "So there
+we're back to the embarrassing little problem," she said.
+
+"Ryter?"
+
+"No, idiot. We both know that Ryter is headed for Rehabilitation.
+Fifteen years or so of it, as a guess. The problem is little Reetal
+who has now learned a good deal more than she was ever intended to
+learn. Does she head for Rehabilitation, too?"
+
+Quillan took a swallow of his drink and set the glass down again. "Are
+you suggesting," he inquired, "that I might be, excuse the expression,
+a cop?"
+
+Reetal patted his head. "Bad News Quillan! Let's look back at his
+record. What do we find? A shambles, mainly. Smashed-up organizations,
+outfits, gangs. Top-level crooks with suddenly vacant expressions and
+unexplained holes in their heads. Why go on? The name is awfully well
+earned! And nobody realizing anything because the ones who do realize
+it suddenly ... well, where _are_ Boltan Hagready at the moment."
+
+Quillan sighed. "Since you keep bringing it up--Hagready played it
+smart, so he's in Rehabilitation. Be cute if Ryter ran into him there
+some day. Pappy Boltan didn't want to play it smart. I'm not enough of
+a philosopher to make a guess at where he might be at present. But I
+knew he wouldn't be talking."
+
+"All right," Reetal said, "we've got that straight. Bad News is
+Intelligence of some kind. Federation maybe, or maybe one of the
+services. It doesn't matter, really, I suppose. Now, what about me?"
+
+He reached out and tapped his glass with a fingertip. "That about you,
+doll. You filled it. I'm drinking it. I may not think quite as fast as
+you do, but I still think. Would I take a drink from a somewhat
+lawless and very clever lady who really believed I had her lined up
+for Rehabilitation? Or who'd be at all likely to blab out something
+that would ruin an old pal's reputation?"
+
+Reetal ran her fingers through his hair again. "I noticed the deal
+with the drink," she said. "I guess I just wanted to hear you say it.
+You don't tell on me, I don't tell on you. Is that it?"
+
+"That's it," Quillan said. "What Ryter and Orca want to tell the Feds
+doesn't matter. It stops there, the Feds will have the word on me
+before they arrive. By the way, did you go wake up the Kinmartens
+yet?"
+
+"Not yet," Reetal said. "Too busy getting the office help soothed down
+and back to work."
+
+"Well, lets finish these drinks and go do that, then. The little
+doll's almost bound to be asleep by now, but she might still be
+sitting there biting nervously at her pretty knuckles."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Major Hesler Quillan of Space Scout Intelligence, was looking unhappy.
+"We're still searching for them everywhere," he explained to Klayung,
+"but it's a virtual certainty that the Hlat got them shortly before it
+was trapped."
+
+Klayung, a stringy, white-haired old gentleman, was an operator of the
+Psychology Service, in charge of the shipment of Hlats the _Camelot_
+had brought in. He and Quillan were waiting in the vestibule of the
+Seventh Star's rest cubicle vaults for Lady Pendrake's cubicle to be
+brought over from the Executive Block.
+
+Klayung said reflectively, "Couldn't the criminals with who you were
+dealing here have hidden the couple away somewhere?"
+
+Quillan shook his head. "There's no way they could have located them
+so quickly. I made half a dozen portal switches when I was taking
+Kinmarten to the suite. It would take something with a Hlat's
+abilities to follow me over that route and stay undetected. And it
+must be an unusually cunning animal to decide to stay out of sight
+until I'd led it where it wanted to go."
+
+"Oh, they're intelligent enough," Klayung agreed absently. "Their
+average basic I.Q. is probably higher than that of human beings. A
+somewhat different type of mentality, of course. Well, when the
+cubicle arrives, I'll question the Hlat and we'll find out."
+
+Quillan looked at him. "Those control devices make it possible to hold
+two-way conversations with the things?"
