ne of the
old-fashioned trance-recalls, I'd blat out everything; I wouldn't be
able to keep a thing back. And I even know the principles of
transposition!" She looked at him, aghast.

"When I get back, I'm going to put a recommendation through department
channels that this whole sector be declared out of bounds for all
paratime-transposition, until you people at Rhogom Foundation work
out the problem of discarnate return to the First Level," he told her.
"Now, have you any notes or anything you want to take back with you?"

She rose. "Yes; just what's on the desk. Find me something to put the
tape spools and notebooks in, while I'm getting them in order."

He secured a large game bag from under a rack of fowling pieces, and
held it while she sorted the material rapidly, stuffing spools of
record tape and notebooks into it. They had barely begun when the door
slid open and Olirzon, who had gone outside, sprang into the room, his
pistol drawn, swearing vilely.

"They've double-crossed us!" he cried. "The servants of Starpha have
turned on us." He holstered his pistol and snatched up his
submachine-gun, taking cover behind the edge of the door and letting
go with a burst in the direction of the lifter tubes. "Got that one!"
he grunted.

"What happened, Olirzon?" Verkan Vall asked, dropping the game bag on
the table and hurrying across the room.

"I went up to see how Marnik was making out. As I came out of the
lifter tube, one of the obscenities took a shot at me with a hunting
pistol. He missed me; I didn't miss him. Then a couple more of them
were coming up, with fowling pieces; I shot one of them before they
could fire, and jumped into the descent tube and came down heels over
ears. I don't know what's happened to Marnik." He fired another burst,
and swore. "Missed him!"

"Assassins' Truce! Assassins' Truce!" a voice howled out of the
descent tube. "Hold your fire, we want to parley."

"Who is it?" Dirzed shouted, over Olirzon's shoulder. "You, Sarnax?
Come on out; we won't shoot."

The young Assassin with the mustache and chin beard emerged from the
descent tube, his weapons sheathed and his clasped hands extended in
front of him in a peculiarly ecclesiastical-looking manner. Dirzed and
Olirzon stepped out of the gun room, followed by Verkan Vall and
Hadron Dalla. Olirzon had left his submachine-gun behind. They met the
other Assassin by the rim of the fountain pool.

"Lady Dallona of Hadron," the Starpha