e truth. Verkan Vall laughed.

"Well, confidentially," he said, "I'm from the Arcturus System. I
followed the Lady Dallona here from our home planet, and when I have
rescued her from among you Solarians, I shall, according to our
customs, receive her hand in marriage. As she is the daughter of the
Emperor of Arcturus, that'll be quite a good thing for me."

Klarnood chuckled. "You know, you'd only have to tell me that about
three or four times and I'd start believing it," he said. "And Dr.
Harnosh of Hosh would believe it the first time; he's been talking to
himself ever since the Lady Dallona started her experimental work
here. Lord Virzal, I'm going to take a chance on you. The Lady Dallona
is still carnate, or was four days ago, and the same for Dirzed. They
both went into hiding after the discarnation feast of Garnon of Roxor,
to escape the enmity of the Statisticalists. Two days after they
disappeared, Dirzed called Assassins' Hall and reported this, but told
us nothing more. I suppose, in about three or four days, I could
re-establish contact with him. We want the public to think that the
Statisticalists made away with the Lady Dallona, at least until the
election's over."

Verkan Vall nodded. "I was pretty sure that was the situation," he
said. "It may be that they will get in touch with me; if they don't,
I'll need your help in reaching them."

"Why do you think the Lady Dallona will try to reach you?"

"She needs all the help she can get. She knows she can get plenty from
me. Why do you think I interrupted my search for her, and risked my
carnate existence, to fight those people over a matter of verbalisms
and political propaganda?" Verkan Vall went to the newscast visiplate
and snapped it on. "We'll see if I'm getting results, yet."

The plate lighted, and a handsome young man in a gold-laced green suit
was speaking out of it:

"... where he is heavily guarded by Assassins. However, in an
exclusive interview with representatives of this service, the Assassin
Hirzif, one of the two who seconded the men the Lord Virzal fought,
said that in his opinion all of the three were so outclassed as to
have had no chance whatever, and that he had already refused an offer
of ten thousand System Monetary Units to discarnate the Lord Virzal
for the Statisticalist Party. 'When I want to discarnate,' Hirzif the
Assassin said, 'I'll invite in my friends and do it properly; until I
do, I wouldn't go up against the Lord V