+
+"Not exactly," Klayung said. "You see, major, the government
+authorities who were concerned with the discovery of the Hlats
+realized it would be almost impossible to keep some information about
+them from getting out. The specimen which was here on the Star has
+been stationed at various scientific institutions for the past year; a
+rather large number of people were involved in investigating it and
+experimenting with it. In consequence, several little legends about
+them have been deliberately built up. The legends aren't entirely
+truthful, so they help to keep the actual facts about the Hlats
+satisfactorily vague.
+
+"The Hlat-talker is such a legend. Actually, the device does nothing.
+The Hlats respond to telepathic stimuli, both among themselves and
+from other beings, eventually begin to correlate such stimuli with the
+meanings of human speech."
+
+"Then you--" Quillan began.
+
+"Yes. Eltak, their discoverer, was a fairly good natural telepath. If
+he hadn't been abysmally lazy, he might have been very good at it. I
+carry a variety of the Service's psionic knick-knacks about with me,
+which gets me somewhat comparable results."
+
+He broke off as the vestibule portal dilated widely. Lady Pendrake's
+cubicle floated through, directed by two gravity crane operators
+behind it. Klayung stood up.
+
+"Set it there for the present, please," he directed the operators. "We
+may call for you later if it needs to be moved again."
+
+He waited until the portal had closed behind the men before walking
+over to the cubicle. He examined the settings and readings at some
+length.
+
+"Hm-m-m, yes," he said, straightening finally. His expression became
+absent for a few seconds; then he went on. "I'm beginning to grasp the
+situation, I believe. Let me tell you a few things about the Hlats,
+major. For one, they form quite pronounced likes and dislikes. Eltak,
+for example, would have been described by most of his fellow men as a
+rather offensive person. But the Hlats actually became rather fond of
+him during the fifteen or so years he lived on their island.
+
+"That's one point. The other has to do with their level of
+intelligence. We discovered on the way out here that our charges had
+gained quite as comprehensive an understanding of the functioning of
+the cubicles that had been constructed for them as any human who was
+not a technical specialist might do. And--"
+
+He interrupted himself, stood rubbing his chin for a moment.
+
+"Well, actually," he said, "that should be enough to prepare you for a
+look inside the Hlat's cubicle."
+
+Quillan gave him a somewhat surprised glance. "I've been told it's
+ugly as sin," he remarked. "But I've seen some fairly revolting
+looking monsters before this."
+
+Klayung coughed. "That's not exactly what I meant," he said. "I ...
+well, let's just open the thing up. Would you mind, major?"
+
+"Not at all." Quillan stepped over to the side of the cubicle,
+unlocked the door switch and pulled it over. They both moved back a
+few feet before the front of the cubicle. A soft humming came for some
+seconds from the door's mechanisms; then it suddenly swung open.
+Quillan stooped to glance inside, straightened instantly again, hair
+bristling.
+
+"_Where is it?_" he demanded, the Miam Devil out in his hand.
+
+Klayung looked at him thoughtfully. "Not very far away, I believe. But
+I can assure you, major, that it hasn't the slightest intention of
+attacking us--or anybody else--at present."
+
+Quillan grunted, looked back into the cubicle. At the far end, the
+Kinmartens lay side by side, their faces composed. They appeared to be
+breathing regularly.
+
+"Yes," Klayung said, "they're alive and unharmed." He rubbed his chin
+again. "And I think it would be best if we simply closed the cubicle
+now. Later we can call a doctor over from the hospital to put them
+under sedation before they're taken out. They've both had thoroughly
+unnerving experiences, and it would be advisable to awaken them
+gradually to avoid emotional shock."
+
+He moved over to the side of the cubicle, turned the door switch back
+again. "And now for the rest of it," he said. "We may as well sit down
+again, major. This may take a little time."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"Let's look at the thing for a moment from the viewpoint of the Hlat,"
+he resumed when he was once more comfortably seated. "Eltak's death
+took it by surprise. It hadn't at that point grasped what the
+situation in the Executive Block was like. It took itself out of sight
+for the moment, killing one of the gang leaders in the process, then
+began prowling about the various levels of the building, picking up
+information from the minds and conversation of the men it encountered.
+In a fairly short time, it learned enough to understand what was
+planned by the criminals; and it arrived at precisely your own
+conclusion ... that it might be possible to reduce and demoralize the
+gangs to the extent that they would no longer be able to carry out
+their plan. It began a systematic series of attacks on them with that
+end in mind.
+
+"But meanwhile you had come into the picture. The Hlat was rather
+puzzled by your motive at first because there appeared to be an
+extraordinary degree of discrepancy between what you were saying and
+what you were thinking. But after observing your activities for a
+while, it began to comprehend what you were trying to do. It realized
+that your approach was more likely to succeed than its own, and that
+further action on its side might interfere with your plans. But there
+remained one thing for it to do.
+
+"I may tell you in confidence, major, that another legend which has
+been spread about these Hlats is their supposed inability to escape
+from the cubicles. Even their attendants are supplied with this
+particular bit of misinformation. Actually, the various force fields
+in the cubicles don't hamper them in the least. The cubicles are
+designed simply to protect the Hlats and keep them from being seen;
+and rest cubicles, of course, can be taken anywhere without arousing
+undue curiosity.
+
+"You mentioned that the Kinmartens very likable young people. The Hlat
+had the same feeling about them; they were the only human beings aside
+from Eltak with whose minds it had become quite familiar. There was no
+assurance at this point that the plans to prevent a bomb from being
+exploded in the Star would be successful, and the one place where
+human beings could hope to survive such an explosion was precisely the
+interior of the Hlat's cubicle, which had been constructed to
+safeguard its occupant against any kind of foreseeable accident.
+
+"So the Hlat sprang your cubicle trap, removed the bait, carried the
+Kinmartens inside, and whipped out of the cubicle again before the
+rest current could take effect on it. It concluded correctly that
+everyone would decide it had been recaptured. After that, it moved
+about the Executive Block, observing events there and prepared to take
+action again if that appeared to be advisable. When you had concluded
+your operation successfully, it remained near the cubicle, waiting for
+me to arrive."
+
+Quillan shook his head. "That's quite an animal!" he observed after
+some seconds. "You say, it's in our general vicinity now?"
+
+"Yes," Klayung said. "It followed the cubicle down here, and has been
+drifting about the walls of the vestibule while we ... well, while I
+talked."
+
+"Why doesn't it show itself?"
+
+Klayung cleared his throat. "For two reasons," he said. "One is that
+rather large gun you're holding on your knees. It saw you use it
+several times, and after all the shooting in the Executive Block, you
+see--"
+
+Quillan slid the Miam Devil into its holster. "Sorry," he said. "Force
+of habit, I guess. Actually, of course, I've understood for some
+minutes now that I wasn't ... well, what's the other reason?"
+
+"I'm afraid," Klayung said, "that you offended it with your remark
+about its appearance. Hlats may have their share of vanity. At any
+rate, it seems to be sulking."
+
+"Oh," said Quillan. "Well, I'm sure," he went on rather loudly, "that
+it understands I received the description from a prejudiced source.
+I'm quite willing to believe it was highly inaccurate."
+
+"Hm-m-m," said Klayung. "That seems to have done it, major. The wall
+directly across from us--"
+
+Something like a ripple passed along the side wall of the vestibule.
+Then the wall darkened suddenly, turned black. Quillan blinked, and
+the Hlat came into view. It hung, spread out like a spider, along half
+the length of the vestibule wall. Something like a huge, hairy amoeba
+in overall appearance, though the physical structures under the
+coarse, black pelt must be of very unamoeba-like complexity. No eyes
+were in sight, but Quillan had the impression of being regarded
+steadily. Here and there, along the edges and over the surface of the
+body, were a variety of flexible extensions.
+
+Quillan stood up, hitched his gun belt into position, and started over
+toward the wall.
+
+"Lady Pendrake," he said, "honored to meet you. Could we shake hands?"
+
+The End
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz
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